MAUI -- North Carolina cruised to an early lead and went on to defeat BYU 86-50 in the Cougars' season-opener Monday night in the first round of the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational. Despite a stronger second-half effort, the young BYU squad simply could not match up with the No. 11-ranked Tar Heels.
"I was proud of the effort in the second half, but we obviously have a lot of learning to do," Cleveland said. "They jumped on us so quickly and we just weren't able to recover. We need to learn how to play at this level and at this speed. We're going to continue to improve and focus on getting the job done tomorrow."
The order of the day was pressure defense as the Tar Heels stifled the Cougar offense from the start, denying the entry pass every trip down the floor and refusing to let BYU get into its offense. The Cougars scored on a Jared Jensen bucket 49 seconds into the game but went another eight minutes without a field goal while North Carolina built up a 25-3 lead.
Sophomore point guard Austin Ainge broke up the drought with a three-pointer at the 10:50 mark but the Tar Heel lead was insurmountable as they owned a 48-18 advantage at the half. BYU shot just 19 percent in the first 20 minutes and allowed 17 points off turnovers.
The Cougars came out more relaxed in the second half, scoring 12 points in the first six minutes of play. But UNC was relentless, draining three-pointers to help maintain their large advantage. While the scoring margin evened out in the second period -- BYU scored 32 points while the Tar Heels scored 38 -- the Cougars simply could not overcome the early deficit.
Senior Mike Hall, the Cougars' top returning scorer, led BYU with 10 points. Forward Keena Young, a transfer from South Plains Junior College, came within one point of a double-double in his Cougar debut with nine points and 10 rebounds. Senior Jared Jensen also added nine points.
As a team, BYU shot 32 percent (18-57) from the floor including 26 percent (6-23) from beyond the arc. The Tar Heels were led by Sean May with 18 points. The 36-point margin of defeat was the largest in the Cleveland era and the biggest deficit since 1997.
BYU will face No. 25 Stanford Tuesday in second round of Maui Invitational play at 2 p.m. MST (11 a.m. HT). The game will not be televised but can be heard live on KSL Newsradio 1160 or online at KSL.com.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Brigham Young vs North Carolina
11-22-04 4 p.m. at Lahaina Civic Center, Maui, Hawaii
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VISITORS: Brigham Young 0-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
41 MEADS, Garner....... f 1-6 0-0 0-0 3 6 9 3 2 1 4 1 2 22
52 JENSEN, Jared....... f 3-4 0-0 2-3 0 3 3 4 8 1 1 0 1 26
01 HALL, Mike.......... g 4-15 2-8 0-2 1 3 4 4 10 0 4 1 1 25
02 ROSE, Mike.......... g 2-7 1-5 0-0 0 1 1 0 5 0 1 0 0 15
10 NASHIF, Terry....... g 1-3 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 4 8 0 1 23
03 YOUNG, Keena........ 3-8 0-2 3-5 5 5 10 1 9 0 0 1 0 23
13 AINGE, Austin....... 2-3 2-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 6 1 4 0 1 18
20 BURGESS, Sam........ 2-7 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 4 4 0 2 0 0 15
34 BURGESS, David...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 5
43 DAWES, Derek........ 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 3
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... 0-2 0-0 2-2 1 2 3 0 2 1 1 0 0 18
54 MILES, Chris........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 3 2 5 1 0 0 1 1 0 7
TEAM................ 2 3 5
Totals.............. 18-57 6-23 8-14 15 28 43 21 50 8 27 4 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 5-27 18.5% 2nd Half: 13-30 43.3% Game: 31.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-13 23.1% 2nd Half: 3-10 30.0% Game: 26.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 3-6 50.0% Game: 57.1% 2
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HOME TEAM: North Carolina 1-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 Williams, Jawad..... f 4-9 0-2 3-5 1 5 6 1 11 0 0 1 0 23
42 May, Sean........... c 7-11 0-0 4-6 3 5 8 2 18 0 3 0 3 23
02 Felton, Raymond..... g 2-10 2-7 0-0 0 2 2 3 6 7 2 0 2 26
05 Manuel, Jackie...... g 2-5 0-2 2-3 1 1 2 0 6 2 0 0 3 24
32 McCants, Rashad..... g 5-9 3-6 0-0 0 5 5 3 13 3 1 0 1 22
01 Scott, Melvin....... 3-6 2-5 2-2 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 1 13
03 Terry, Reyshawn..... 2-3 1-2 0-0 1 0 1 1 5 0 3 0 0 6
11 Thomas, Quentin..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 8
15 Everett, Charlie.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
22 Miller, Wes......... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6
24 Williams, Marvin.... 1-4 0-0 6-6 3 3 6 3 8 1 2 0 3 20
25 Grant, Damion....... 0-4 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
34 Noel, David......... 3-4 0-0 1-1 2 5 7 4 7 3 0 0 2 17
35 Hooker, C.J......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
41 Sanders, Byron...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 4
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 30-69 8-26 18-23 14 28 42 17 86 19 12 1 15 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-36 47.2% 2nd Half: 13-33 39.4% Game: 43.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-13 23.1% 2nd Half: 5-13 38.5% Game: 30.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 11-14 78.6% 2nd Half: 7-9 77.8% Game: 78.3% 2
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Officials: Bob Donato, Craig Peterson, J.D. Collins
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-None. North Carolina-None.
Attendance: 2500
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Brigham Young................. 18 32 - 50
North Carolina................ 48 38 - 86