Why KU’s Bill Self says ‘Dean Dome’ in Chapel Hill, N.C. ‘had the feel of class’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Bill Self praised the Dean Smith Center’s atmosphere after Kansas lost 87-74.
- Halftime KU lead 37-29 flipped as UNC outscored Kansas 58-37 in second half.
- Ceremony honored Dean Smith; KU received Smith’s 1952 jacket for Hall.
Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self checked an item off his bucket list Friday night when his Jayhawks visited the Dean E. Smith Center for a game for the first time.
That’s the first time ever in the history of the two storied hoops programs.
“When I walked into the … what’s the correct way … do we call it the Dean Dome? Is that what fans call it?” Self said after KU’s 87-74 loss. “When I walked in here, the Dean Smith Center, it just had the feel of class.
“It does (have class),” Self continued about the building that drew a full house of 21,750 fans Friday. “And I actually think that we had that same feel when you guys (Tar Heels) came to our place last year (when KU won 92-89).
“I’ve said this, and even though I’m disappointed we lost ... Carolina’s not Carolina without Kansas and Kansas isn’t Kansas without Carolina. There’s no way you can look at it and feel any different based on the intertwined history of both programs. But it’s special to do this.”
The all-time series is now tied 7-7.
“My personal opinion, and I know an athletic director is in the background back here (in the media room),” Self said, “but I think this is a series that if you’re going to play a big-time series, why can’t it be Kansas and Carolina?
“I think it’s a good game for us. I can’t imagine it not being a good game for you (UNC), and we can both learn from it and be part of something that’s bigger than our game. So to me, that was fun,” Self added.
North Carolina coach Hubert Davis, who is 1-2 as a coach in games against KU (Self is 5-1 vs. UNC), said he also enjoys the series greatly.
“I didn’t tell them (Tar Heel players) before the game, but the No. 1 thing for me is I wanted this new team, this new group, to have evidence of what it’s like to play in a game like this in the Smith Center and to come up big,” Davis said. “I just wanted them to have a taste of what it’s like to be here. That’s the thing.
“I won’t remember the score, but I’ll remember them (his jubilant players) jumping around in the locker room. I remember the smiles on their faces and I mean, since I’ve been alive we lost to Kansas in the 1991 Final Four my junior year.
“My first year as an assistant we lost to Kansas in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Obviously, we lost to him (Self) in the national championship game four years ago and lost to him last year. So it’s nice to go against a storied program and unbelievable coaching team to be able to come out on the other side.”
Davis said he met with former KU and UNC coach Roy Williams the day before the game.
“After practice yesterday, I went to go see coach Williams. He’s big time. He’s got one of the houses in Pinehurst,” Davis said. “I made the drive after practice. I spent an hour and a half with him, and he wasn’t — because he had knee surgery, he wasn’t able to be at our exhibition games. Coach wants to be at everything, and so I said after practice, I’m just going to go down and see him.
“So it was great being able just to spend time with him. He had a list of preparation for the game. He went through every guy on the (UNC) team. How’s Henry (Veesaar, 20 points) doing, how’s How’s Caleb (Wilson, 24 points) doing, and he went through (the roster). I shared it with the team, and I said, ‘Guys, I know coach enjoys, you know, retirement and spending time with his grandchildren, but you could just see if he could just have one more time to be in that locker room.’
“And I told him, I said I thought about it all last night, because I have a chance to be in that locker room. And then I talked to the guys, because we always as coaches tell them we wish we could put on the uniform and run out of that tunnel. And I told the guys, ‘Guess what? You can.’ And I went through everybody. I said, ‘What are you going to do with it?’ And Henry said something at the end that I can’t repeat. And I said, ‘OK, let’s go.’ So it was good.”
On Friday during a first-half timeout, KU chancellor Douglas Girod and athletic director Travis Goff were presented the 1952 letter jacket of former KU guard/UNC coaching legend Smith.
The letter jacket will go in the Booth Family Hall of Athletics on the KU campus in Lawrence. Former Kansas and UNC coaching legend Williams was shown on the arena’s four video boards applauding as the ceremony concluded.
Self assessed the evening by noting the feeling of playing UNC in Chapel Hill, “was more special at halftime than it is now.”
KU outscored UNC 37-29 the first half and then was torched, 58-37, the final 20 minutes. Carolina’s 58-point second half was second most points scored against a Bill Self coached team. Baylor scored 60 in a half last season versus the Jayhawks.
Of the loss dropping KU to 1-1, Self said: “We weren’t going to run the table, but we need to learn from it, and it’ll happen to Carolina too. It (losing) happens to everybody. We all got to figure it out and try to get better from it.”
Faces in the crowd included former KU and UNC assistant coach Steve Robinson and former KU golfer Gary Woodland.
KU will next meet Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. Tuesday, at Allen Fieldhouse.
