CHAPEL HILL -- Talk about a battle of hard heads.
North Carolina got a bit of a scare during its 80-72 win over William and Mary in the first round in the NIT on Tuesday when, with 7:32 left in the first half, teammates Marcus Ginyard and Travis Wear collided -- leaving Wear with a bloody cut about his right eye, and Ginyard woozliy sitting on the court.
"Got hit right in the back -- his right eye to the back-side of my head,'' Ginyard said. "It was just startling. It knocked me down, and then getting up, it was a little fuzzy, and the referee just told me to stay down."
Wear, a freshman, ended up in the locker room for the rest of the half, getting four stitches before he returned in the second half. Ginyard, a senior, returned to the game several minutes later.
"He is hard-headed,'' Ginyard said of the collision. "He is definitely hard-headed."
But more than Ginyard?
"I think Marcus definitely won that [title] -- Travis was bleeding,'' senior Deon Thompson said, laughing.
RETURN TO CARMICHAEL: The match-up marked the first time men's basketball has played a real game in Carmichael Arena -- changed from Carmichael 'Auditorium' after recent renovations -- in 24 years. There have been some Midnight Madness events and exhibition games during that timespan, but even coach Roy Williams brought up the idea of playing there more.
"The crowd was sensational,'' he said. "I've said several times since I've gotten back here that we ought to go play one or two game a year in this building. Maybe when the economy turns around and it gets real good, let's take half the seats out of the Smith Center and put in luxury boxes and get a dadgum crowd like this every dadgum night. The crowd was helpful tonight; no question about that. I love the people that were here."
Carmichael seats about 6,700, roughly a third of the Smith Center's capacity. And this Tar Heel team could get to play in the historic gym again. If UNC can beat Mississippi State on Saturday, and N.C. State beats UAB on Saturday, fourth-seeded Carolina would host sixth-seeded State in a third-round game.
