5/25/2019 basketball Edit

Minnesota: Adam Boone

Adam Boone left UNC after two seasons, but he did play a major role in keeping the home win streak versus Clemson alive. (USA Today)

Andrew Jones • TarHeelIllustrated

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Andrew Jones has covered sports for 26 years, including all major college & professional sports for daily newspapers & national sites. He's done radio and TV & is entering his seventh year at THI.

Adam Boone played two seasons at North Carolina. As a freshman, he was part of a Tar Heels’ team that reached the No. 1 ranking in the nation and as a sophomore he was on the worst team in the program’s history.

Boone was a backup point guard behind Ronald Curry during the 2000-01 season and had a leg up the following season. But the Tar Heels struggled for a variety of reasons and Boone ended up transferring back home to Minnesota after that season in which Carolina went 8-20 overall, including 4-12 in the ACC.

The Tar Heels had seniors Jason Capel and Kris Lang, but otherwise struggled finding consistent contributors under head coach Matt Doherty’s second season. Boone eventually won out over Melvin Scott and Brian Morrison as the starter. Scott would later win a national title in his senior season as a backup to Raymond Felton and Morrison transferred to UCLA where he played on that historic program’s losingest team since World War II.

Boone had some nice games as a Tar Heel and as a sophomore averaged 7.2 points and 3.2 assists per game. He shot 45.8 percent from the field, including 43 percent (34-for-79) from 3-point range. He also turned over the ball 2.6 times per contest.

Now, Boone is the most notable Tar Heel from Minnesota, but he should also be regarded fondly in UNC lore because of his performance at home against Clemson helping keep UNC’s still unblemished home record versus the Tigers intact. If there was ever a time Clemson was going to finally win in Chapel Hill, one would have figured Feb. 27, 2002 was the day.

But Boone scored 13 points and handed out 8 assists (just one turnover) in helping the Heels win 96-78 on Senior Night and improve to 48-0 at home versus Clemson. The record is now 59-0.

“It's nice not to have ended the streak but I think more importantly for us it was nice for the seniors to go out in a good way and it was nice for us to end our home season,” Boone said after the game. “The streak probably would have meant a lot more if we were to lose. To us, the streak, we didn't really consider it but we probably would have considered it had we lost.”

Boone played two seasons at Minnesota after leaving UNC.