• Carolina opens the 2017-18 season against Northern Iowa on Friday, Nov. 10, at the Dean E. Smith Center.
• Gametime is 7 p.m. It will be televised by ESPNU (Kevin Fitzgerald, Dino Gaudio, Tara Petrolino).
• It is the first game of the season for both the Tar Heels and UNI.
• Carolina played three pre-season scrimmages. It beat Memphis, 70-64, and Barton, 91- 80. UNC also played a three-way scrimmage against ECU, UNCG and UNCW on Nov. 5 at the Smith Center. The Tar Heels beat ECU, 21-20, in a 13-minute period; lost to UNCG, 32-24, in a 13-period period; and beat UNCW, 38-22, in a 14-minute period.
• Cameron Johnson led UNC with 18 points (4 of 5 3FGs), Luke Maye had 15 points and six rebounds and Andrew Platek had 11 points (3 for 3 on three-pointers) over the 40 minutes of action on Nov. 5.
• Maye had 18 points and 11 rebounds against Barton.
• UNI had two exhibitions – a 72-66 win over Pembroke and a 69-38 loss to Wisconsin.
• Carolina is ranked No. 9 in the nation in the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches pre-season polls.
SEASON OPENERS
• Carolina is 95-12 in season openers and has won 82 of the last 87 opening games.
• Since the 1930-31 season, the Tar Heels have dropped season-opening games in 1965- 66 (at Clemson), 1982-83 (vs. St. John’s in Springfield, Mass.), 1996-97 (vs. Arizona in Springfield, Mass.), 2001-02 (home vs. Hampton) and 2004-05 (vs. Santa Clara in Oakland, Calif.).
• Last year, the Tar Heels beat Tulane, 95-75, in New Orleans.
• Carolina has won 12 consecutive season openers. The last loss came in the 2004-05 opener against Santa Clara, when UNC played without starting point guard Raymond Felton.
• Roy Williams is 13-1 in season openers as Carolina’s head coach.
• Kansas won 13 of 15 season openers under Williams. His teams are a combined 26-3 in season openers.
HOME OPENERS
• Carolina is 100-7 all-time in home openers, winning 84 of its last 86 and 15 in a row.
• Carolina has lost its home opener just twice since the 1928-29 season — in 1999-2000 to Michigan State and in 2001-02 to Hampton.
• UNC is 28-2 in home openers in the Smith Center
CAROLINA-UNI SERIES
• The series is tied 1-1 with each team winning on its home court.
• Last year, Carolina beat the Panthers, 85- 42, in the Smith Center. The 42 points tied the fewest allowed by a Roy Williams-coached team at North Carolina.
• Carolina shot 61.8 percent from the floor in the second half, including 6 for 11 from three-point range, and committed only five turnovers for the game.
• Senior forward Kennedy Meeks led UNC with 18 points and eight rebounds.
• UNI defeated Carolina, 71-67, on Nov. 21, 2015, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Carolina led by nine at the half, but the Panthers out-scored the Tar Heels, 39-26, in the second half.
• Justin Jackson led UNC with a game-high 25 points.
BERRY OUT WITH AN INJURY
• Senior point guard Joel Berry II broke a bone in his right hand in mid-October and will not play against UNI. There is no date for his return, although it was expected he would be out of action for about a month.
• 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 and the Sporting News and a second-team All-America by USA Today.
• He 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).
THE YEAR AFTER
• Carolina is third in NCAA history with six NCAA Tournament championships (1957- 1982-1993-2005-2009-2017).
• In 1958, UNC went 19-7 overall and 10-4 in the ACC, but lost in the ACC Tournament finals. At that time, only the league champion was invited to the NCAA Tournament.
• In 1983, Carolina went 28-8, won the ACC regular-season title at 12-2 and advanced to an NCAA regional final before losing to Georgia.
• In 1994, Carolina spent the entire season in the AP’s top five, including five weeks at No. 1. The Tar Heels went 28-7, won the ACC Tournament title, and were upset in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by Boston College.
• In 2006, the Tar Heels returned none of their top seven scorers, but senior David Noel and freshman Tyler Hansbrough led UNC to a 23-8 record, a second-place finish in the ACC at 12-4 and the second round in the NCAA Tournament.
