CHAPEL HILL — The North Carolina basketball team has played five of its first seven games away from home, including two true road games. To say that the Tar Heels are road tested, however, might be a stretch. As positive an experience as playing and winning at Tulane and Hawaii have been for coach Roy Williams’ third-ranked team, nothing its has faced thus far will compare to the atmosphere it faces at Indiana on Wednesday as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. “We’ve played seven games and only two have been in our building, so I like that part that we’ve been tested not (having) our crowd to get us going,” Williams said. “But playing Indiana at Indiana, they’re having a reunion of their 1981 national championship team, so we’re facing a different animal.” Although this will be the first time any of UNC’s current players have visited Assembly Hall, Indiana is anything but an unfamiliar opponent. The teams met one another in last year’s NCAA East Region semifinal in Philadelphia, with the Tar Heels earning a 101-86 victory. Wednesday’s game will mark third visit UNC has made to Bloomington in ACC-Big Ten Challenge. It split the first two, winning in 2004 before getting blown out by 24 in 2012. This year’s team, with a veteran core that came within a buzzer-beating 3-pointer of winning the national championship a year ago, is much better suited to handle the hostile environment — fueled by 17,472 passionate fans — than that previous group four years ago. Junior guard Joel Berry said he’s looking forward to the challenge, calling it the kind of game “we come to college for.” Because it will be a new experience for freshman teammates Tony Bradley, Seventh Woods and Brandon Robinson, Berry and his fellow team leaders plan to give the youngsters a crash course on what to expect. Words, however, can only do so much. “We’ll sit around and talk about how it’s fun to play in front of a crowd like that,” Berry said. “But some of it is just experiencing it on your own. Once they get out there they’ll feel how it is.” The Tar Heels (7-0) come into Friday’s game riding high off their three-game run to the championship of the Maui Invitational last week. Indiana, on the other hand, is still trying to recover from its stunning upset loss to in-state rival Fort Wayne. That unexpected result aside, the Hoosiers (4-1) are by far the best, most talented team UNC has faced this season. They showed how dangerous they can be in a 103-99 victory against Kansas in their season opener in Hawaii. “When they played Kansas, that was a war,” Williams said. “We haven’t had any battles like that.” In addition to being a stern early season test, Wednesday’s game will mark the 1,000th game of Williams’ head coaching career. It’s a milestone the Hall of Famer went out of his way to downplay. “It’s something I am proud of, but I don’t spend any time thinking about it,” Williams said. “Sunday’s game (at home against Radford) is going to be 1,001. And I’ll be happy to get to 1,002 and on like that. I’ve been very fortunate that for the most part.”
