University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Open NIT Play Tonight
March 18, 2003 | Men's Basketball
March 18, 2003
CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina will host DePaul tonight at 9 p.m. in the Smith Center in the first round of the 2003 Owens Corning National Invitation Tournament. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN (Dave Barnett and Brad Daugherty will have the call).
"We have the opportunity to play in a national tournament and wear the North Carolina uniform, to catapult us and springboard us to success next year," UNC head coach Matt Doherty said on Monday. "This is a great tournament. There are teams in this tournament that are better than some teams in the NCAA Tournament because of the automatic bids."
The Tar Heels are making their fifth NIT appearance and first since 1974. After missing postseason play last season while going 8-20, Carolina has now reached the postseason in 36 of the last 37 years (a span that began with the 1966-67 season).
Carolina earned its NIT bid by going 17-15 thus far this season, beating four ranked teams and reaching the ACC Tournament semifinals. The Tar Heels lost to Duke, 75-63, in the ACC semis last Saturday in Greensboro, N.C. DePaul enters the NIT with a record of 16-12. The Blue Demons defeated fellow Conference USA members Louisville and Cincinnati during the regular season.
The winner of Tuesday's Carolina-DePaul game will advance to play the winner of Wednesday's Wyoming-Eastern Washington game (at a date and site to be determined).
Carolina is making its fifth appearance in the NIT and first since 1973-74. The Tar Heels previously played in the NIT in 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1974. Carolina won the 1971 NIT with an 84-66 win over Georgia Tech in the championship game in Madison Square Garden. The 1971 NIT champs were led by NIT MVP Bill Chamberlain, George Karl and first-team All-ACC choice Dennis Wuycik. UNC has reached the NIT semifinals twice, winning the event in 1971 and finishing third in 1973. Carolina lost in the first round in '70 and '74.
The Tar Heels lead the series with DePaul, 3-1. Tuesday's game will be the first meeting between the two schools since the 1990-91 season. In the last meeting on December 29, 1990, Carolina beat the Blue Demons 90-75 in the Red Lobster Classic in Orlando, Fla. George Lynch (16 points) and Pete Chilcutt (14 points, 11 rebounds) led the Tar Heels to that win. UNC also beat DePaul 70-51 in the Smith Center during the 1989-90 season and 87-67 in Chicago during the 1988-89 campaign. The first meeting between the two schools was a 60-53 Blue Demon win in Chicago during the 1946-47 season.
