Tar Heels To Open Season At Wofford Tuesday

GAME ONE NOTEBOOK
• This is the 109th season of Carolina Basketball. The Tar Heels have won 2,232 games, an average of 20.7 wins per season. UNC is the only school in the top 10 in all-time NCAA wins that has averaged at least 20 wins per season.
• Carolina is 96-12 in season openers with wins in 83 of its last 88 games. Roy Williams is 14-1 as Carolina's head coach in opening games (lone loss vs. Santa Clara in Oakland in the 2004-05 season).
• Carolina begins regular-season play with a pair of road games – at Wofford on Nov. 6 and Elon on Nov. 9. This is the first time UNC has opened with two road games since 1986-87, when the Tar Heels played at Hawai'i and Hawai'i-Loa.
• The regular-season home opener is Nov. 12 vs. Stanford.
• Carolina defeated Mount Olive, 107-64, in an exhibition game on Nov. 2. A recap is below.

CAROLINA VS. WOFFORD SERIES NOTES
• The Tar Heels lead the series, 3-1, with all four previous games having been played in Chapel Hill. Carolina won games in the 1921-22 and 1925-26 seasons, then beat the Terriers, 78-58 in the Smith Center on 11/18/2015.
• Last year, Wofford beat the fifth-ranked Tar Heels, 79-75, in the Smith Center on 12/20/17. A full recap of that game is available below.
• Carolina head coach Roy Williams and Wofford head coach Mike Young used to coach in the same gym at the Dean Smith Carolina Basketball Camp.

LAST YEAR VS. WOFFORD
• Wofford beat the Tar Heels, 79-75, in the Smith Center on 12/20/17.
• Fletcher Magee scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the second half and Cameron Jackson had 18 points, nine rebounds, six blocks, three assists and three steals to lead the Terriers.
• Carolina came into the game No. 1 in the nation in the NCAA's RPI.
• Joel Berry II led UNC with 23 points and Luke Maye had 17 points and 14 rebounds, but the duo was a combined 11 for 32 from the floor.
• Cameron Johnson made his Tar Heel debut and scored 10 points in 17 minutes. He made a career-high seven free throws.
• Carolina committed 14 turnovers that led to 16 Terrier points.
• It was the first time Carolina lost at home as a top-5 ranked team against an unranked opponent since losing to Boston College on 1/4/2009.
• The loss snapped UNC's 23-game home winning streak and UNC's 22-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents. The 23-game streak tied the fifth-longest in school history.
• It was UNC's first loss at home to a non-ACC opponent since 12/3/14 against Iowa.
• It was UNC's 16th loss to a non-ACC team in the Smith Center in 33 seasons.
• Carolina went 28 for 38 from the free throw line, and shot 36.4 percent from the floor.

MORE ON OPENING ON THE ROAD
• This is seventh time Carolina opens the season with a road game since the ACC's first season in 1953-54.
• UNC is 6-1 in those previous six road openers:
2018-19 at Wofford
2016-17 at Tulane
2007-08 at Davidson
1986-87 at Hawai'i
1980-81 at Alaska-Anchorage
1978-79 at Northwestern
1965-66 at Clemson

QUICK LOOK BACK
• Carolina went 26-11 in 2017-18 finishing the year ranked No. 10 in the AP poll.
• The Tar Heels tied for third in the ACC with an 11-7 record and won three games in the ACC Tournament to reach the championship game for an unprecedented 35th time (eight in 15 seasons under Roy Williams).
• UNC was the No. 2 seed in the West Regional. The Tar Heels defeated Lipscomb and lost to Texas A&M in the second round Charlotte.
• Joel Berry II and Luke Maye earned first-team All-ACC and third-team All-America honors.

THE 2018-19 TAR HEELS
• Carolina returns 11 players from a year ago and adds six newcomers (including a transfer, Ryan McAdoo, who will red-shirt).
• The 11 returnees include four who combined to make 109 starts last season (Luke Maye 37, Kenny Williams 36, Cameron Johnson 20 and Garrison Brooks 16).
• Williams has made 58 career starts, including 22 as a sophomore in UNC's national championship season in 2016-17.
• Johnson has 54 collegiate starts – 34 at Pittsburgh, where he played for three seasons and earned his undergraduate degree in communications. He is a second-year graduate student in sports administration.
• Maye has 38 career starts. He started at Duke in 2016-17.
• Carolina returns 1,950 of 3,018 points from a year ago (64.6 percent), 1,047 of 1,570 rebounds (66.7 percent) and 334 of 674 assists (49.6 percent).
• Maye (16.9 ppg), Johnson (12.4) and Williams (11.4) were the second-, third- and fourth-leading scorers last year.
• Maye led the team and was second in the ACC in rebounding at 10.1 per game. He was also seventh in the league in scoring and field goal percentage.
• Maye is one of three returning players who ranked among the top 10 in ACC scoring last season with Tyus Battle of Syracuse (third) and Ky Bowman of Boston College (sixth).

