University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels on the Road Again
November 26, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2002
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The 3-0 Tar Heels travel to New York City this week for the semifinals of the Owens Corning Preseason NIT. Carolina will face Kansas in Wednesday night's second semifinal, scheduled to tip off at approximately 9 p.m. in Madison Square Garden. Kansas is coached by former UNC assistant coach Roy Williams. UNC head coach Matt Doherty was an assistant under Williams at Kansas for seven seasons.
The winner of the UNC-Kansas game will play the winner of the Florida-Stanford game in Friday night's finals.
"You don't like to play against someone you care about because someone is going to lose," Doherty says of the matchup with Kansas. "But once the ball goes up, it's going to be Carolina's players against Kansas' players.
"I'm sure that they'll be favored. They've got such a talented team of experienced players. They've got two All-Americans in Hinrich and Collison, and they have Miles and Langford. They are a very good team. The thing I'm concerned about is guarding against two quality, strong post players. And they've got them. And they've got team speed. There's no weakness on their team."
Four of Carolina's next eight games will be played in Madison Square Garden - two this week in the Preseason NIT and two on Dec. 27-28 in the ECAC Holiday Festival. In between, the Tar Heels will play at Illinois in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, at home against Kentucky and Vermont and on the road at ACC foe Florida State.
KANSAS SERIES
Carolina leads the all-time series with Kansas, 5-2, but the two teams have not faced each other in 10 seasons.
The last two meetings between UNC and Kansas were both in the NCAA Final Four - a 78-68 Tar Heel win in 1993 in New Orleans (as Carolina went on to win the national title) and a 79-73 Kansas win in 1991 in Indianapolis. UNC and Kansas also met in the 1957 Final Four, with the Heels winning a 54-53, three-overtime thriller over the Wilt Chamblerain-led Jayhawks in the NCAA championship game.
Carolina is 4-2 against Kansas in games played at neutral sites, with wins in 1956-57 (NCAA championship game in Kansas City), 1959-60 (in Raleigh), 1981-82 (in Charlotte) and 1992-93 (NCAA Final Four in New Orleans). Kansas beat UNC in 1980-81 (in Kansas City) and 1990-91 (NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis).
Wednesday's game will mark the first head-to-head meeting on the court between Carolina head coach Matt Doherty and Kansas coach Roy Williams. Doherty served as an assistant coach under Williams at Kansas for seven years (1993-99) before becoming head coach at Notre Dame (in 1999-2000) and then at UNC (2001-present).
Williams was an assistant coach at Carolina from 1978-1987, an era which included Doherty's playing career as a Tar Heel (1980-84).
Wednesday's game will be the first time Carolina has played a team coached by one of its former assistant coaches since UNC won at Middle Tennessee State (led by former Tar Heel player and assistant Randy Wiel), 75-54, on Nov. 30, 1998.
