University of North Carolina Athletics
Men's Basketball Game Notes
December 6, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2001
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at Kentucky Wildcats (4-1)
Date: Saturday, December 8, 2001, 4 p.m.
Site (capacity): Lexington, Ky., Rupp Arena (23,000)
Series Record vs. Kentucky: Tar Heels lead, 16-7
Television: CBS (Craig Bolerjack, Bill Raftery)
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network, a division of Learfield Communications. Woody Durham (play-by-play) and Mick Mixon (color) provide the call. A live broadcast also is available on the University of North Carolina's official athletic website, TarHeelBlue.com
Websites: North Carolina (TarHeelBlue.com), Kentucky (ukathletics.com)
Tar Heels Hit the Road for First Time This Season
North Carolina dons its road blue uniforms for the first this season as the Tar Heels travel to Lexington, Ky., to play the University of Kentucky Wildcats. UNC is 1-3 overall and 1-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Kentucky is 4-1 after a 99-57 win over VMI on Wednesday.
Carolina avoided its first 0-4 in school history as the Tar Heels beat Georgia Tech, 83-77, last Sunday. UNC began the season 0-3 at home for the first time ever after losses to Hampton (by eight points), Davidson (by four) and Indiana (by 13). This is the first time Carolina opened with four straight home games since 1952-53. The Tar Heels are playing with one of its most inexperienced lineups in its history.
Seniors Jason Capel and Kris Lang have started for three previous seasons, but they are the only returning players who averaged at least 10 minutes per game last year. Two true freshmen - guard Melvin Scott and swingman Jackie Manuel - have been in the starting lineup the last two games against Indiana and Georgia Tech and are expected to start against UK. Freshmen forward Jawad Williams joined Manuel and Scott on the floor in the final two and a half minutes against Georgia Tech.
Research has indicated this is the first time UNC has started two freshmen in the backcourt since they became eligible in 1972-73. Should Manuel, Scott and Williams all start any game this season, it would be the first time Carolina started three freshmen in a game.
The Tar Heels are without their first, second, fifth, sixth and seventh leading scorers and top two assist men from a year ago when they went 26-7 and won a share of the ACC regular-season championship.
Carolina vs. Kentucky Series Notes
Carolina leads the series, 16-7, and has won six of the last seven meetings against the Wildcats. Kentucky beat Carolina, 93-76, in Chapel Hill last December 2, however.
The Tar Heels are 4-3 in Lexington, although the two schools have not played in Lexington since Dec. 2, 1968. This is Carolina's first-ever game against Kentucky in Rupp Arena, although the Tar Heels have played in two NCAA Tournaments in the arena. In 1989, Carolina lost to eventual national champion Michigan, 92-87, in the Southeast Region semifinal. In 1992, the Tar Heels were ousted by Ohio State, 80-73, in another Southeast Region semifinal.
Kentucky and Carolina are the two winningest programs in Division I history. The Wildcats are 1,799-559 (.763). The Tar Heels are 1,782-633 (.738). The schools are 1-2 in the country in both total wins and winning percentage. Only one other school - Kansas - has won at least 1,700 games.
Last Year Against Kentucky
The Wildcats made six of their first 10 three-point attempts in the second half en route to a 93-76 win. The win snapped a six-game win streak by UNC over Kentucky. The Tar Heels jumped out to 10-2 and 21-11 leads early, but a 10-0 run by Kentucky tied the game at 21. The Tar Heels took a 48-45 lead early in the second half. Kentucky then reeled off a 20-4 run, including a dozen points on three-point baskets, to take control.
Keith Bogans (18) and Teyshaun Prince (15) led four Wildcats in double figures. Joseph Forte (19), Brendan Haywood (18), Kris Lang (15) and Jason Capel (12) led Carolina in scoring. Kentucky shot 50.6 percent from the floor. The Cats were the only team to shoot at least 50 percent against UNC last season.
Morrison, Capel Lead Carolina Past Georgia Tech
Sophomore guard Brian Morrison hit 6 of 8 three-point field goals and scored a career-high 21 points and Jason Capel played his finest all-around game of the year as the Tar Heels ended a three-game losing streak with an 83-77 win over Georgia Tech on December 2.