AP POLL
• Carolina is No. 8 in the Associated Press preseason poll.
• This is the 13th time in 16 seasons under Roy Williams UNC is in the preseason Top 10.
• Carolina is ranked in an AP poll for the 896th time, second-most in college basketball history.
• UNC is ranked in the top 10 for the 670th time, most in ACC history and second-most all-time behind Kentucky's 685.
• This is the 56th time in 71 seasons of the poll the Tar Heels have been ranked in the top 10 in at least one week of the poll.
• UNC finished the year in the AP poll top 10 10 times in Williams' first 15 seasons.
• Carolina has finished in the top 10 of the AP poll 37 times, including 26 of the last 38 years.
• Carolina is seventh in the coaches poll.

PRESEASON PICKS
• Carolina was picked to finish third in the conference at ACC Media Day (on Oct. 24) behind Duke and Virginia.
• Other preseason ACC rankings include: No. 2 by Athlon and Lindy's and No. 3 by Blue Ribbon Yearbook and Street & Smith's.
• National predictions include: No, 6 by Lindy's, No. 7 by Athlon and Street & Smith's and No. 12 by Blue Ribbon.
• Senior forward Luke Maye (Huntersville, N.C.) was selected the ACC Preseason Player of the Year at ACC Media Day. He is the first Tar Heel to be named preseason player of the year since Marcus Paige in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
• Maye was named Sports Illustrated's No. 1 candidate for National Player of the Year and the top player in the country by Lindy's. He was ranked the fourth-best player in the country by NBC, the ninth-best player by Athlon and a preseason first-team All-America by the AP, ESPN.com, Blue Ribbon, Lindy's and Street & Smith's.
• Freshman forward Nassir Little (Orange Park, Fla.) was named third-team All-America by Athlon, fourth-team All-America by NBC Sports, first-team All-ACC by Athlon and second-team All-ACC by Lindy's.
• NBC Sports ranked Little the No. 3 wing in the country; Athlon named Little the No. 3 impact freshman and No. 11 overall player in the country.
• Maye is a candidate for the Basketball Hall of Fame's Karl Malone Award (power forward) and Little for the Julius Erving Award (small forward).
• Maye and Little are two of 50 pre-season candidates to watch for the Citizen Naismith Trophy given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to the National Player of the Year. Maye is one of 21 seniors on the watch list; Little is among the nine freshmen on the list.
• Carolina's front court was ranked No. 4 in the nation by Lindy's.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Cameron Johnson has scored 906 points at Pittsburgh (583) and UNC (323). He needs 94 points to reach 1,000.
• Luke Maye has scored 857 career points and needs 143 for 1,000. Maye needs 32 three-pointers to become the 28th Tar Heel to make at least 100 and needs 135 rebounds to become the 28th Tar Heel with 700 or more.
• Kenny Williams has scored 607 points and needs 393 for 1,000.
• Seventy-six (76) Tar Heels have scored 1,000 or more career points. That's more than any other school in college basketball history. Louisville is second with 68 and Duke is third with 67.
• Carolina is 198-16 alltime in the Smith Center against non-ACC opponents. UNC needs two wins to reach 200.
• Carolina has played in 49 NCAA Tournaments. Should UNC advance to the 2019 NCAA Tournament, Carolina would become the second school with Kentucky to play in at least 50 NCAA Tournaments.

RECAPPING THE MOUNT OLIVE GAME
• Garrison Brooks led North Carolina with 16 points and 16 rebounds in a 107-64 exhibition game win over Mount Olive on 11/2.
• UNC led 14-13 seven minutes into the game, then went on a 13-0 run to stretch the lead to 27-13 and ended the half on another 27-12 run to build a 54-29 advantage at the half.
• Kenny Williams (15), Cameron Johnson (11), Nassir Little (11) and Coby White (10) also scored in double figures for Carolina.
• Freshman Coby White started at point guard for Carolina and had a game-high six assists.
• Carolina shot 58.3 percent from the floor in the second half and 51.2 (42 of 80) for the game. The Trojans shot just 28.4 percent for the contest (25 of 88), including 8 of 37 (.216) from three-point range.
• UNC out-rebounded Mount Olive, 69-36, but both teams scored 25 second-chance points. The Tar Heels had 26 assists on 41 field goals, but committed 22 turnovers.

