Showing posts tagged “Isiah Thomas”
Mike Potter ·
21 Nov 2009, 12:40 AM ·
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N.C. Central made a strong run at host Florida International, but couldn’t quite pull the upset over Isiah Thomas’ squad, falling 83-73 in their first game of the Miami Subregional of the 2KSports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at U.S. Century Bank Arena.
Marvin Roberts had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Golden Panthers (2-3), while Phil Gary chipped in 18 points and Antoine Watson 14.
Vincent Davis led the Eagles with 23 points and tied his career high with nine rebounds, while C.J. Wilkerson added a season-high 21 points.
NCCU trailed 36-30 at halftime and 50-49 at one point in the second half before the Panthers got their working margin.
NCCU’s next game in the event is on the same court Sunday night against Murray State (2-1).
Basketball, N.C. Central, Women's Basketball Antoine Watson, C.J. Wilkerson, Florida International, Isiah Thomas, Marvin Roberts, Phil Gary, Vincent Davis
Mike Potter ·
20 Nov 2009, 1:02 AM ·
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LeVelle Moton and Isiah Thomas each got his first win as a college basketball coach earlier this week.
After tonight, one of them is going to be on a two-game winning streak.
Moton’s N.C. Central club (1-2) will play its second game in Miami so far this season tonight at 7, when the Eagles visit Thomas’ Florida International club (1-3).
It’s a part of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer, in which both teams already had a loss at UNC.
The Eagles will play two more games after tonight in the round-robin event on the Golden Panthers’ floor, taking on Murray State on Sunday at 8 p.m. and James Madison on Monday at 4.
NCCU will probably continue to be without forward Lamar Pittman, who remains day-to-day as he recovers from knee surgery of last fall. Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, N.C. Central, UNC-Chapel Hill Antoine Watson, C.J. Wilkerson, Florida International, Isiah Thomas, James Madison, Lamar Pittman, LeVelle Moton, Marvin Roberts, Michael Glasker, Murray State, T.J. Granger
Mike Potter ·
12 Nov 2009, 12:19 AM ·
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SMITH CENTER/CHAPEL HILL LeVelle Moton’s first game assignment as N.C. Central’s head basketball coach wasn’t supposed to be easy, and in fact he said he relished the challenge.
The Eagles, coming off a 4-27 campaign and in their third season of Division I basketball, come into Wednesday’s game as prohibitive underdogs against defending NCAA champion North Carolina, which is ranked No. 4 nationally.
It is the schools’ historic first meeting, although they have squared off before in an exhibition back in 2003 when Roy Williams was in his first season as UNC head coach. The Tar Heels won that one in 97-59 at the Smith Center over an NCCU team coached by Phil Spence.
The game is part of the 2K Sports Classic Benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer, and everybody can see it on ESPNU. And it pretty much turns out as expected, as the Tar Heels roll 89-42 behind a career high-tying 17 points from Marcus Ginyard (pictured) in front of about a two-thirds-full arena on a cold, rainy night.
The games in the 12-team festival are already preset except for what will likely be the mythical championship game.
The Tar Heels will end up at Madison Square Garden Nov. 19-20, facing Ohio State in the semifinals and either St. John’s of California the next night.
NCCU, meanwhile, will finish its participation in the event in Miami, where the Eagles will face host Florida International on Nov. 20, Murray State on Nov. 22 and James Madison on Nov. 23.
UNC has already disposed of FIU, under new coach Isiah Thomas, 88-72 on Wednesday night. Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, N.C. Central, UNC-Chapel Hill C.J. Wilkerson, Deon Thompson, Florida International, Isiah Thomas, James Madison, LeVelle Moton, Marcus Ginyard, Miami Hurricanes, Murray State, Ohio State, Roy Williams, St. John's, Tyler Zeller, Valparaiso, Vincent Davis, will graves
Mike Potter ·
11 Nov 2009, 2:02 AM ·
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LeVelle Moton may not have known quite what he was getting into when he first decided he wanted to be a college basketball coach.
Tonight at 9, he finds out.
In his very first game Moton (pictured top left), who was an assistant at his alma mater for two seasons before taking over the reins, will lead his N.C. Central team against defending NCAA champion UNC (1-0) at the Smith Center.
Roy Williams (pictured at right) coaches the No. 4 Tar Heels, who will be heavy favorites in a game shown on ESPNU. NCCU was 4-27 last season in Henry Dickerson’s final season as head coach, and NCCU’s third season as a transitional Division I member.
The contest is part of the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, which UNC helped tip off on Monday night with an 88-72 win over visiting Florida
International in Isiah Thomas’ first game as the Golden Panthers’ head coach.
Moton said he’s probably going to try to come with some odd wrinkles to try to keep up with the Tar Heels.
“That’s the tough thing about this transition and being a ‘low major’ school,” Moton said. “You can be the best running team in ‘low major’ basketball D-I, but Wednesday night if we try to go out there and run with those guys, you’ll get run off the court.