• Injuries to key players derailed the 2010 season that ended with a 20-17 record and berth in the NIT championship game. Fifthyear senior Marcus Ginyard was still dealing with a foot injury that caused him to miss most of the previous season, Tyler Zeller missed a large portion of the ACC schedule and Ed Davis broke his wrist in the first Duke game and missed the last 14 games.
• Combined, UNC has posted a 118-47 record (.715) in the five seasons after winning an NCAA title.
RANKED NO. 9
• Carolina is ranked No. 9 in the preseason Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches polls.
• Carolina is ranked in an AP poll for the 661st time, second-most in college basketball history.
• This is the 55th time in 70 seasons the Tar Heels have been ranked in the top 10 in at least one week of the poll.
• This is the 12th time in Roy Williams’ 15 seasons as head coach the Tar Heels enter the year ranked in the top 10. UNC has finished the year in the AP top 10 nine times in Williams’ first 14 seasons.
ROY WILLIAMS
• Begins his 30th season as a college head coach with a 816-216 record (.791), including 398-115 at Carolina (.776).
• Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.
• Won NCAA championships at UNC in 2005, 2009 and 2017 and led KU and Carolina to runnerup finishes in 1991, 2003 and 2016.
• Has led UNC to ACC regular-season championships eight times in 14 seasons. No other coach or school has won more than three titles in that time.
• Has led Kansas and North Carolina to 17 first-place finishes in conference play in 29 seasons as a head coach.
• The Tar Heels have won 13 or more ACC games 14 times, including eight times under Roy Williams.
• Won the 2017 NCAA championship for the third time by beating No. 1 seed Gonzaga, 71-65.
• Led Carolina to the national title game for the second straight year.
• Became the sixth coach to win three or more NCAA titles with John Wooden (10), Mike Krzyzewski (5), Jim Calhoun (3), Bob Knight (3) and Adolph Rupp (3).
• Became the first coach to win three NCAA titles at his alma mater.
• Became the third coach in history to take teams to six national championship games with John Wooden (10) and Mike Krzyzewski (9).
• Led Carolina to the Final Four for the ninth time in his head coaching career (five at Carolina, four at Kansas).
• Recipient of the 2017 New York Athletic Club Winged Foot Award as the National Coach of the Year.
• Is eighth all-time in wins by a Division I head coach.
- UNC Communications
• Gametime is 7 p.m. It will be televised by ESPNU (Kevin Fitzgerald, Dino Gaudio, Tara Petrolino).
• It is the first game of the season for both the Tar Heels and UNI.
• Carolina played three pre-season scrimmages. It beat Memphis, 70-64, and Barton, 91- 80. UNC also played a three-way scrimmage against ECU, UNCG and UNCW on Nov. 5 at the Smith Center. The Tar Heels beat ECU, 21-20, in a 13-minute period; lost to UNCG, 32-24, in a 13-period period; and beat UNCW, 38-22, in a 14-minute period.
• Cameron Johnson led UNC with 18 points (4 of 5 3FGs), Luke Maye had 15 points and six rebounds and Andrew Platek had 11 points (3 for 3 on three-pointers) over the 40 minutes of action on Nov. 5.
• Maye had 18 points and 11 rebounds against Barton.
• UNI had two exhibitions – a 72-66 win over Pembroke and a 69-38 loss to Wisconsin.
• Carolina is ranked No. 9 in the nation in the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches pre-season polls.
SEASON OPENERS
• Carolina is 95-12 in season openers and has won 82 of the last 87 opening games.
• Since the 1930-31 season, the Tar Heels have dropped season-opening games in 1965- 66 (at Clemson), 1982-83 (vs. St. John’s in Springfield, Mass.), 1996-97 (vs. Arizona in Springfield, Mass.), 2001-02 (home vs. Hampton) and 2004-05 (vs. Santa Clara in Oakland, Calif.).
• Last year, the Tar Heels beat Tulane, 95-75, in New Orleans.
• Carolina has won 12 consecutive season openers. The last loss came in the 2004-05 opener against Santa Clara, when UNC played without starting point guard Raymond Felton.
• Roy Williams is 13-1 in season openers as Carolina’s head coach.
• Kansas won 13 of 15 season openers under Williams. His teams are a combined 26-3 in season openers.
HOME OPENERS
• Carolina is 100-7 all-time in home openers, winning 84 of its last 86 and 15 in a row.
