CHAPEL HILL – By now, anyone with the slightest interest in North Carolina basketball knows something about how Wednesday’s matchup with Northeastern came about.
From fans to keen college basketball observers to many ABCers, the program posting on Twitter it was looking for an opponent to play this week drew cheers and jeers and national attention. But it worked.
The Tar Heels hosted the Huskies on Wednesday night and defeated them, 82-62. But how did this really materialize?
Northeastern is a private research university located in Boston, though it actually has regional campuses in Charlotte and several other major cities around the country. It plays in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), which also includes league members and North Carolina schools Elon and UNC-Wilmington.
So, the with the scene set, here’s how it happened:
“You guys may have heard the story, I'll make it official,” UNC Coach Roy Williams said following the game. “When we knew we were not going to have Virginia Tech, we reached out first to those people who were on our schedule originally. Most of them in the state that we had to cancel early; some of their protocols weren't what we needed it to be and one of them was even in a pause themselves. And we had discussions with two other schools and that didn't work out.
“And so, Clint (Gwaltney) put it out on tweet or twit, whatever it was, and we got some responses there. And Northeastern, they were one of the schools that reached out and Clint Gwaltney, our Assistant AD in charge of basketball, called them and I thought it was a good thing for us.”
The Huskies needed games, too. They came out of a COVID pause last week after four consecutive games were postponed, and two games versus UNCW this coming weekend have been called off, too. They have now played just 17 games and only have a few more scheduled, so they still need games. That is one reason they jumped at playing the Tar Heels.
For Williams, though, he wanted to play a game. Carolina’s coach has been very clear for the last week about the importance of his team playing and not just practicing. He was going to get someone to visit the Smith Center whatever it took.
“When I was in Little League, if we had 15 games, I wanted to play 15,” the 70-year-old coach said. “If one got rained out, I wanted it to be rescheduled. When I was a high school coach, we had 20 regular season games, if one got snowed out, I wanted it to be rescheduled.
“And so, that's what we were trying to do is just to get some more games and get some more home games. It was only our seventh game at home, and somebody showed me a stat before the game today, we had the lowest percentage of home games of anybody in the 353 teams in Division 1.”
It was also important to Williams they find a reputable club.
Northeastern is in second place in the CAA and had already played three games versus programs from major conferences, including a six-point loss at Syracuse. The Huskies entered the game with an NET rating of No. 144.
“We didn't try to find number 353 in the country,” Williams said. “We found a team that had a higher RPI, or NET, whatever it is, than (two) teams in our league. So yes, if we have to go on Twitter again, I'm gonna try to find another home game.”
