University of North Carolina Athletics
BREWER: UCLA, Not Duke Was Supposed To Be Smith Center Opener
February 14, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2006
By Rick Brewer, Sports Information Director Emeritus
The first game ever played in the Smith Center, Carolina's 95-92 win over Duke in 1986, is still considered one the classics in the arena's history.
But, that game had not actually been planned to be the building's initial game. There has been a misconception about that in the Smith Center's 20th anniversary season.
UCLA had been specifically scheduled as the 1985-86 season opener and the Smith Center's first game. But, by early fall in 1985 it became clear that construction was running behind schedule. The athletic department printed two sets of tickets, one for Carmichael and one for the Smith Center.
The department waited as late as October before giving up hope that the building would be ready for the Nov. 24 game with the Bruins. There was some thought of waiting until the next year before beginning to play here. However, Coach Dean Smith wanted to get into the building as soon as possible. He asked about opening it against Ohio University on Dec. 14.
But, it was finally decided to begin play here either against N.C. State on Jan. 4 or Duke on Jan. 18. The three games between those two were all on the road. So officials eventually settled on Duke as the first opponent to give workers any extra time that might be needed to get the arena ready.
The Ticket Office somehow managed to iron out its problems. The two sets of tickets for the year had to be redistributed for a half season in each place.
Players admitted the first few games here were different from those in Carmichael.
"Right now it's going to be sort of like playing a road game for us," said Brad Daugherty before the building opened. "It's going to take a while to find out if we really have lost any of our homecourt advantage."
Smith scheduled seven or eight practice sessions here and even had one open scrimmage. Amazingly, over 5,000 fans showed up for that.
"If there are any quirks here, they're not about the court," said Steve Hale. "It's just like a new house. The court is excellent. It gives and it's easier on your knees.
"The locker room is great. One of the best things is the shower heads are so high. That's been a problem for some of our guys in Carmichael."
The visiting locker room was also improved. Anyone doubting that had never been to the old one in the bowels of Woollen Gym.
The fact that the first game here was against Duke increased interest even more. Carolina was 17-0 and ranked number one in the country, while the third-ranked Blue Devils were 16-0. The game was nationally televised and there was a huge media turnout from across the nation.
"No regular-season game last season got this much attention," said Smith. "It reminds me of the 1983 game against Virginia with Ralph Sampson."
That was the game in which Carolina scored the final 11 points and won on Michael Jordan's steal and dunk, 64-63.
Smith tried to play down any talk of leaving Carmichael prior to the Duke Game.
"I don't know about losing any homecourt advantage," he said. "I'd just as soon play at Cameron if we controlled all the tickets."
The first game itself was as physical as any all year. Three Tar Heel players fouled out. The Blue Devils lost one player to fouls and three others finished with four each.
The foul situation forced Smith to use a three-guard offense for most of the second half. Hale responded with a career-high 28 points.
Carolina went on a 16-5 run to open the second half and pushed a 48-43 lead to 64-48. Hale had eight of those points. He had a steal and layup and then scored on three backdoor layups.
"They were overplaying us," he said. "They have an excellent defensive team and try to deny every pass. We tried to spread them out and penetrate."
Still it took a great fake and cut to get open and take passes from Daugherty and Jeff Lebo.
Those plays were helped by the homecourt advantage Carolina got in the Smith Center.
"The reason for those layups was we couldn't hear each other," said Duke's Mark Alarie. "For our defense to work we have to talk to each other. We didn't offer weak side help because we couldn't hear David (Henderson) calling for it. The noise made it seem like being out there alone."
The attendance of 21,444 was the largest ever to see a basketball game in this state. The noise made it seem like there were even more people than that in the building.
Hale, for one was satisfied with the arena.
"This was just like it was in Carmichael," he said. "We came in at the same time, dressed and went out. Everything was the same. I just had a little trouble knowing where to get into the building."
Fortunately for Carolina he eventually found the right door.