RECAPPING THE VILLANOVA SCRIMMAGE
• UNC and Villanova – winners of the last three NCAA men's basketball championships – played a controlled scrimmage Oct. 20 at Finneran Pavilion on the Wildcats' campus.
• Cameron Johnson led five Tar Heels in double figures with 19 points. In addition to Johnson's 19, Coby White (17), Luke Maye (16), Little (13) and Garrison Brooks (11) also scored in double figures over the 50 minutes for the Tar Heels.
• Villanova out-scored the Tar Heels, 41-36, in the first 20 minutes and 48-43 in the second 20-minute segment. UNC freshman Nassir Little made a free throw with no time on the clock to tie an additional 10-minute segment, 25-25.
• Villanova senior Phil Booth made nine three-pointers and led all scorers with 41 points over two 20-minute and one 10-minute periods.
• Eric Paschall scored 18 of his 24 points from three-point range and freshman Saddiq Bey made five threes en route to 23 points for the Wildcats.
• Following the second 20-minute segment, the teams scrimmaged for 10 minutes in which both teams played exclusively zone defenses (UNC won, 14-13). UNC's reserves also won a 5-minute segment, 14-5.

HURRICANE RELIEF
• Carolina Basketball and head coach Roy Williams donated $23,400 to provide relief from Hurricane Florence at Late Night with Roy!
• Carolina donated $11,700 ($100 for each of 117 made baskets over a four-minute, 15-second shooting drill) from the proceeds from the team's sale of autographed basketballs.
• Williams and his wife, Wanda, matched that with a $11,700 gift of their own.
• Fifty percent of the combined proceeds will go to the University's Disaster Relief Fund (https://ccps.unc.edu/news-events/disaster-relief/unc-disaster-relief-funds/) and 50 percent went to the Hurricane Florence Student Emergency Fund.

ROY WILLIAMS COURT
• On 8/23/18, Carolina officially dedicated the Tar Heels' home floor as Roy Williams Court at the Dean E. Smith Center.
• The dedication was part of a two-day Carolina Basketball reunion of more than 300 players, coaches, managers and staff.

NO. 1 SCHEDULE IN THE COUNTRY
• Carolina's 2018-19 schedule is rated the No. 1 most difficult schedule in the country by NCAA.com.
• Carolina is scheduled to play 10 teams that are ranked in the preseason Top 25 by the Associated Press, including No. 2 Kentucky (in Chicago), No. 3 Gonzaga (home), No. 4 Duke (home and away), No. 5 Virginia (home) and possibly No. 10 Michigan State (in Las Vegas).
• Other opponents in the Top 25 include No. 15 Virginia Tech (home), No. 16 Syracuse (home), No. 17 Florida State (home), No. 19 Michigan (away), No, 21 UCLA (possible opponent in Las Vegas) and No. 22 Clemson (away).
• Carolina and Florida are the only two schools in the country that play six non-conference games against teams that played in the 2018 NCAA Tournament (Texas, Michigan State or UCLA, Michigan, Gonzaga, Kentucky and Davidson).
• UNC also plays eight ACC teams that played in the 2018 NCAA Tournament for a total of 14 opponents (at least 17 games) against last year's NCAA field.

THREE NON-ACC ROAD GAMES
• Carolina plays non-conference road games at Wofford, Elon and Michigan.
• UNC is one of 14 schools in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac 12 that play three or more road games (Stanford is the only one to play four, including Nov. 12 in Chapel Hill).
• UNC and Georgia Tech are the only ACC schools to play three non-conference road games.
• Including this season, Carolina will have played 42 non-conference road games in Roy Williams' 16 years as Carolina's head coach. That equals the third most in the ACC behind Georgia Tech (45) and Wake Forest (44). Virginia Tech is tied with UNC with 42.

FOUR IN DECEMBER
• Carolina plays just four times in December – home games against UNCW (12/5), Gonzaga (12/15) and Davidson (12/29) and the CBS Sports Classic game vs. Kentucky in Chicago (12/22).
• This is the first time since 1961-62 the Tar Heels have played this few games in December. That season was Dean Smith's first as UNC's head coach; the Tar Heels played only three times in December 1961.

