CORONADO, Calif. — The nation’s basketball-fan-in-chief appeared to enjoy the first college hoops game on an active aircraft carrier.
President Barack Obama sat courtside and watched No. 1 North Carolina beat Michigan State 67-55 on Friday night in the Carrier Classic on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson.
Harrison Barnes scored 17 points and John Henson had 12 points — although he missed some shots when “the boat moved a little bit when I shot” — and a career-high nine blocked shots as the Tar Heels put their size advantage to good use. Michigan State’s Draymond Green had a career-high 18 rebounds.
When the game ended, Obama applauded and then shook hands with coaches Roy Williams and Tom Izzo.
“He said, ‘Good luck.’ I told him, ‘Good luck.’ He’s got some pretty important things coming up in the next year also,” North Carolina’s Williams said.
Williams said it was nice that there wasn’t a crisis that kept Obama away.
“I like a president who loves sports, loves athletics, loves college basketball,” Williams said. “Don’t take this wrong and I’m not being disrespectful, but he’s a basketball junkie.”
Said Izzo: “I thanked him. He thanked us. We’re all trying to thank somebody. That . . . military starts thanking you, and it’s killing me because they do so much for us and they’re thanking us. They’re the most humble group I’ve ever met.”
The Carl Vinson conducted Osama bin Laden’s burial at sea after he was killed by Navy SEALs in a raid ordered by Obama.
Fitting with the Veterans Day theme, the Tar Heels and Spartans had U.S.A. rather than their names on the back of their jerseys, which had a camouflage design. At dusk, the game was paused for the lowering of the American flag. When the game ended, the players gave their jerseys to servicemen.
North Carolina led by double digits from late in the first half on, including 36-25 after Kendall Marshall made two free throws with 44.8 seconds left before halftime.
