Sophomore Kent Emanuel struck out seven and did not walk a batter as the No. 6 Tar Heels claimed the series opener at No. 17 Clemson Friday afternoon by a 4-3 margin. Chaz Frank and Tommy Coyle paced the offense with two hits apiece, while Colin Moran drove in a pair of runs on the day. The victory gave head coach Mike Fox his 600th career win at UNC.

Carolina struck in the very first inning as the Tar Heels were able to put the Tigers on their heels from the get go. Chaz Frank opened the game with a single to center before making his way to third base on a single from Tommy Coyle.

With runners at the corners and nobody out Colin Moran lifted a ball to right field that allowed Frank to score from third and give Emanuel a one run cushion before setting foot on the mound.

Emanuel cruised through the Clemson order the first time around as the southpaw racked up four strikeouts through three hitless innings.

Clemson’s Kevin Brady bounced back from the shaky first inning and retired the Tar Heels in order over the next four frames to keep his team in the game.

Clemson nearly broke the game open in the fourth as three of the first four batters reached against Emanuel. The sophomore buckled down and got Spencer Kieboom looking before getting Joe Costigan to pop out weakly to Mike Zolk at second base to end the threat.

Clemson eventually knotted things up in the fifth as a lead off double by Jason Stolz preceded a seeing-eye single through the left side by Garrett Boulware to score Stolz and tie the game at 1-1.

The Tar Heels eventually solved Brady in the top of the sixth. After a ground out opened the inning, Parks Jordan was hit by a Brady offering to turn the lineup over and spark a Tar Heel rally.

Seeing Brady for a third time, Chaz Frank dropped a single into right field to move Jordan into scoring position for Tommy Coyle who doubled into the right center field gap to score Jordan and put Carolina back in front, 2-1.

After flying out and grounding out in his previous at bats, Colin Moran slapped the first offering he saw into center field to score Frank from third and up the Carolina lead to 3-1. Jacob Stallings then turned on a pitch and blasted a single past the third baseman to cap off a three-run sixth for the Tar Heels.

The Tigers answered back in the bottom half of the sixth as the lead off man reached due to a Tar Heel miscue and reigning ACC Player of the Week Richie Shaffer made the Tar Heels pay with a RBI triple to right field.

Following a strikeout by Emanuel of Phil Pohl, Spencer Kieboom weakly grounded out but the ball was hit to the right side allowing Shaffer to score and make it 4-3.

Emanuel worked a scoreless seventh before making way for R.C. Orlan in the eighth. Shaffer tallied a lead off single against Orlan before the left-hander picked up a running catch by Parks Jordan in left and pop out to Zolk at second.

A walk to pinch hitter Jay Baum signaled the end of the day for Orlan as Michael Morin came on for the four-out save. Morin struck out Stolz looking to end the eighth before a tense ninth inning.

Pinch hitter Dominic Attanasio singled to left to open the ninth before departing for a pinch runner. A sacrifice bunt brought lead off man Thomas Brittle to the plate with the tying run at second base. Brittle went to the opposite field and slapped a ball into the left center field gap but Chaz Frank was able to track it down for the second out of the inning.

A 10-pitch battle between Morin and Steve Wilkerson that resulted in only a 1-2 count ended when an inside pitch from Morin hit Wilkerson putting a pair of runners on base.

Morin issued a four-pitch walk to Shaffer to load the bases as cleanup man Phil Pohl stepped in. Morin worked his way into a pitcher’s friendly count of 1-2 before getting Pohl swinging on a change up for the final out of the game.

The save was Morin’s fifth of the year and third in as many games after closing the door on Davidson Tuesday and Elon on Wednesday.

Emanuel notched the win as he improved to 4-0 on the year and has won 11 consecutive decisions, the fifth longest streak in the country.

The top four hitters hit .500 on the day for the Tar Heels as the quartet of Chaz Frank, Tommy Coyle, Colin Moran and Jacob Stallings 6-for-12 at the dish with three runs scored and all four RBI.

