The branches of the North Carolina coaching tree continue to blossom, and two will intertwine tonight at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

High Point’s first-year coach Scott Cherry and Auburn coach Jeff Lebo never played together at North Carolina, but the two are good friends. Playing under legendary coach Dean Smith seems to bring all UNC grads together.

“Scott is a friend of mine and a former Carolina player,” Lebo said. “It is never easy to do that. We do a lot of things and we know each other’s systems.”

Cherry has somewhat followed Lebo’s footsteps twice in his career.

Lebo played at UNC from 1985-1989. Cherry came one year later. He was a letterwinner as a bench player all four seasons, finishing his career with the Tar Heels’ 1993 national championship.

When Lebo left his head coach position at Tennessee Tech in 2002 to come to Chattanooga, Cherry was one of the first assistants Mike Sutton hired for the 2002-03 season. He spent just that season there, going back to George Mason, where he spent a combined seven years before accepting the High Point job.

“He is a very good young coach,” Lebo said. “I am excited for him to have his first opportunity there at High Point.”

Auburn (2-3) will be looking at tonight’s game, which tips off at 6 p.m., as an opportunity to bounce back from a rocky start to its season.

Though all three losses have come on the road, all have been against teams picked to finish last in their respective conferences. Sunday’s 60-58 last-second loss against North Carolina State at the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla., served as the only non-double-digit defeat of the short season, but that didn’t make it any easier.

“It was a disappointing loss,” Lebo said. “It is just part of basketball. You will have exciting wins and disappointing losses and I thought we handled it pretty maturely.”

Many teams at this point of the season typically take the holiday week off, but Lebo said he was happy the schedule fell the way it has.

“The kids are excited about playing and not having a long break here after a loss,” Lebo said. “I think we learned a lot about our team and we have learned some areas where we have to be better in.”

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