FAMILY TIES
• Carolina has three players on its roster whose father or brother played basketball for the Tar Heels and a fourth whose dad played quarterback for the UNC football team.
• Senior forward Luke Maye's dad, Mark, played quarterback in 1984, 1986 and 1987. He finished his career second in UNC history in completions (263) passing yards (3,459) and tossed 20 touchdowns. He set a single-season total offense school record in 1987 with 1,914 yards. Mark was also a two-time Academic All-ACC honoree (Luke is a three-time recipient already) and wore No. 14.
• Sophomore point guard K.J. Smith is eligible to play this season after sitting out in 2017-18 as a transfer from the University of Pacific, where he played in 24 games in 2016-17. His dad, Kenny, was the National Player of the Year (Basketball Times) in 1987, set UNC career records for assists (768) and steals (195) and played 10 seasons in the NBA. He won championships in 1994 and 1995 with Houston and is now an Emmy Award-winning analyst with Turner Sports. K.J. Smith is wearing No. 30, which was his dad's number.
• Sophomore forward Walker Miller wears No. 22, the number his brother, Wes, wore while playing for the Tar Heels from 2004-07. Currently the head coach at UNCG, where he led the Spartans to the Southern Conference title and an NCAA berth in 2018. Wes was a member of the 2005 NCAA champions, started at shooting guard in 2006 and was a key contributor on the 2007 ACC champion Tar Heels.
• Sophomore Ryan McAdoo is in his first season with the Tar Heels but is red-shirting as a transfer after playing at Florida Gulf Coast a year ago. He is wearing No. 35, which his father wore in his one season at Carolina. Bob McAdoo is a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. McAdoo averaged 19.5 points and 10.1 rebounds, was the 1972 ACC Tournament MVP and led UNC to the Final Four. He was the NBA's MVP in 1975, a five-time all-star, won NBA titles with the Lakers in 1982 and 1985 and led the league in scoring in 1974 (30.6 ppg), in 1975 (34.5) and 1976 (31.1).

NEW VIDEO BOARDS
• New at the Smith Center this season are four video boards, one in each corner of the upper deck. Each of the boards measure 1,875 square feet, which is greater than the combined size of the previous four boards (432 sq. ft. each).
• The boards include 8.9 million LEDs, provide more than 7,500 sq. ft. of display space and have a resolution of 1080p.

HALL OF FAMERS SCOTT, PERKINS
• Charlie Scott was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September. Scott became the 10th Tar Heel enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
• Scott joins Tar Heels Ben Carnevale (inducted in 1970), Frank McGuire (1977), Dean Smith (1983), Billy Cunningham (1986), Bob McAdoo (2000), Larry Brown (2002), James Worthy (2003), Roy Williams (2007) and Michael Jordan (2009).
• Sam Perkins will be inducted in the NABC College Basketball Hall of Fame on Nov. 18 in Kansas City.
• Perkins will become the 11th Tar Heel in the College Hall of Fame with Brown, Carnevale, Cunningham, Phil Ford, McAdoo, McGuire, Scott, Smith, Williams and Worthy.

VITALE'S MOUNT RUSHMORE
• ESPN's Dick Vitale is commemorating his 40th year in broadcasting with a book titled "Dick Vitale's Mount Rushmores of College Basketball."
• Vitale's Mount Rushmore includes Dean Smith, Roy Williams, Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski.
• Co-authored with Hall of Fame writer Dick Weiss, the book will be available in November at DickVitaleOnline.com with all the proceeds going to reaching a goal of $4 million to benefit the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

NEXT UP: GAME TWO AT ELON
• Carolina returns to action on Friday, Nov. 2, at Elon (7 p.m., ESPNU).
• This will be the first regular-season game at Elon's new on-campus arena, the Schar Center.
• Carolina is 18-4 against Elon, although the teams have played only once since 1950.
• UNC beat Elon, 100-62, on 12/29/2011. ACC Player of the Year Tyler Zeller had 19 points and 13 rebounds, Harrison Barnes scored 18, John Henson had 16 points and 11 boards and Kendall Marshall had a game-high eight assists. All four players were first-round NBA Draft picks in June 2012
• This will be the first time UNC plays at Elon since 12/2/1950 (at Alumni Gym).
• Carolina is 4-3 at Elon (3-3 at West Dormitorium and 1-0 at Alumni Gym).

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Joel Berry II

Garrison Brooks

Cameron Johnson

Nassir Little

Luke Maye

Ryan McAdoo

Walker Miller

K.J. Smith

Coby White

Kenny Williams