The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Thursday, March 28, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

With throwback uniforms and a throwback arena, North Carolina wrapped itself in its own 100-year legacy for Tuesday night’s NIT opener against William & Mary.

And on Tuesday, it was enough for a throwback 80-72 win.

Despite not making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003, UNC came out with plenty of fire and emotion in front of the more intimate crowd of only 7,000 at Carmichael Arena, UNC’s home court from 1965 to 1986.

“Let’s take half the seats out of the Dean Dome, put in luxury boxes and have a dadgum crowd like this every dadgum night,” UNC coach Roy Williams joked.

Marcus Ginyard ran out of the tunnel gleefully shouting. John Henson strutted during the announcement of the opening lineups. Deon Thompson repeatedly encouraged the crowd, and the Tar Heels raced out to a 9-0 opening lead before William & Mary could even get started.

“We played pretty doggone good in the first half to go in with a 10-point lead,” Williams said.

But when the Tribe did get going, its long-range barrage was deadly. W&M took 43 3-point shots for the game and connected on 16 of them. David Schneider led the Tribe with 21 points and kept the game neck and neck.

“David played the way he always plays,” William & Mary coach Tony Shaver said. “His effort, his intensity, his heart are always on display.”

The Tar Heels countered with a steady diet of Thompson. The senior led UNC with 20 points and had eight rebounds and two steals.

UNC went down low often, scoring 38 points in the paint and building up a 10-point halftime lead. Thompson scored 11 points in the opening 20 minutes, and he and Henson combined for UNC’s last 13 points of the half.

But William & Mary erased the deficit with an 8-2 run to open the second half as the Tribe turned to leading scorer Schneider.

Early in the second half, Schneider and Co. hit five threes in a three-minute period. Schneider also hit a fading 30-footer to put the Tribe up 72-69 with just five minutes to play.

But Dexter Strickland and Larry Drew II hit six free throws down the stretch to restore the lead and Tyler Zeller’s steal and breakaway dunk with less than one minute to play sealed the game for UNC.

The Tar Heels limited their turnovers to just 11 while forcing 17 out of William & Mary.

“We did a great job of getting after it,” Ginyard said. “Getting on the loose balls, playing together as a team.”

UNC moves on to play Mississippi State in the NIT’s second round Saturday.



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.