Tar Heels Open Season With Temple
November 13, 2015 | Men's Basketball
CBS Sports Network will televise the game nationally. Tom McCarthy (play-by-play), Steve Lappas (analyst) and Lauren Gardner (sideline) will have the call. Westwood One will carry the game nationally on radio. John Sadak (play-by-play) and John Thompson (analyst) will be on the mic.
A number of Tar Heel players have military ties, including junior forward Isaiah Hicks, who has one brother active in the Navy and another active in the Marines. The older brother of senior Joel James was recently discharged after serving three tours of duty in Iraq. Marcus Paige, (uncle, grandfather), Kanler Coker (grandfather), Stilman White (grandfather), Spenser Dalton (both grandfathers), Justin Jackson (both grandfathers, uncle) and Luke Maye (grandfather) all have close family members who served in branches of the military.
TAR HEEL STORYLINES
♦ Carolina enters the season with high hopes, returning four starters from 2014-15 and entering this season ranked No. 1 in the nation in the Associated Press and USA Today coaches' poll.
♦ UNC also topped the 2015-16 preseason ACC poll and is seeking its seventh regular-season conference title under Roy Williams.
♦ The Tar Heels will be shorthanded in the opening weeks of the season, however, playing without senior All-America Marcus Paige for three or four weeks due to a broken bone in his right hand suffered on Nov. 3.
SERIES HISTORY
♦ Carolina and Temple will be meeting for the seventh time overall and the first time since the 1991 NCAA Tournament.
♦ The teams will be meeting for just the fourth time in over 60 years (since 1952). Carolina has won two of the last three meetings prior to Friday (NCAA Tournament wins in 1984 and 1991). Top-ranked Temple beat the Tar Heels 83-66 in the Smith Center on Feb. 21, 1988. The Owls went on a 19-0 run in the game and were led by freshman Mark Macon's 19 points.
♦ The series is tied, 3-3, entering Friday's game. The last meeting came on March 24, 1991, in the NCAA East Regional final at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. Carolina beat the Owls that day to advance to the Final Four in Indianapolis. Tar Heel assistant coach Hubert Davis and radio analyst Eric Montross both were players on that Tar Heel squad. Davis and Rick Fox each scored 19 points in the win.
♦ Roy Williams is 2-2 against Temple as a head coach (all at Kansas).
PREVIEWING THE OWLS
♦ Temple went 26-11 last season, including a 13-5 mark to tie for third place in the American Athletic Conference. The Owls return two starters from that squad that narrowly missed an NCAA Tournament bid before reaching the NIT semifinals.
♦ Coach Fran Dunphy returns for his 10th season at Temple. The Owls should be led by senior guard Quenton DeCosey, who averaged 12.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in 2014-15.
THE TAR HEELS IN SEASON OPENERS
♦ North Carolina is 93-12 all-time in season-opening games.
♦ UNC has won 80 of its last 85 season openers, including 10 in a row.
♦ Since the 1930-31 season, the Tar Heels have dropped season-opening games in 1965-66 (at Clemson), 1982-83 (vs. St. John's), 1996-97 (vs. Arizona), 2001-02 (Hampton) and 2004-05 (vs. Santa Clara).
UP NEXT
♦ The Tar Heels will have a quick turnaround after Friday's game, returning to Chapel Hill late Friday night to host Fairfield on Sunday Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. in the Smith Center. That game is part of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic, to conclude on Nov. 23-24 in Kansas City, Mo.