The Oakland University men’s basketball team (0-1) lost their season opener to No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels (1-0) 84-61 in Chapel Hill, N.C Friday night Nov. 8.

It was the Tar Heels who got off to a hot start, outscoring Oakland 58-21.

“The first half they were unbelievable,” OU head coach Greg Kampe said. “We didn’t handle it very well, the storm came at us, and we just didn’t handle it. We took some bad shots, and it led to run outs for them.”

The Golden Grizzlies were 6-of-25 on field goal attempts, including a dismal 2-of-12 from behind the arc.

Forward James Michael McAdoo led the way for UNC, scoring 21 points and adding nine rebounds.

OU senior guard Travis Bader scored a team-leading 18 points for the Grizzlies, including four 3-pointers. Bader is on pace to set the NCAA all-time 3-point record later this year.

Guard Duke Mondy added 14 points for the Grizzlies, along with six rebounds, assists and steals apiece for OU.

“Duke Mondy was awesome,” Kampe said. “He played one heck of a basketball game for us.”

OU settled down in the second half to outscore the Tar Heels 40-26.

“We just started figuring things out, and that’s what I’m really pleased with,” Kampe said. “We ran a really good offense in the second half. We got the shots we needed to get instead of forcing up some bad stuff.

OU point guard Kahlil Fielder only scored four points on 0-of-4 shooting in his regular season debut for the Grizzlies. He also had a 2:3 assist-to-turnover ratio.

“Freshman point guard making his first start in North Carolina, and it was either going to be good or bad, and he struggled,” Kampe said.

Top 100 recruit Tommie McCune wasn’t much better, only offering 5 points for the Grizzlies.

The game was a battle between two of the winningest active coaches in NCAA history, with Kampe climbing over the 500-win mark last year.

Up next for the Grizzlies is No. 22 UCLA Bruins. The Bruins lost their best player Shabazz Muhammad in last June’s NBA Draft.

“Well we go from a building that has six National Championship banners to one with 11,” Kampe said. “This is good for us, now we saw what we can do when we can play.”