University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Old Dominion
No. 9 Tar Heels Crush Old Dominion, 90-64, In Williams' Debut
November 22, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2003
By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Roy Williams was back, and No. 9 North Carolina might be, too.
The storied program lost a combined 36 games the last two seasons, but the Tar Heels gave their new coach an impressive victory in his debut, beating Old Dominion 90-64 Saturday night.
Rashad McCants had 18 points and a career-high eight assists against an Old Dominion team that returned four of its six best players.
Sean May, who missed most of last season with a stress fracture in his left foot, was back in form with 17 points, seven rebounds and three blocks as the Tar Heels shot 61 percent.
Abdi Lidonde led Old Dominion with 15 points.
Williams, who left Kansas this spring after 15 seasons to replace Matt Doherty, was greeted with a standing ovation as entered the Smith Center floor, waving to the crowd several times and his family in the stands.
He also won some points with the student section when he held up a T-shirt that read: "North Carolina basketball, worth coming home for." Williams then threw the autographed shirt into the crowd.
Then it was down to business for the coach who learned his craft under Hall of Famer Dean Smith.
The Tar Heels shot the most 3-pointers in the ACC last season, but weren't firing away much from the outside under Williams, who yelled repeatedly from the bench to "get the ball inside."
And North Carolina's defensive pressure was evident from the start as Old Dominion (0-1) missed 22 of its first 29 shots, turned it over 11 times and had six shots blocked in the opening 20 minutes to fall into a deep hole.
The Tar Heels received a scare 7˝ minutes in when preseason All-American Raymond Felton tumbled to the floor during a drive, clutching his ankle. The point guard limped off, but returned three minutes later and made an acrobatic shot as he was falling and being fouled.
Felton's three-point play was part of a 22-6 run that gave North Carolina a 17-point cushion midway through an opening period in which the Tar Heels shot 59.3 percent.
North Carolina pushed its lead to 22 by the first TV timeout of the second half, after Jawad Williams scored on a pair of layups and May added a hook shot and a fast-break basket.
The coach with the best active winning percentage even got his new team running like some of his Kansas clubs in the second period, using a 18-0 surge to salt it away with 12 minutes left.
