CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--North Carolina may be inexperienced and a little ragged on offense, but the 10th-ranked Tar Heels still have one thing you can't teach--height.

"I would say their size basically overwhelmed us," Florida International coach Shakey Rodriguez said last night after his team lost to the Tar Heels 65-44 in the opening round of the Preseason NIT. Florida International shot only 29 percent from the field.

Ademola Okulaja scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds to lead the Tar Heels.

The Golden Panthers (2-1) were playing their third game in four days and wore down against the deep Tar Heels (2-0), who will play host to Georgia on Wednesday night in the second round.

No. 15 Purdue 77, III.-Chicago 61

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.--Jaraan Cornell scored 23 points to lead No. 15 Purdue past Illinois-Chicago 77-61 last night in the opening round of the Preseason NIT.

Purdue (2-0) led from start to finish, taking command with a 22-7 lead in the opening 10 minutes when the Flames (0-1) missed 13 of 16 shots from the field.

The Boilermakers will play host to Gonzaga, which beat Memphis 88-73, in the second round tomorrow.

Bryant Notree topped Illinois-Chicago with 24 points.

Only poor free throw shooting kept the Boilermakers from turning the game into a bigger rout. Purdue made only 15 of 33 free throws.

No. 23 UMass 87, Niagara 73

AMHERST, Mass.--No. 23 Massachusetts won its season opener, but it wasn't pretty.

Monty Mack scored 24 points, including three 3-pointers, as the Minutemen beat Niagara 87-73 last night in the opening round of the Preseason NIT.

The Minutemen will play St. John's in a second-round game tomorrow.

Niagara (1-1) kept it close during the first half, but UMass opened the second half with a 9-0 run to take control.