Tuesday Talking Points

Nov. 16, 2004

The Tar Heels will open their season Friday night in Oakland. Their last trip to the west coast was a good one--on Dec. 23, 2000, the Heels beat UCLA 80-70 behind 29 points from Joseph Forte. That win was the fourth in an eventual 18-game winning streak.

Quentin Thomas is the first scholarship Tar Heel from California (he's from Oakland) since Scott Williams came to the Hill in 1987.

The season opener will be a "home" game for Thomas. The last Carolina player to have a true "home" game was Jawad Williams, who scored 24 points and had 11 rebounds last year at Cleveland State.

Friday night's game against Santa Clara will break a streak of 65 straight starts by Raymond Felton. It will be the first game he hasn't started in his Tar Heel career.

Carolina's preseason ranking of fourth by the AP is their highest preseason mark since they were also fourth prior to the 1997-98 season.

Marvin Williams was selected the ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year. Five Tar Heels have won the postseason version of that award, with the last being Joseph Forte in 2000.

Carolina's 82.1 ppg average last year was the team's highest since 1994-95 (84.4, which was part of a streak of 10 straight years averaging at least 80 points per game).

Last season, Raymond Felton averaged 12.7 ppg in UNC losses and 10.8 ppg in UNC wins.

Over the last three seasons, none of the 12 Final Four participants have allowed a defensive field goal percentage of more than 41 percent. UNC allowed opponents to shoot 44 percent last year.

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Players Mentioned

Raymond Felton

Joseph Forte

Quentin Thomas

Jawad Williams

Marvin Williams

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