CHAPEL HILL — At times Sunday afternoon, Carmichael Arena came back to life, and the team calling it home again for one day gave glimpses of the return of the glory of their former auditorium.
But Wofford spoiled the University of North Carolina’s return to the fabled floor, earning a 68-64 win as the Tar Heels couldn’t quite capture the Carmichael magic in the form of a victory.
Granted, there were flashes of the magic throughout the afternoon. The atmosphere was naturally more nostalgic and more intimate than that of the Dean Smith Center, and at times was louder, too.
The students were excited in a building that hadn’t hosted a men’s game since many of them were in elementary school — Wofford coach Jay McAuley said when the Terriers came for shootaround at 8:30 Sunday morning, they walked past students sleeping outside while waiting for tickets.
Carmichael was the UNC men’s basketball team’s home from 1965-86, and the school embraced a throwback theme for the one-off game, the first in the building since a 2010 NIT game during Smith Center renovations, and the first in the regular season since 1986, some 12,398 days before Sunday.
The players wore retro uniforms and music from the 1980s was played during a few of the timeouts. Bobby Jones, who starred on the Carmichael stage from 1971-74, was honored at halftime for his recent induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
In addition to UNC coach Roy Williams — a Dean Smith assistant coach for six of the seasons the Tar Heels spent at Carmichael — there was even one throwback of sorts among the personnel on the floor. Injuries to Cole Anthony and Leaky Black resulted in KJ Smith’s first career start at point guard, 33 years after his father Kenny Smith started the previous regular-season game at Carmichael. Kenny had 12 points and 10 assists in his final Carmichael appearance in 1986; KJ had seven points and four assists Sunday.
“It hasn’t hit me until now (after the game); I was just locked in for today’s game,” KJ Smith said. “It’s a blessing. Me and him were in the gym every day this summer, every night, sometimes two times a day, rebounding for me. It means a lot (to play here).
And one quick peek at the old luster in the old gym did come in the form of a run that came at a key time to bring UNC back into the game. A 13-5 stretch over nearly five minutes turned a 13-point deficit into a 5-point game at the final media timeout, propelled by the play of Brandon Robinson, who hit a 3-pointer and two free throws, and Garrison Brooks, who hit three layups and a dunk. One key to the run was rebounding that Dean Smith would have been proud of, with a 9-1 edge on the boards.
But the hole that had been dug over the first 10 minutes of the second half was ultimately too big to dig out of. Wofford, on the strength of a 16-0 run, led 55-42 before the Tar Heels switched the momentum back to their side for their late push.
The result was another stern reminder for UNC that this year’s edition is currently a long way from the standard set by the Tar Heel teams that once called Carmichael home.
UNC went six minutes without a point as Wofford made their big run, then struggled to score again in crunch time after making the game close.
And these lacks of scoring aren’t by choice, like so many four-corners-driven stretches of little to no scoring on the Carmichael floor back in the Phil Ford days.
The Tar Heels were 37 percent from the floor (23-for-63) and 32 percent from 3-point range (6-for-19), further accentuating season-long struggles to find scoring past Anthony. Wofford didn’t shoot much better, but made shots in key moments including 14 triples, with big late ones by Trevor Stumpe and Nathan Hoover.
“The quality of our shots has got to better than the quality of the other team’s shots,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “It’s probably the lowest-percentage team by far that I’ve had in 32 years (as a collegiate head coach), 5 years of high school and 8 years as the (UNC) JV coach and all that kind of stuff. The bottom line is you’ve got to make shots. We try to give them confidence, but you know how you get confidence? Make a daggum shot.”
Wofford defeated the Tar Heels two years ago in the Smith Center, and relished the opportunity to come play again in Chapel Hill, this time in Carmichael.
“It was just incredible, the support here, the tradition, then to come here and see the tradition on the walls,” McAuley said. “This place filled up and it was electric. It was a really neat environment, everything we thought it would be and more.”
And with Wofford’s win comes even more questions for the Tar Heels as time begins to run out before the resumption of conference play on Jan. 4 — and things don’t get easier with a cross-country trip to face No. 2 Gonzaga.
Williams did “love the opportunity” to play in the nostalgia-filled venue. But afterward, where his team played was secondary to how they played, and how they’ll play moving forward.
“Somebody asked me if I was excited about playing here,” the 17th-year UNC coach said. “I’m excited about playing better — I’ll take them in a red barn and play if we play better than we have been.”
Perhaps the best way to return to the Carmichael magic — even if there’s not likely to be another game there anytime soon — is to do just that: if the Tar Heels can find a way to play better, that alone will evoke memories of Tar Heel glory from Woollen Gymnasium, the Smith Center and, yes, Carmichael Arena, and the magic will be back.