The win gave head coach Mike Fox his 600th career win as the Tar Heel skipper and made him just the eighth coach in ACC history to register 600 wins at an ACC institution.
Game two is set for 2 p.m. Saturday and will feature Tar Heel right-hander Chris Munnelly against Clemson right-hander Dominic Leone. The game will be shown live on ESPN3 and TarHeelBlue.com will provide an audio broadcast.

After the 85-69 victory over Maryland in the first round of the ACC Tournament, UNC coach Roy Williams said the Heels were “as happy as we can be.” He said he was especially happy for Kendall Marshall who had 12 assists en route to breaking the ACC single-season assist record.

Having to play four freshman at one point due to foul trouble and an injury to John Henson isn’t normally a recipe for being as happy as you can be. But Carolina got 29 solid minutes off the bench from James Michael McAdoo, 15 productive minutes off the bench from P.J. Hairston and nine important minutes from Stilman White, spelling Marshall.

This game could have been a killer for Carolina, considering foul trouble on Marshall and especially Zeller along with the injury to Henson. No one player took on the load but it was a team effort with five guys in double figures.

Still, the Tar Heels will need John Henson if they intend to win the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. Henson’s wrist is not broken but only time will tell have much the sprain affects him.

For more on the Maryland game, please click here.

Georgetown’s dominating center Patrick Ewing, Kansas legend Clyde Lovellette and North Carolina’s star guard Phil Ford headline the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction class of 2012. Joining them for enshrinement will be coaches Joe B. Hall and Dave Robbins, players Kenny Sailors, Earl Monroe and Willis Reed and contributors Jim Host and Joe Dean.

The Class of 2012 will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Sunday, November 18, 2012, at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City as part of a three-day celebration of college basketball. The hall of fame is located in the College Basketball Experience, a world-class entertainment facility that provides a multifaceted interactive experience for fans of the game. On November 19-20, Kansas, Saint Louis, Texas A&M and Washington State will compete at Sprint Center in the CBE Classic.

The first freshman to start the first game of his North Carolina career under Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith, Phil Ford led UNC to the 1975 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship and was the first freshman in ACC history to win the Everett Case Award as the most valuable player in the ACC Tournament. Carolina won 99 of 124 games with Ford, reached the NCAA tournament every year and advanced to the NCAA championship game in 1977. He scored 2,290 career points, was a first team All-ACC and All-America selection for his final three seasons and, as a senior, won the Wooden Award and was the consensus National Player of the Year.

One of college basketball’s most spectacular backcourt performers, Earl Monroe starred for Hall of Fame coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines at Winston-Salem State. His ball handling and shooting skills dazzled crowds as he led Winston-Salem to the NCAA Division II championship in 1967, averaging an incredible 41.5 points per game and was named the NCAA Division II Player of the Year.

In 2006 the first class was inducted into the newly formed National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. That class included the game’s inventor, James Naismith, and possibly its greatest coach in John Wooden. Since that time, five more classes have traveled to Kansas City for a weekend of festivities. Those classes have included the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Danny Manning, Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson.

The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame was founded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation, Inc., to honor and celebrate those who have made extraordinary contributions to the game of men’s college basketball. Located at the College Basketball Experience in Kansas City, Mo., the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inducted its first class in November, 2006, with a Founding Class consisting of Dr. James Naismith, who invented the game; former University of North Carolina head coach Dean Smith; Oscar Robertson, considered by many to be the most outstanding all-around player in the history of college basketball while playing at Cincinnati; Bill Russell, who led the University of San Francisco to two NCAA championships and is one of the game’s greatest defensive players; and John Wooden, an All-America player at Purdue and long-time coach at UCLA, where he led the Bruins to 10 NCAA titles, including seven in a row.

Each year, a Blue Ribbon committee, composed of long-time coaches, administrators, former players, broadcasters and basketball writers selects a class of inductees including players, coaches and contributors.

University of North Carolina forward Tyler Zeller is the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball Player of the Year and forward John Henson is the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year, the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association announced Tuesday.

