UNC opponent preview: East Carolina
September, 26, 2012
9/26/12
1:30
PM ET
By
Robbi Pickeral | ESPN.com
As we count down to the first day of basketball practice (Oct. 12), let’s take a look at an opponent on North Carolina’s basketball schedule ...
Opponent: East Carolina
Date: Dec. 15, noon
Location: Smith Center, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Series results: UNC leads 2-0 (last matchup was in the 1993 NCAA tournament, when the Tar Heels beat the Pirates 85-65)
ECU last season: 15-16, 5-11 in Conference USA
Foe to know: Jeff Lebo, head coach
Lebo will be a familiar presence at the Smith Center. He is a former four-year starter under Dean Smith, and current Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams was a UNC assistant for part of Lebo’s career.
ECU is Lebo’s latest rebuilding job. He guided Tennessee Tech, Chattanooga and Auburn to 20-win seasons as a head coach, and he made instant impact during his first season in Greenville, N.C., in 2010-11, coaching the Pirates to their first winning season (18-16) in 14 years.
But Lebo is still looking for that first NCAA tournament bid as a head coach. The game against his alma mater should be an early test for an ECU team that lost only one starter from last season.
Tidbits: The Pirates return two of their top three scorers in guard Miguel Paul (15.2 ppg, 5.9 apg) and forward Maurice Kemp (10.5 ppg). … This will mark the ninth straight season under Williams that UNC has played at least one home game against an in-state, nonconference foe.
Previous schedule previews:
Opponent: East Carolina
Date: Dec. 15, noon
Location: Smith Center, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Series results: UNC leads 2-0 (last matchup was in the 1993 NCAA tournament, when the Tar Heels beat the Pirates 85-65)
ECU last season: 15-16, 5-11 in Conference USA
Foe to know: Jeff Lebo, head coach
Lebo will be a familiar presence at the Smith Center. He is a former four-year starter under Dean Smith, and current Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams was a UNC assistant for part of Lebo’s career.
ECU is Lebo’s latest rebuilding job. He guided Tennessee Tech, Chattanooga and Auburn to 20-win seasons as a head coach, and he made instant impact during his first season in Greenville, N.C., in 2010-11, coaching the Pirates to their first winning season (18-16) in 14 years.
But Lebo is still looking for that first NCAA tournament bid as a head coach. The game against his alma mater should be an early test for an ECU team that lost only one starter from last season.
Tidbits: The Pirates return two of their top three scorers in guard Miguel Paul (15.2 ppg, 5.9 apg) and forward Maurice Kemp (10.5 ppg). … This will mark the ninth straight season under Williams that UNC has played at least one home game against an in-state, nonconference foe.
Previous schedule previews:
- Nov. 9 Gardner-Webb
- Nov. 11 Florida Atlantic
- Nov 16 at Long Beach State
- Nov. 19 Mississippi State in the Maui Invitational
- Nov. 20 Butler/Marquette in the Maui Invitational
- Nov. 21 TBA in the Maui Invitational
- Nov. 27 at Indiana
- Dec. 1 UAB
- Dec. 8 ETSU
Robbi Pickeral | email
College Basketball- ESPN.com UNC basketball blogger
- Joined ESPN.com in 2011
- Wrote for Raleigh News & Observer
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