Tar Heels To Open ACC Play Vs. BC

Jan. 6, 2012

TAR HEELS TO OPEN 2011-12 ACC PLAY VS. BOSTON COLLEGE SATURDAY

North Carolina (13-2) will open 2011-12 Atlantic Coast Conference play on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. when it hosts Boston College (5-9) in the Smith Center in the first conference game of the season for each team. The game will be televised by the syndicated ACC Network of stations. Tim Brant (play-by-play) and Mike Gminski (analyst) will have the call.

The Tar Heels will be aiming for their building-record 27th win in a row in the Smith Center. They set a Smith Center record with their 26th consecutive win in the facility last Sunday over Monmouth. UNC actually has won 27 home games in a row overall (including a 2010 NIT game in Carmichael Arena). The overall UNC home winning streak record is 32 games, set from 1926-29.

Starting Saturday, Carolina will play only ACC opponents for the rest of the 2011-12 regular season. With the win over Monmouth last weekend, UNC ended the regular season with a 13-2 record, losing at top-ranked Kentucky and in Las Vegas to UNLV.

Carolina could be without the services of freshman forward James Michael McAdoo on Saturday. McAdoo sprained his left ankle in practice on Wednesday Jan. 4, landing on teammate Tyler Zeller's leg after jumping. X-rays taken on Thursday morning were negative and McAdoo's status for the Boston College contest is questionable.

The Tar Heels have won seven consecutive games, all at home, and are coming off a 102-65 win over Monmouth. Two games remain in UNC's nine-game, nearly six-week homestand. Carolina's last road game was a one-point loss on Dec. 3 at top-ranked Kentucky and its next game away from the Smith Center will be its third conference game on Jan. 14 at Florida State.

Carolina is ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press poll and No. 4 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll this week. Boston College is unranked.

BC enters Sunday's game with a record of 5-9 and has lost back-to-back games -- to Harvard (Dec. 29) and Rhode Island (Jan. 2).

UPCOMING: After Saturday's game, the Tar Heels will host Miami next Tuesday (Jan. 10) to close out their nine-game homestand before visiting Florida State on Jan. 14.

UNC IN ACC OPENERS

Carolina is 49-9 all-time in Atlantic Coast Conference openers and has won 10 of its last 12.

Roy Williams is 6-2 in ACC openers (with losses in 2003-04 and 2008-09).

Last year, the Tar Heels won 62-56 at Virginia in their ACC opener.

Two seasons ago, Carolina beat Virginia Tech in its 2009-10 ACC opener in Chapel Hill. The win came six days after the Tar Heels had lost in overtime at the College of Charleston. UNC lost seven of its next eight ACC games after opening with the win over the Hokies.

Three years ago in the NCAA championship season of 2008-09, Carolina started conference play 0-2 with losses at home to Boston College and at Wake Forest. The Tar Heels recovered to finish 13-3 in the ACC, winning their fourth regular season ACC championship in five years.

Four years ago, UNC started ACC play in dramatic fashion with an 90-88 overtime win at Clemson on Jan. 6, 2008. Wayne Ellington hit a three-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining in overtime to give Carolina the victory. Ellington scored a career-high 36 points in the game.

Prior to the 2008-09 season, the Tar Heels last had lost their ACC opener in Roy Williams' first season as head coach when Wake Forest beat UNC, 119-114, in triple overtime on Dec. 20, 2003.

THE SERIES VS. BC

Carolina leads the series with the Eagles, 8-5. The Tar Heels have won six of their last eight meetings vs. Boston College and two in a row.

Roy Williams is 6-4 vs. Boston College as a head coach and has won six of the last eight meetings after losing the first two in 2005-06, BC's first season in the ACC.

Carolina is 2-2 against Boston College in Chapel Hill, winning in 2007-08 and 2010-11 but losing in the 2005-06 and 2008-09 seasons.

Last year, Carolina swept a pair of regular season meetings with the Eagles (see more details below).

Prior to last season, BC beat Carolina twice in a row, including in the teams' only meeting in the 2009-10 season. Three seasons ago, the Eagles handed eventual NCAA champion Carolina its first loss of the season, 85-78 in Chapel Hill. It was the first of back-to-back ACC losses to open the season for UNC (the Tar Heels lost at Wake Forest a week later). Carolina won 13 of its final 14 contests in conference play to finish 13-3 and win the outright ACC regular season title.

In 2005-06, BC's first year as an Atlantic Coast Conference member, the Eagles beat the Tar Heels twice -- 81-74 on Jan. 25, 2006, in Chapel Hill and on March 11, 2006, in Greensboro in an ACC Tournament semifinal. The Tar Heels have won six of eight in the series since that season.

All three meetings prior to BC joining the ACC came in NCAA Tournament play at neutral sites. On March 18, 1967, Carolina defeated Boston College 96-80 in the NCAA East Regional Final at Cole Field House in College Park, Md. Bob Lewis scored 31 points in the game and was named Most Outstanding Player of the East Regional as Carolina advanced to Dean Smith's first Final Four.

On March 22, 1975, the Tar Heels beat the Eagles 110-90 in the NCAA East Regional third place game in Providence, R.I. UNC's Mitch Kupchak led all players with 36 points and 13 rebounds in the contest.

On March 20, 1994, BC beat No. 1-ranked and defending NCAA champion Carolina 75-72 in the NCAA East Regional second round in Landover, Md.

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