University of North Carolina Athletics
Men's Basketball Looks to Bounce Back Against Davidson
November 19, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 19, 2001
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Tar Heels Hope to Bounce Back Against Davidson
After starting its 2001-02 season with with a home loss to Hampton, Carolina (0-1) hopes to bounce back on Tuesday night in the Smith Center against Davidson (0-1).
The Wildcats dropped a 65-51 decision at Charlotte last Friday night. Michael Bree (14 points) was the only Wildcat in double figures against the 49ers.
Carolina vs. Davidson Series Notes
An old rivalry will be renewed on Tuesday night in the Smith Center when Carolina hosts Davidson. The Tar Heels and Wildcats have faced off 67 times over the years, with UNC winning 57 of those contests (including 30 of the last 33). From the late 1920s until the advent of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the mid-1950s, Carolina and Davidson met twice per season (from the 1928-29 season until the 1953-54 season).
The Wildcats and Tar Heels have only met twice on the hardwood since 1954. In both cases, Carolina beat Davidson - in the 1968 and 1969 NCAA Tournament East Regional finals - for back-to-back berths in the Final Four. In 1968, East Regional Most Outstanding Player Rusty Clark had game-highs with 22 points and 17 rebounds in a 70-66 Carolina win at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.
In 1969, East Regional MOP Charlie Scott had 32 points, including 10 of 14 shooting in the second half, and hit a last-second 20-footer to give Carolina an 87-85 win. The victory in College, Park, Md., gave Carolina a third straight Final Four appearance.
Ties Run Deep for Doherty and McKillop
Carolina head coach and Davidson head coach Bob McKillop are more than just opposing coaches in Tuesday night's UNC-Davidson game. McKillop coached Doherty at Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville, N.Y., from 1977-80. McKillop also gave Doherty his first college coaching job, an assistant coach's position at Davidson from 1989-92, after Doherty had left a financial job on Wall Street to pursue a life in coaching.
"The main lessons I learned from Coach McKillop as a high school player and at Davidson were to work hard and play with intensity," Doherty said upon taking the head coaching job at Carolina in the summer of 2000. "We worked our tails off on the staff at Davidson. It didn't reflect in the win-loss record at first, but the program really took off, winning 20 plus games after the first few years. That was a product of the hard work Coach McKillop and his staff put in those first few years."
Tar Heels Drop Home Opener to Hampton, 77-69
Hampton issued Carolina just its second loss in a home opener since 1929, a 77-69 Pirate win on Nov. 16 in the Smith Center. The Tar Heels took a school-record 34 three-pointers, hitting just six of them (17.6 percent). Entering the game, Carolina had won 71 of its previous 72 home openers. The Tar Heels' two losses in home openers since the 1928-29 season were to Michigan State two seasons ago in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and in the 2001-02 opener to Hampton.
Jason Capel had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Carolina in the loss.
Overall, UNC has a record of 85-7 in home openers. The sevevn losses came during the following seasons: 1911-12, 1912-13, 1913-14, 1918-19, 1928-29, 1999-2000 and 2001-02.
The loss was Carolina's first in a season-opener since the 1996-97 season, when Arizona beat UNC, 83-72, in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic in Springfield, Mass.
Tar Heels in the Rankings
Carolina enters the Davidson game unranked in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and the Associated Press poll. UNC was No. 19 in the AP poll and 20th in the coaches poll before its season-opening loss to Hampton.
The last time Carolina was unranked was during the 1999-2000 season. UNC was unranked in both polls for the last eight weeks of the season entering the NCAA Tournament. After reaching the 2000 Final Four, the Tar Heels finished the season ranked No. 11 in the coaches' poll.
Williams is 17th Freshman Starter in Carolina History
Jawad Williams was in the starting lineup at small forward against Hampton on Nov. 16. With the start, he became the 17th Tar Heel to start in his first games as a freshmen since first-year players became eligible to play in 1972-73.
Other UNC players on this list include Phil Ford, Mike O'Koren, James Worthy, Michael Jordan, Kenny Smith, J.R. Reid, Pete Chilcutt, Rick Fox, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Ed Cota, Brendan Haywood, Jason Capel, Kris Lang, Joseph Forte and Adam Boone.
Three Walk-Ons Join the Tar Heel Squad
A trio of former UNC junior varsity players has joined the Carolina varsity squad as walk-ons for the 2001-02 season - senior forward Joe Everett, sophomore forward Phillip McLamb and sophomore guard Damien Price.
Everett is the younger brother of former Tar Heel Jim Everett, a walk-on who played for the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 UNC teams and earned a scholarship during his senior season. Joe Everett played on the Carolina JV team as a freshman and sophomore but did not play last year, while McLamb and Price both played on the JV team as freshman in 2000-01.
