The heels are back

May Grabs 16 Boards in Exhibition Triumph

Shares Scoring Honors with Williams (22)

Nov. 13, 2003

Sophomore center Sean May scored 22 points and had 16 rebounds and sophomore point guard Raymond Felton handed out a dozen assists to lead the University of North Carolina to a 104-72 win over Team Nike in a men's basketball exhibition game Thursday night at the Smith Center.


May was 9 for 14 from the floor and 4 for 4 from the free throw line. He had six offensive rebounds among his game-high 16 rebounds. Jawad Williams shared game-scoring honors with 22 points and had six rebounds. Felton scored 13 points in addition to his 12 assists.


Rashad McCants (15) and Jackie Manuel (10) also scored in double figures. Carolina shot 52.7 percent from the floor (39 for 74), including 7 for 15 (.467) from three-point range. The Tar Heels held Team Nike to 36.4 percent from the floor (28 for 77).







Brandon Watkins led Team Nike with 21 points.


Carolina raced out to an early 17-2 lead, but Team Nike edged ahead, 26-24, on an Elvin Mimms putback basket with 7:57 to play in the first half. Trailing 29-26, Carolina scored 11 straight points, led by Felton, who scored five straight points on a pair of jumpers. The Tar Heels outscored Team Nike, 29-9 in the final 7:30 of the first half.


Carolina's biggest lead of the game was 33 points at 102-69 with 1:35 to play.


Head Coach Roy Williams'Postgame Comments: I think we did some better things tonight than we did in the first game. I felt for the Nike team, they've played six or seven games in the last six or seven days. They kind of gave out on us. I was very discouraged at one point because I thought we were giving in and we were a little tired. And I tried to convince the guys that it's better to get your conditioning out there during the game than it is with me at the end of practice.


I thought that in the first half Sean May's rebounding was sensational. The times we ran we were effective. The challenge for this team is to be able to run every single time. I do think that we can do a much better job in doing that more consistently in trying to keep pressure on the other team. At times it was an ugly game. I think exhibitions can be like that a lot of times. The good news for us is we have about seven practices before we open up for real, and we've got to get a heck of a lot better between now and then.


Sean's rebounding in the first half was big for us. Jawad made some shots. Rashad was ugly in the first half, 1-9. I was not concerned with that and I told him so at halftime because they were good shots. He missed one that was questionable, and all the rest he took were all real good shots. We ran a couple of set plays for him, and the ball just didn't finish by going in the hole.


Raymond was able to push the ball up and down the court. At halftime he had three turnovers, and two of those were of the silly variety. I know as much as we push it he's going to have some of turnovers, but we can't have the silly variety. I think Justin Bohlander did a nice job for us off the bench. Jackie was awfully active for us off the bench. I think he had three offensive rebounds at the half and I think he had at least two or three in the second half. Jackie does a lot of good things for us, and I've been really, really pleased with the way he's been playing.


Carolina Postgame Player Comments

Sean May on rebounding "Last week we got out-rebounded pretty bad. I felt it was my fault even though I had 10 rebounds, but in practice coach got on us on Tuesday. But we all thought we were going 100 percent and we still had some more in us. I just came out and knew I had to control the boards and I knew I could."


Sean May on endurance "I feel that right now I'm in the best shape of my life . . . weight wise, conditioning- wise. I still can get a lot better. I still get winded too. Second half I got winded and I gave coach the tired symbol. But right now I feel I can go pretty long and I'm really going to push in practice so I can play 35-40 minutes"


Rashad McCants on coming in after 1-9 first half "It's tough. You have those nights but my aspect was just to come in and help my team build a lead and help us win. That's all I was really worried about."


Melvin Scott on the defense "We took a baby step today, defensively. We have to get better. If we want to be among the elite teams in the country there has to be improvement offensively and defensively."

Yea i know it just perseason but any win it nice

 

Not sure if we are back, but we are in the mix for sure. May, Williams and Felton dominated this game. It was good to see Manuel step up and have a good game, and then Bohlander having his second straight good game. This will go a long ways to help build depth.

One major word of caution though, this Team Nike isn't very good at all, so be careful in judging our team by this win.

 

yeah...I don't want to hear any more bitching this season either...

 

as long as you promiss not to bitch about how much State loses this year

 

True, but I have to give the boy some props, at least he doesn't go on and on about UNCC.

 

hey...

State owns joooo!!!!!! Anyway, State will ride Hodge for as long as they can. State will be 2nd in the ACC behind Duke.


As for UNCC,

I have high hopes but there's so many new faces. I think if Charlotte can hit the 20 win mark with wins over 4 top rated schools. They're in.

 

Yep, if fuckhead didn't try to go pro, there is no telling how far State could have gone this year, now it's going to be a lot tougher. But getting the big E back should be a huge boost!

UNCC, hard to say, unless Iti lives upto the hype.

 

Yeah, I'm glad Etimov is back. He gives State another dimension to attack the basket. Powell can suck my nuts...

 

I'm not sure about 2nd for State. Depends on how many big goons from other teams take advantage.

 

State will be 2nd in the ACC behind Duke.