It’s been a tough year to be a UNC basketball fan, but last night’s win over William & Mary made up for it a little bit, not because of the game’s significance (it was the first round of the NIT, after all), but because of the atmosphere.

When tickets for the game got slashed to $20 (from $40!), I broke down and bought a couple from a friend who was getting them through W&M. It was the first UNC game I had gone to in the last couple years, and more importantly, it was the first men’s game I’d ever attended in history-rich Carmichael Arena, where the men’s team played before moving into the Dean Dome in the mid-80s. The arena used to hold about 10,000, but recent renovations have reduced its capacity to only 7,000 and the game had been sold out, so I knew it would make for a raucous setting.

Our seats were directly behind the basket near the W&M bench, about five rows up in the upper level. Of course, upper level in Carmichael is like lower level at the Dean Dome, and we could see the action pretty well except for one small blind spot where the shot clock blocked our view of the area directly in front of the opposite basket. The only other drawback to the seats was that we were sitting right behind several rows of W&M fans who, along with their comrades in the section behind the W&M bench, made a lot of noise during the game. Fortunately, the UNC crowd was charged up right from the start as well and countered most cries of “TRIBE!” with their own. The noise level was impressive throughout the game and became almost deafening in the final three or four minutes of the game, as the Tar Heels fought their way back into the lead and stayed there with a staunch defensive effort down the stretch.

As for the game itself, it was the best I’ve seen the Heels play in a long time, undoubtedly in part because of UNC’s decided advantage in the post. Deon Thompson played one of his best games of the year and finished 20 points, Jon Henson almost got a double-double, and Tyler Zeller made several terrific hustle plays on defense to come up with steals on the perimeter that he then took the length of the floor for easy baskets. His last steal and dunk, coming in the final minute, sealed the win.

Alas, there were still mental lapses that showed why UNC is playing in the NIT and not the NCAA Tournament, and the Tar Heels seemed to forget about covering W&M’s most dangerous outside shooter early in the second half, allowing him to go on a spurt that put W&M ahead. However, I was also impressed with the hustle the Heels displayed, such as when Thompson dove along the sideline to keep a loose ball in bounds in the second half. The offense flowed relatively smoothly (you know things were going well when even Marcus Ginyard was hitting jumpshots) and UNC hit the 80-point mark for the first time in 2010. And for once the team made the clutch plays down the stretch. It was a nice home finale for UNC, and at least now I can say I watched the Tar Heels play at home in a tournament game.