Morrison scored 12 points in the opening half and added nine more in the second. It was the most three-pointers by a Tar Heel since Capel hit six against Clemson in Atlanta in the 2001 ACC Tournament quaterfinal. The six threes were the most by a Tar Heel in the Smith Center since Joseph Forte made a half dozen against Tulsa last November.
Capel scored 18 points, had nine rebounds, five assists and four steals. He hit a huge three-pointer with 4:21 to play to cut Tech's six-point lead in half. Moments later, freshman Melvin Scott dropped in a three-pointer from the corner to tie the game at 75. A pair of free throws by freshman Jackie Manuel gave the Tar Heels the lead with 2:38 left. After Tech tied the game, Lang, Scott and Manuel all made one of two from the line for an 80-77 UNC lead with 16 seconds remaining in the game. Capel and Scott forced a steal at midcourt, Scott hit a driving layup and was fouled with 5.1 seconds left to seal the win.
Mostly a Good Shooting Night Against Tech
Carolina made 50.9 percent from the floor against Georgia Tech, by far its finest shooting game of the young season from the floor. The Tar Heels converted 16 of 28 shots from the floor in the second half, a percentage of .571. The previous best shooting by half this year was 45.5 percent in the second half against Hampton.
Led by Brian Morrison's 6 of 8 performance, Carolina made 50 percent from three-point range (11 of 22). Strangely, UNC was just 18 of 33 from the free throw line for the evening (.545).
Morrison was 7 for 12 overall from the floor. He was one of four players to make at least 50 percent from the floor. Jason Capel was 6 for 12, Kris Lang was 4 for 8 and Jawad Williams was 4 for 6.
The Tar Heels shot 35.3 percent from the floor in the first three contests.
Great Passing Night
Carolina had 25 assists on 27 field goals, an almost unheard of ratio (93 percent of baskets had an assist). Jason Capel and Jawad Williams led UNC with five assists apiece, Will Johnson and Jackie Manuel added four each and hot shooter Brian Morrison had three.
The last time Carolina had at least 25 assists in a game was in the ACC Tournament quarterfinal win over Clemson last March. UNC had 26 assists on 35 baskets in that game. In both the Georgia Tech and Clemson games, the Tar Heels made at least 10 three-pointers.
Turnover Story
Even in victory, the Tar Heels turned the ball over 19 times against Georgia Tech. Five different players had more than one miscue. For the season, Carolina is averaging 18.3 turnovers per game. UNC has 70 assists and 73 turnovers.
Carolina did force a season-high 18 turnovers by Georgia Tech. The Tar Heels had 15 steals in the first three games, but had 13 steals against the Yellow Jackets. Jason Capel (four), Kris Lang (three) and Brian Morrison (three) had multiple-theft games.
B-Mo Lit It Up
Sophomore guard Brian Morrison turned in one of the better shooting performances in recent memory in the win over Georgia Tech. The Redmond, Wash., native went 7 for 12 from the floor, including 6 of 8 from three-point range. Equally as important as his shooting touch was the fact he had three assists and just a single turnover in 23 action-packed minutes.
Morrison scored a career-high 21 points. He had 14 points in his collegiate debut against Winthrop and had 13 two games later at Appalachian State. However, this was the first time Morrison reached double figures in scoring since the third game of the 2000-01 season.
His sixth and final three-pointer cut Tech's lead to one point with 8:30 to play. The other five threes kept Carolina in the game as Tech led by six, seven or nine points at the time he connected.
Morrison also sent his teammates, the Smith Center crowd and himself into a frenzy with an impressive fast break slam dunk (and three-point play) late in the first half that gave Carolina its first lead in almost 15 minutes.
Home Losses
This season marks the first time in school history the Tar Heels have opened the year 0-3 at home. Carolina has not started a season 0-3 overall since 1928-29. The Tar Heels rallied to post a 17-8 record that season. UNC has never started a season 0-4 in its 92-year basketball history.
Carolina lost four straight games at home for the third time in school history, equalling the longest streak in school history (set previously in 1930 and 1943-44).
Tar Heels in the Rankings
Carolina enters the Kentucky 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.
Slam's Top Slammers
Slam Magazine ranked the Top 50 dunkers alltime and the top two are a pair of famous Carolina alums - Vince Carter and Michael Jordan. Jerry Stackhouse and Billy Cunningham are 28th and 29th, respectively, and Rasheed Wallace is No. 50.
