The schedule had the North Carolina men’s basketball team pegged to start the 2011-12 season at 7:30 p.m. Friday night with an exhibition game against UNC-Pembroke.
But in the 100-58 win, the Tar Heels didn’t really start playing until somewhere closer to 8 p.m.
North Carolina won the opening tip, and Kendall Marshall and Dexter Strickland both bobbled the ball and ended up losing it out of bounds — ending the first possession before it could start.
“I don’t think anybody was pleased with the start we got,” coach Roy Williams said. “We fumbled the first two times our two starting guards got the ball. They both fumble it, and it ends up going the other direction.”
The Braves took advantage by scoring on their first possession and held on to that lead for most of the first half. Three different times in the half, Pembroke stretched the lead out to eight points, the first of which came just two and a half minutes in to the game.
After the second 3-pointer from Marcus Heath, the Division II Braves had the preseason No. 1 Tar Heels down 10-2 in the Smith Center.
That lead wouldn’t hold, and North Carolina won by a significant margin, but it would take a 14-0 run sparked by a lineup of four freshman and Reggie Bullock at the end of the first half to swing the momentum.
“The way they passed the ball, P.J. (Hairston) hitting big shots, Reggie getting steals and fast breaks, layups and stuff like that, it really picked us up in the second half,” Strickland said.
Led by Tyler Zeller, UNC went on to outscore the Braves 57-26 in the second half to run away with the game. Zeller was the high scorer for the Tar Heels with an 18-point, 11-rebound performance.
