University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Travel To Miami To Face Hurricanes
January 4, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2003
North Carolina returns to the hardwood tonight after a week-long break. UNC will face Miami at 7 p.m. in the first-ever game at the Convocation Center, the new on-campus home of the Hurricanes. The $48 million facility seats 7,000 for basketball. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN (Sean McDonough and Len Elmore will have the call).
Carolina is 8-3 overall and 1-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Miami is 6-4. The two teams have played one common opponent this season -- Florida State. UNC won at FSU, 69-48, on Dec. 22. Miami lost at FSU, 72-55, on Dec. 8.
The Tar Heels went 1-1 and finished in third place last weekend at the ECAC Holiday Festival in New York City, losing to Iona in the opening round and beating host St. John's in the consolation game. Early in the second half of the Iona game, UNC freshman center Sean May broke the fifth metatarsal in his left foot.
Dr. Tim Taft, UNC Director of Sports Medicine, performed May's surgery to repair the injury on Dec. 30 in Chapel Hill. The surgery lasted about 75 minutes. Taft put a stainless steel screw and injected bone marrow from May's hip into the fracture site to enhance the healing process. After the procedure, Taft said, "Everything went well and as expected." May will be out of action for 8-10 weeks.
Carolina is completing a 10-game stretch during which eight games were played away from Chapel Hill. During the stretch, UNC played road games at Old Dominion, Illinois, Florida State and St. John's and neutral-site games in New York City against Kansas, Stanford and Iona. Carolina has gone 5-2 in those seven games away from Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels do not play at the Smith Center until meeting Davidson on Jan. 8. Beginning with the Davidson game, four of UNC's next five games will be at home.
NOTING THE MIAMI SERIES
The Tar Heels lead the all-time series with Miami, 6-0. That includes a 2-0 edge in games played in Miami. Carolina also beat Miami, 78-68, during the
1999-2000 season in a game played in Sunrise at the National Car Rental Center.
The last time UNC and Miami met was on Dec. 4, 2000, in the Smith Center in Chapel Hill. In that 67-45 Tar Heel win, Brendan Haywood had 18 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocked shots for the first recorded triple-double in UNC history. Carolina held the Hurricanes to 23.4 percent field goal shooting, the lowest total by an opponent in Smith Center history.
