Tar Heels Run Past Blue Raiders

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 1, 1998 / 1:16 AM EST / CBS Sportsline

Third-ranked North Carolina got an easy victory Monday night. Middle Tennessee coach Randy Wiel got another chance to learn something from his alma mater.

Ademola Okulaja scored 17 points as North Carolina remained undefeated by routing Middle Tennessee 75-54.

"It tells our team where we need to go," said Wiel, who was a player and assistant coach at North Carolina. "Unfortunately, a team like North Carolina has been there for about 30 years."

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The game was scheduled by former North Carolina coach Dean Smith, who always liked to help out former players and assistants. Current Carolina coach Bill Guthridge said he's happy to carry on the tradition.

"If this helped randy's team, which I hoped it did, then we're pleased that we got a win," Guthridge said.

The Tar Heels (7-0) got a breather against Middle Tennessee (1-4) after beating Purdue and Stanford to win the Preseason NIT last week. Despite going scoreless for the first two minutes, they jumped to a 9-0 lead on a steal and dunk by Jason Capel and led the rest of the way.

The victory continued North Carolina's dominance over teams coached by former Tar Heel players and assistants. Smith was 11-1 against those teams; Guthridge is 4-0.

Kris Lang added 11 points for Carolina, which outrebounded the Blue Raiders 39-19.

Lee Nosse scored 12 points for Middle Tennessee.

Middle Tennessee, which is 0-4 against North Carolina, tried to stay in reach from 3-point range. But the Blue Raiders were only 1-of-10 from long range in the first half.

Guthridge used a season-high 13 players and 10 of them scored. Even Ronald Curry, on a break from the football team until practices begin for the Las Vegas Bowl, got into his second game this season.

North Carolina led 37-19 at halftime and increased the lead to 20 in the openin minute of the second half.

Middle Tennessee cut North Carolina's lead to 48-37 on consecutive layups by Richard Duncan and Ali McGhee, but Max Owens hit a 3-pointer to start a 6-0 run for Carolina.