Zeller, a senior from Washington, Ind., is the 13th Tar Heel to win ACC Player of the Year honors and the third in the last five years. He is the first UNC senior to win the award since point guard Phil Ford in 1978. He is the third senior to win the award in as many years, joining Maryland’s Greivis Vasquez in 2010 and Duke’s Nolan Smith in 2011.

“This is just phenomenal,” says head coach Roy Williams. “It’s an outstanding recognition of an outstanding young man who has been playing big time basketball for us all year. He performed at a high level on extremely consistent basis and did so in every phase of the game.”

Zeller leads the Tar Heels in field goal percentage (.549) and is second in scoring (16.4), rebounds (9.3), free throw percentage (.803) and blocks (44). In ACC play, he led the league in field goal percentage (.569) and offensive boards (4.0), was second in rebounds (9.7), third in scoring (18.5) and sixth in free throw percentage (.833). In all games, he is first in the ACC in offensive rebounds, second in field goal percentage and rebounding, fifth in scoring and eighth in free throw accuracy. He posted 11 double-doubles, second-most in the ACC behind Henson.

The 2012 Academic All-America of the Year averaged 19.4 points and 10.7 rebounds and shot 63.3 percent from the floor (50 for 79) against Duke (two games), Florida State, Virginia (two games) and NC State (two games), the second, third, fourth and fifth seeded teams in the ACC.

“It’s a very special honor, something you dream about when you are a young player,” says Zeller. “I am so proud to know that as a result my jersey will go in the rafters (at the Smith Center), which is another great honor. You look up there and see the names of the Tar Heels who came before you and you know that it’s a tremendous honor that my jersey will be up there with them.

“My first two years were rough because of the injuries, but I learned a lot, I gained weight and got stronger. These last two years have been great and to be part of the team we’ve had is extraordinarily fun. I am proud to be part of the Carolina Basketball program and I thank my teammates and coaches, because this award goes to all of them, as well.

“My parents were extremely proud when the Academic All-America of the Year was announced because they always raised my brothers and me to understand that academics came first. But they also gave me the support and guidance to excel in basketball, too, so I want to thank them for all that they have given me. I know this means a lot to our family.”

Zeller has scored 20 or more points nine times with highs of 31 against Appalachian State and 30 against Maryland. He’s grabbed 10 or more rebounds in 14 games and graded out as UNC’s defensive player of the game a team-high 11 times.

Carolina’s ACC Players of the Year include Lennie Rosenbluth (1957), Pete Brennan (1958), Lee Shaffer (1960), Billy Cunningham (1965), Larry Miller (1967 and 1968), Mitch Kupchak (1976), Phil Ford (1978), Michael Jordan (1984), Antawn Jamison (1998), Joseph Forte (co-winner in 2001), Tyler Hansbrough (2008), Ty Lawson (2009) and Zeller.

Henson is the second repeat winner as ACC Defensive Player of the Year, joining Duke’s Shelden Williams, who won the award in 2005 and 2006. The 6-10 junior from Tampa, Fla., leads the ACC in blocked shots with 93 and is averaging 3.0 blocks per game, the third-highest in UNC single-season history.

Henson also leads the ACC in rebounding at 10.3 per game and is the only player in the conference averaging double figures in both scoring (14.3) and rebounding. He has an ACC-best 16 double-doubles in 31 games.

Led by Henson, the Tar Heels are first in the nation in rebound margin, seventh in blocked shots and 11th in the country and second in the ACC in field goal percentage defense (.386).

Henson blocked a career-high nine shots against Michigan State in the opening game on the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego and has blocked multiple shots in 22 other games this season. Earlier this season, he moved into second place in UNC history in blocks and currently has 271 career blocks.

Henson averages an ACC-leading 7.6 defensive rebounds per game and has grabbed 10 or more defensive rebounds in seven games this year, including 21 in two games against Duke.

“John is a game-changing presence on defense, someone who has a direct impact on the opposition’s ability to score in every game,” says Williams. “He blocks at least three shots and probably alters at least that many that result in missed shots. Plus, he cleans up so many misses that help us start our break. He’s been a big factor for us.”

– release