The Tar Heels last met St. Bonaventure in the 1968 Sweet Sixteen.
I was there in my first year at UNC. It was an amazing atmosphere at Reynolds Coliseum, home of the Wolfpack; never experienced anything quite like it.
I had been there for the Carolina-State game during the regular season, and the place was a red asylum as the Heels hung on to win 68-66. In the NCAA tournament, there wasn’t a Pack fan to be found. It became Carolina’s home away from home.
The third-ranked Bonnies were led by Bob Lanier, the almost 7-foot behemoth with size 16 shoes. He was first overall pick by the Detroit Pistons in the 1970 NBA draft, an eight-time NBA all-star and MVP of the 1974 All-Star game, later inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame.
He was supposed to be the biggest challenge of Carolina center Rusty Clark’s college career, and 6-3 teammate Bill Butler was the same for Tar Heel point guard Dick Grubar. Lanier and Butler each scored 23 points, but the Bonnies had no one to stop the Tar Heel trio: All-American ACC Player of the Year Larry Miller, who scored 27 points and pulled down 16 rebounds; Clark had 18 points and matched Lanier on the boards; All-ACC sophomore Charlie Scott had 21 and took his turns guarding Butler.
Buoyed by a standing-room only crowd of 15,000-plus, fourth-ranked Carolina ran away to a 91-72 victory. The Bonnies came in with an 18-0 record and were held to 39 percent shooting by the Tar Heels who fired away for 52 percent.
Carolina went on to meet Davidson, coached by Lefty Drisell, for the East Regional championship and won a much closer game, 70-66, to reach Dean Smith’s second of three consecutive Final Fours. In LA, the Heels beat Ohio State in the national semis before losing to UCLA and Lew Alcindor.
That St. Bonaventure team was honored in 2025 without Lanier, who had died three years earlier. The current Bonnies have the same 5-0 record as Carolina but with a KenPom ranking of 117 compared to UNC’s 28.
Like those ’68 Tar Heels, these will have a tougher second game in Fort Myers against Michigan State, which they seem to play every season. The Spartans aren’t tall like Henri Veesaar and Caleb Wilson but they’re thicker and play a traditionally tougher brand of Izzo ball.
Carolina is 13-5 all-time against Sparty after losing their last meeting, 94-91, in overtime last November in Maui.
Fort Myers is the 13th different city to play host to a UNC-Michigan State game, joining Kansas City, Raleigh, East Lansing; Chapel Hill; Lahaina, Maui; Greensboro, St. Louis, Winston-Salem, Detroit, San Diego (aboard the USS Carl Vinson), Portland and Charlotte.
Carolina is 9-3 at neutral sites against the Spartans. In Maui, they outrebounded UNC, 37-29, and converted eight offensive boards into 11 points. The Heels managed five offensive rebounds for three points and must do better this time.
Featured image via Todd Melet
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
