University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Welcome UNCW, Peterson
December 31, 2013 | Men's Basketball
The Tar Heels and Seahawks will kick off their New Year's Eve date just after 5 p.m. in the Smith Center.
ESPNU will televise the game nationally with Roy Philpott (play-by-play) and Bob Valvano (analyst) on the call. The contest also will be available online via the WatchESPN app. The game also will be carried nationally on satellite radio by XM (channel 190) and Sirius (channel 108).
Peterson played at Carolina from 1981-85, winning an NCAA championship in 1982 while playing for head coach Dean Smith and then-assistant Roy Williams. He also was the roommate of Tar Heel classmateMichael Jordan.
Peterson played in 119 career games as a Tar Heel, totaling 513 points for an average of 4.3 ppg. As a senior in 1984-85, he played in all 36 UNC contests. He was a member of two Carolina squads (1982, 1984) that finished the season ranked No. 1 in the nation. Peterson's UNC teams finished atop the ACC standings four years in a row, going 47-9 in league regular season play.
The game is the Tar Heels' final non-conference game of the 2013-14 regular season. Atlantic Coast Conference play begins on Sunday at Wake Forest.
UNCW enters Tuesday's game with a 6-8 record and is in the midst of a three-game losing streak. In their most recent outing, the Seahawks lost 75-61 at UNC Asheville on Saturday.
The Seahawks are one of eight college programs with former Tar Heel players as their head coach. Former UNC players now serving as college head coaches are Larry Brown (SMU), Jason Capel (Appalachian State), Scott Cherry (High Point), Jeff Lebo (East Carolina), Wes Miller (UNCG), Peterson (UNCW), King Rice (Monmouth) and Tony Shaver (William and Mary).
Tuesday's matchup completes a run of six consecutive home games for the Tar Heels over the last month. After going 3-1 in a stretch of four straight games away from Chapel Hill in late November and early December, Carolina has gone 4-1 at home this month entering the UNCW contest.
Tuesday's game will be the third overall meeting between North Carolina and UNCW and the first since the 2004-05 season, Roy Williams' second as the Tar Heel coach.
In Williams' first season in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels beat UNCW 71-54 on Dec. 28, 2003, in a homecoming game for Raymond Felton that was played in Myrtle Beach, S.C. In 2004-05, the Tar Heels never trailed in a 96-75 victory over the Seahawks in Chapel Hill. The last time the Seahawks played the Tar Heels, they were led by former head coach Brad Brownell, now the Clemson coach.
