North Carolina and N.C. State will have at least one chance each to ease the disappointments of trying seasons when they open play today in the NIT.
UNC will play William & Mary at 9:30 in Chapel Hill but won't be at the Smith Center because of renovations there. The game will be played in Carmichael Arena (formerly Auditorium), the program's previous home.
N.C. State, which won five of its last seven games, will play at South Florida in Tampa at 8 p.m. Coach Sidney Lowe's team was unbeaten in five regular-season games in Florida, including two ACC games.
UNC (16-16) couldn't make it back to the NCAA Tournament to try to defend its 2009 championship. However, Coach Roy Williams considers the NIT vital for sending out seniors Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson with a stronger finish.
"I'm playing for this year," Williams said. "I don't think I can cheat Deon and Marcus. That's not fair.
"I'm coaching for this year and this team. I'm trying to get this team to win one more game. And if we do that, I'll try to get them to win one more game."
William & Mary is 22-10 and in a postseason tournament for the second time. It won at Wake Forest 78-68 on Nov. 28 and at Maryland 83-77 on Dec. 30.
William & Mary has taken 798 3-point shots this season, a figure that Williams called mind-boggling, given that the team took a total of 1,670 shots. William & Mary is coached by Tony Shaver, who played at UNC in the mid-1970s. One of his assistants is Jon Holmes, a former North Carolina point guard whose career ended after the 2002-03 season.
Williams said he is eager for UNC to play in Carmichael for the first time since Jan. 4, 1986. Renovations in which individual seats replaced aluminum benches cut seating from 10,000 to 6,822.
"I hope we can sell the tickets; I hope we can fill it up," Williams said. "I think it would help a great deal to have a great atmosphere in there because I thought it was the best. It was so loud."
N.C. State (19-15) reached the ACC Tournament semifinals Saturday to secure its 11th NIT appearance. The berth is State's second under Coach Sidney Lowe.
"I think it would be just great for these guys to say, ‘You've earned this,' " Lowe told the Associated Press. "We tell our kids all the time if you work hard and do the right things, you're going to be rewarded. I think that it would be a great reward."
South Florida is 20-12 and finished 9-9 in the Big East. It has regular-season wins over Virginia (neutral site), Georgetown (away) and Pittsburgh and Connecticut (home).
Center Tracy Smith of N.C. State said that his team deserved a postseason for its strong finish.
"Our guys fought hard," Smith told the AP. "We never hung our head even though we had our ups and downs this season. We never gave up."
bcole@wsjournal.com
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