“I read an English parable in 12th grade, and I’ll never forget it. It was about a hedgehog and a fox and it was talking about how the fox had so many deceptive ways of trying to run up on him. And each time, the hedgehog would just ball up in a circle and his spikes would come out and that’s how he defended himself. And so every day the fox would come from different angles, from under a tree, under a bush, whatever, and the hedgehog just did what he did. And that’s pretty much how Carolina is. They just do what they do, and you’re just not going to out-man them. I guess we’ve got to be the fox and come up with some clever ways to gain an advantage.”
The “tournament” continues in a few days with games at New York’s Madison Square Garden and in Miami at Florida International.
The Tar Heels will play Ohio State on Nov. 19, then the winner of that night’s California-Syracuse game the next day.
NCCU will visit FIU on Nov. 20, and then take on Murray State on Nov. 22 and James Madison on Nov. 23 in Miami.
Tonight’s game
N.C. Central at UNC
[Wednesday, 9 p.m., Smith Center]
Records: NCCU 4-27 (2008-09), UNC 1-0.
Video: ESPNU
Audio: WCHL-AM 1360, WRJD-AM 1410, WRDU-FM 106.1
Coaches’ records - NCCU: LeVelle Moton 0-0; UNC: Roy Williams 595-138, 177-37 at UNC.
Leading scorers - NCCU (returnee from 08-09): Vincent Davis 11.2; UNC: Deon Thompson 20.0.
Leading rebounders - NCCU (returnee from 08-09): Vincent Davis 4.0; UNC: Ed Davis 11.0.
Assist leaders - NCCU (returnees from 08-09): Michael Glasker 2.3; UNC: Larry Drew II 6.0.
ACC, Basketball, N.C. Central, UNC-Chapel Hill California Golden Bears, Deon Thompson, Ed Davis, Florida International, Isiah Thomas, James Madison, Larry Drew II, LeVelle Moton, Michael Glasker, Murray State, Ohio State, Roy Williams, Syracuse Orangemen, Vincent Davis
Rob Harrington ·
10 Nov 2009, 1:48 PM ·
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CHAPEL HILL/SMITH CENTER — North Carolina’s opening defense of its national championship happened against a team led by a guy who felled UNC back in 1981: Isiah Thomas. And for those who tuned in to Monday night’s 88-72 victory against Florida International, a great deal of the focus centered on the Golden Knights’ head coach.
Thomas, an NBA Hall of Fame guard who spearheaded Indiana past Dean Smith’s Tar Heels in the 1981 national championship game, drew media types from throughout the college basketball universe in his college coaching debut.
But, as expected, it was Carolina’s size and strength in the frontcourt that proved decisive. The murmur throughout the stadium prior to the game was that the Heels had played poorly (which they did) in their exhibition contest against Belmont Abbey on Friday night, and after the game there appeared to be a sense of sprouting relief among the faithful.
Continue reading »
ACC, Basketball, UNC-Chapel Hill Deon Thompson, Ed Davis, FIU, Florida International, Isiah Thomas, John Henson, Larry Drew II, Marcus Ginyard, Tyler Zeller
Jacob Swiger ·
1 Sep 2009, 2:47 PM ·
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Every Tuesday while I idle between classes and procrastinate leafing through my AP Style book or other things journalism students believe justify a degree, I’ll scout the Internet (or Internets if you’re one of those weird people) for UNC related articles.
I consider this more time worthy than what my neighbor in the student union is doing: passed out with a sandwich slowly drifting from her hand dangerously close to her chair.
So here we go:
- Isiah Thomas apparently changed his tune, and FIU will indeed open the season in the Smith Center against the Tar Heels, the N&O’s ACC Now reports. Thomas became agitated last week when UNC released its schedule and he discovered his first game will be a blowout, even though the Golden Panthers thought they would be instead playing Ohio State — a team with fewer kinks to work out. I can’t help but think Thomas doesn’t like UNC … with the whole not passing to Michael Jordan thing in the NBA All-Star game.
- The leading Tar Heel sports blog, Tar Heel Fan, has a breakdown of UNC’s secondary for the upcoming season, including the big question of who will replace Trimane Goddard. Da’Norris Searcy earned the starting job after a highly praised preseason and even nabbed the punt return duties.
- Adam Lucas breaks down the importance of season openers, throwing in some history of how UNC fared in certain opening games, which is always fun for you newbies to the UNC football world. For Butch Davis’ sake, let’s hope UNC doesn’t open the season similarly to the 2003 campaign.
- Senior defensive end E.J. Wilson will run an audio blog for 1360 WCHL this season. Wilson talks about campus, the locker room and the prospects of this season. Wilson definitely has a future in journalism, especially radio, in life after football. He’s also gone on record saying the defense expects to be one of the best in the country.
That’s it for now; I’m back to studying while the woman next to be tries to clean up her sandwich. I hope her nap was worth it.
E-mail any links you find or leave them in the comments section.
ACC, Basketball, Football, UNC-Chapel Hill Butch Davis, Da'Norris Searcy, E.J. Wilson, Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Trimane Goddard
