Tar Heels Host Bucknell To Open PK80 Play

Wednesday, November 15

Chapel Hill

8:00 PM

North Carolina

Bucknell

Kenny Williams

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

November 14, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes Williams Updates Berry's Status Watch Live Stats Tickets Clear Bag Policy

CAROLINA-BUCKNELL
• Carolina plays host to Patriot League pre-season favorite Bucknell in the Tar Heels' second game of the season on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 8 p.m. at the Smith Center.
• The game will be streamed live by ACC Network Extra.
• The Carolina-Bucknell game is part of PK80, a Nike-sponsored event to honor Phil Knight.
• Carolina plays three other PK80 games in Portland, Ore., Nov. 23-26.
• The Tar Heels are 1-0 this season after an 86-69 win over Northern Iowa on Nov. 10.
• Bucknell is 0-2. The Bison opened with a 79-78 loss at Monmouth and a 101-73 loss at Arkansas.
• Bucknell won the 2017 Patriot League regular-season and Tournament title and lost, 86-80, to West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament. The Bison are coached by Nathan Davis, return all five starters from a year ago and were a unanimous pick by the league's head coaches and SIDs to repeat as Patriot League champions.
• Carolina and Bucknell are playing for the first time.
• This is Carolina's first game against a Patriot League school since UNC beat Holy Cross on 11/15/2013.

GAME ONE – CAROLINA 86, UNI 69
• Luke Maye had a game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds to lead Carolina to an 86-69 win over Northern Iowa.
• For his efforts, Maye was named co-ACC Player of the Week.
• Carolina played without Final Four MOP Joel Berry II (broken hand) and Cameron Johnson (sprained neck).
• Six of the 13 Tar Heels who played were freshmen making their collegiate debuts.
• The seven players who played who were on the roster a year ago scored a total of six points in the 2017 national championship game vs. Gonzaga (all by Theo Pinson).
• The six freshmen combined to score 36 points, led by Garrison Brooks' 14 and Sterling Manley's nine.
• Maye led all players with 26 points and 10 rebounds. His previous career high was 17 points against Kentucky in the 2017 Elite Eight.
• Maye made a career-high 11 field goals (previous high was six three times – against Kentucky in the regional final, Butler in the Sweet 16 and at NC State, all last year).
• Maye attempted 16 field goals, five more than his previous high in a game.
• This was the first time in his career Maye led UNC in scoring.
• It was Maye's second career double-double – he had 16 and 12 against Butler in the 2017 Sweet 16.
• Freshman Garrison Brooks had 14 points and six rebounds in his first college game and start. The 14 points are the most by a
freshman in the season's first game since Harrison Barnes had 14 against Lipscomb on 11/12/10.
• Kenny Williams scored 10 points and tied his career highs in both assists (five) and steals (three).
• Both Maye and Williams scored in double figures for the seventh time in their careers.
• Pinson had five assists and zero turnovers. It was the third time in his career he had five assists and no errors.
• Seventh Woods tied his career scoring high with nine points (also against Radford last year).
• UNC's seven turnovers were the fewest in a season opener under head coach Roy Williams (previous was nine against Temple in Annapolis to begin the 2015-16 season).
• The seven turnovers were the fewest in a season opener since 11/14/1997 when the Tar Heels committed seven against Middle Tennessee State in Bill Guthridge's first game as UNC's head coach.
• Carolina started two freshmen (Garrison Brooks and Jalek Felton) for the first time since 2015 (Justin Jackson and Theo Pinson). It was the fourth time in 15 seasons under Coach Williams that at least two freshmen started in the season opener (2006, 2007, 2015 and 2018).
• Carolina shot 50 percent from the floor (even though UNC missed its last five attempts). The Tar Heels are now 190-5 under Roy Williams when shooting at least 50 percent from the floor.
• Carolina's largest lead was 31 points at 86-55 with 4:14 to play (UNI out-scored the Tar Heels, 14-0 over the final 3:34).
• The win was Roy Williams' 399th as Carolina's head coach (399-115) and his 199th win at the Smith Center (now 106-4 against non-conference teams in the Smith Center).

SEASON OPENERS
• With the 86-69 win over Northern Iowa, Carolina is 96-12 in season openers and has won 83 of the last 88 opening games.
• Roy Williams is 14-1 in season openers as Carolina's head coach. His teams (KU and UNC) are a combined 27-3 in season openers.

BERRY OUT WITH AN INJURY
• Senior point guard Joel Berry II broke a bone in his right hand in mid-October and did not play against UNI.
• Berry was the Most Outstanding Player at the 2017 Final Four and the Most Valuable Player at the 2016 ACC Tournament.
• Berry is a preseason first-team All-America by ESPN.com, second-team All-America by USA Today and Sporting News' third team selection.
• Berry is on the preseason watch list for the Oscar Robertson Award (USBWA Player of the Year), the Naismith Award (Player of the Year) and the Bob Cousy Award (best point guard).
• The Apopka, Fla., native also was a preseason first-team All-ACC selection and received the second-most votes for preseason player of the year (tied with Duke's Grayson Allen behind Notre Dame's Bonzie Colson).
• Berry has 1,196 points, 335 assists, 123 steals and 173 three-point field goals in 108 career games.
• He is the only Tar Heel in history to earn All-Final Four honors twice (2016 and 2017).
• He became the seventh player overall and the first since UCLA's Bill Walton in 1972-73 to score at least 20 points in consecutive national championship games.
• He missed eight games as a freshman (seven with a groin strain and one due to illness) and two as a junior (sprained ankle).

JOHNSON ALSO MISSED OPENER
• Cameron Johnson did not play against Northern Iowa after spraining his neck in practice on 11/7. He did not practice the two days before the game against UNI and was ruled out after going through warmups before the game.
• Johnson averaged 11.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game last year as a Pitt Panther. He shot 44.7 percent from three-point range.
• Johnson matched his career high with 24 points against the Tar Heels in the Smith Center on 1/31/17.