CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Larry Miller, a two-time ACC player of the year for North Carolina and 2022 inductee in the College Basketball Hall of Fame, has died. He was 79.
The UNC athletic department said Miller died Sunday in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. No cause of death was given. An athletic department spokesman said Miller was in hospice care and dealing with medical issues for some time.
Miller, a native of Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, was a star forward on coach Dean Smith’s first two Atlantic Coast Conference championship and Final Four teams in 1967 and 1968. He earned first-team All-America honors both seasons and was a consensus pick in 1968 along with UCLA’s Lew Alcindor, Houston’s Elvin Hayes, LSU’s Pete Maravich and Louisville’s Wes Unseld.
Miller scored in double figures in 64 consecutive games, still a UNC record. Miller scored 1,982 points in three seasons and averaged 21.8 points, the fifth-highest by a Tar Heel. In one of his most memorable performances, he scored 32 points on 13-of-14 shooting from the field in an 82-73 victory over Duke in the 1967 ACC championship game. Led by Miller, Carolina went 70-21, including 32-10 in ACC regular-season play, from 1965-68. The Tar Heels were No. 4 in the final Associated Press polls his last two seasons, the first time Carolina was ranked in the top 10 in the final poll in consecutive seasons. Miller played seven years in the ABA and set the league’s all-time single-game record with 67 points.