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Late Night With Roy: Banner raising highlights special night

By Zack Pearson

CHAPEL HILL, NC - OCTOBER 17: Former North Carolina Tar Heels basketball player Kenny Smith hosts the annual Late Night with Roy Williams basketball kickoff at the Dean Smith Center on October 23, 2015 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - OCTOBER 17: Former North Carolina Tar Heels basketball player Kenny Smith hosts the annual Late Night with Roy Williams basketball kickoff at the Dean Smith Center on October 23, 2015 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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A quick recap of Friday’s Late Night With Roy event at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill

The annual unofficial beginning of the college basketball season happened in Chapel Hill on Friday night as the University of North Carolina hosted “Late Night With Roy.”

The event is always a blast for those in attendance as well as those watching from home but this year’s was just a little more special.

UNC is coming off a 2016-17 season in which they completed their “redemption” tour by beating Gonzaga back in April.

It’s UNC’s first national championship since the 2009 season and came just a year after they lost a heartbreaker to Villanova on the buzzer beater.

Friday’s event began with a volleyball match between UNC and Virginia Tech as the doors opened up at 5 p.m. ET. Fans packed the Dean E. Smith Center as they prepared for the night’s events.

Following the volleyball match, the women’s basketball team was introduced and played in a 12-minute scrimmage.

Then the show turned over to Kenny Smith.

The former UNC great was hosting the event for the Tar Heels this season, the fourth time he’s done in it the event’s history. It was a special night for “The Jet” as his son, K.J. Smith, joined UNC as a transfer.

Senior Theo Pinson had one of the coolest moments of the night when he brought out the 2017 NCAA Championship Trophy following his introduction. The fans went nuts as Pinson walked it out to his teammates.

While there were the usual skits and dancing, this year’s event featured a cool contest for the players.

Memorable moments from UNC’s rich basketball history were played on the jumbotron as the players had the chance to recreate them. The most recent one came from a member of this year’s team as they recreated Luke Maye’s game-winning shot over Kentucky to send UNC to the Final Four.

Then the biggest moment of all happened.

UNC unveiled its seventh championship banner in the Dean Dome rafters as the players looked on.

Check it out:

If that doesn’t give you goosebumps, then I don’t know what will.

The night closed out with the scrimmage game between the white and blue teams, as they played 20 minutes with a running clock.

It was the first time fans got to see the 2017-18 team on the court together and although it was just a scrimmage, the players took it rather seriously.

Transfer Cameron Johnson was the leading scorer from the scrimmage, dropping 13 points for the White Team as they beat the Blue Team 35-30.

Pinson led the Blue Team with 8 points and Maye finished with 7 on the night.

The official YouTube of UNC Athletics put together some highlights from the scrimmage:

As for actual game action against another opponent, UNC will host an exhibition against Barton College on Oct. 27th.

Their regular season schedule begins on Nov. 10 when they host Northern Iowa to tipoff the 2017-18 season.

Next: Jordan Brand launches awesome Win Like '82 campaign

Check back for more on the Tar Heels basketball team as we get closer and closer to the upcoming season.

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