University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Host Oakland In Opener
November 8, 2013 | Men's Basketball
CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina will kick off its 104th season and make its 2013-14 debut when it hosts Oakland University on Friday night at 9 p.m. in the Smith Center.
Friday's game will be televised live by the ACC's Regional Sports Network with Wes Durham (play-by-play) and Mike Gminski (analyst) on the call.
RSN affiliates for Friday's game include Fox Sports South/Fox Sports Carolinas, Sun Sports, Fox Sports Midwest Plus/Fox Sports Indiana Plus, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus, MSG Plus, NESN and Fox Sports Detroit Plus.
The Golden Grizzlies made NCAA Tournament appearances in 2010 and '11 and boast senior Travis Bader, who is on pace to threaten all-time NCAA records in three-pointers made and attempted. Head coach Greg Kampe returns for his 30th season, and OU also returns last year's NCAA leader in steals, Duke Mondy. The senior guard set a school record with 100 in 2012-13. Juniors Corey Petros (12.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg) and Dante Williams (3.7 ppg, 1.8 rpg) are also returning starters for the Golden Grizzlies.
This season marks Oakland's first campaign in the Horizon League. The Golden Grizzlies received one first-place vote and were picked fourth in the league's preseason poll. Over the past five years, OU has averaged 22 wins per year and scored close to 80 points per game, third-most in the country.
As a special cross-promotion with Carolina women's basketball (4:30 p.m. on Friday at Carmichael Arena) and men's soccer (7 p.m. at Fetzer Field), any fan with a ticket to the men's basketball game vs. Oakland will receive free admission to Friday's women's basketball and men's soccer games on campus.
Carolina won its only exhibition game of the preseason, an 82-63 victory over UNC Pembroke last Friday night.
Here's a GoHeels TV recap of Thursday's pregame press conference with Carolina head coach Roy Williams and junior forward James Michael McAdoo:
GAME AT A GLANCE
• Friday, Nov. 8, 2013, 9 p.m.
• TV: RSN (Wes Durham, Mike Gminski)
• Site: Chapel Hill (Dean E. Smith Center)
• Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network, a division of Learfield Communications. Jones Angell (play-by-play), Eric Montross (analyst) and Dave Nathan (host) will have the call.
• Twitter: @UNC_Basketball
• Tickets: GoHeels.com
TAR HEELS IN SEASON OPENERS
• North Carolina is 91-12 all-time in season-opening games.
• UNC has won 78 of its last 83 season openers, including eight in a row.
• Since the 1930-31 season, the Tar Heels have dropped season-opening games in 1965-66 (at Clemson), 1982-83 (vs. St. John's), 1996-97 (vs. Arizona), 2001-02 (Hampton) and 2004-05 (vs. Santa Clara).
• Carolina's Nov. 8 season opener is the earliest in program history (the 2009-10 and 2012-13 teams opened on Nov. 9 for the earliest previous starts).
CAROLINA IN HOME OPENERS
• North Carolina is 96-7 all-time in home openers, winning 80 of its last 82.
• Carolina has lost its home opener just twice since the 1928-29 season - in 1999-2000 to Michigan State and in 2001-02 to Hampton.
• UNC is 24-2 in home openers in the Smith Center.
A LOOK AHEAD ...
• Friday's game is the first of three in a row for the Tar Heels at home to start the season, a stretch followed by four games in a row away from Chapel Hill.
• After the matchup with Oakland, Carolina will have a week off before playing a pair of games next weekend as part of the Hall of Fame Tipoff in the Smith Center. UNC will host Holy Cross on Friday Nov. 15 and Belmont on Sunday Nov. 17.
• The following weekend Carolina will head to Uncasville, Conn., to play two more games in the Hall of Fame Tipoff, starting with Richmond on Saturday Nov. 23.
THE SERIES VS. OAKLAND ...
• North Carolina and Oakland have met once before on the hardwood, and UNC leads the series 1-0.
• On March 18, 2005, Roy Williams won his second NCAA Tournament game as the Tar Heel head coach with a 96-68 win over Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament East Regional in Charlotte.
• Marvin Williams (20 points and eight rebounds) and Sean May (19 points) led top-seeded Carolina, which shot 73 percent in the first half and led by 26 at the break. The Tar Heels went on to win the 2005 NCAA championship two weekends later in St. Louis.
• Roy Williams is 1-0 as a head coach vs. Oakland.