• Carolina has lost its home opener just twice since the 1928-29 season — in 1999-2000 to Michigan State and in 2001-02 to Hampton.
• UNC is 28-2 in home openers in the Smith Center
CAROLINA-UNI SERIES
• The series is tied 1-1 with each team winning on its home court.
• Last year, Carolina beat the Panthers, 85- 42, in the Smith Center. The 42 points tied the fewest allowed by a Roy Williams-coached team at North Carolina.
• Carolina shot 61.8 percent from the floor in the second half, including 6 for 11 from three-point range, and committed only five turnovers for the game.
• Senior forward Kennedy Meeks led UNC with 18 points and eight rebounds.
• UNI defeated Carolina, 71-67, on Nov. 21, 2015, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Carolina led by nine at the half, but the Panthers out-scored the Tar Heels, 39-26, in the second half.
• Justin Jackson led UNC with a game-high 25 points.
BERRY OUT WITH AN INJURY
• Senior point guard Joel Berry II broke a bone in his right hand in mid-October and will not play against UNI. There is no date for his return, although it was expected he would be out of action for about a month.
• 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 and the Sporting News and a second-team All-America by USA Today.
• He 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).
THE YEAR AFTER
• Carolina is third in NCAA history with six NCAA Tournament championships (1957- 1982-1993-2005-2009-2017).
• In 1958, UNC went 19-7 overall and 10-4 in the ACC, but lost in the ACC Tournament finals. At that time, only the league champion was invited to the NCAA Tournament.
• In 1983, Carolina went 28-8, won the ACC regular-season title at 12-2 and advanced to an NCAA regional final before losing to Georgia.
• In 1994, Carolina spent the entire season in the AP’s top five, including five weeks at No. 1. The Tar Heels went 28-7, won the ACC Tournament title, and were upset in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by Boston College.
• In 2006, the Tar Heels returned none of their top seven scorers, but senior David Noel and freshman Tyler Hansbrough led UNC to a 23-8 record, a second-place finish in the ACC at 12-4 and the second round in the NCAA Tournament.
• Injuries to key players derailed the 2010 season that ended with a 20-17 record and berth in the NIT championship game. Fifthyear senior Marcus Ginyard was still dealing with a foot injury that caused him to miss most of the previous season, Tyler Zeller missed a large portion of the ACC schedule and Ed Davis broke his wrist in the first Duke game and missed the last 14 games.
• Combined, UNC has posted a 118-47 record (.715) in the five seasons after winning an NCAA title.
RANKED NO. 9
• Carolina is ranked No. 9 in the preseason Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches polls.
• Carolina is ranked in an AP poll for the 661st time, second-most in college basketball history.
• This is the 55th time in 70 seasons the Tar Heels have been ranked in the top 10 in at least one week of the poll.
• This is the 12th time in Roy Williams’ 15 seasons as head coach the Tar Heels enter the year ranked in the top 10. UNC has finished the year in the AP top 10 nine times in Williams’ first 14 seasons.
ROY WILLIAMS
• Begins his 30th season as a college head coach with a 816-216 record (.791), including 398-115 at Carolina (.776).
• Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.
• Won NCAA championships at UNC in 2005, 2009 and 2017 and led KU and Carolina to runnerup finishes in 1991, 2003 and 2016.
• Has led UNC to ACC regular-season championships eight times in 14 seasons. No other coach or school has won more than three titles in that time.
• Has led Kansas and North Carolina to 17 first-place finishes in conference play in 29 seasons as a head coach.
• The Tar Heels have won 13 or more ACC games 14 times, including eight times under Roy Williams.
• Won the 2017 NCAA championship for the third time by beating No. 1 seed Gonzaga, 71-65.
• Led Carolina to the national title game for the second straight year.
• Became the sixth coach to win three or more NCAA titles with John Wooden (10), Mike Krzyzewski (5), Jim Calhoun (3), Bob Knight (3) and Adolph Rupp (3).
• Became the first coach to win three NCAA titles at his alma mater.
• Became the third coach in history to take teams to six national championship games with John Wooden (10) and Mike Krzyzewski (9).
• Led Carolina to the Final Four for the ninth time in his head coaching career (five at Carolina, four at Kansas).
• Recipient of the 2017 New York Athletic Club Winged Foot Award as the National Coach of the Year.
• Is eighth all-time in wins by a Division I head coach.
- UNC Communications
