Former North Carolina star, ABA standout Larry Miller dies at 79

Former North Carolina and ABA great Larry Miller, a 2022 College Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, died on Sunday. He was 79.

North Carolina said Miller died in Bethlehem, Pa. He reportedly had been battling medical issues.

Rest in peace, Larry Miller. A Tar Heel forever ??

??: https://t.co/ngLUgPrBx6 pic.twitter.com/jCpzOFicOR

— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) May 12, 2025

Miller was a two-time Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year during his three seasons (1965-68) with the Tar Heels. He still ranks ninth in school history with 1,982 career points in 91 games and had career averages of 21.8 points and 9.2 rebounds.

Miller averaged over 20 points in all three of his seasons and scored in double figures in 64 straight games, a still-standing school mark.

As a senior, Miller averaged 22.4 points and 8.1 rebounds while being a consensus first-team All-American on an epic squad that included UCLA's Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Houston's Elvin Hayes, LSU's Pete Maravich and Louisville's Wes Unseld.

Miller was a fifth-round pick in the 1968 NBA draft but instead opted to play in the upstart ABA and had a seven-year pro career.

His biggest moment came when he was a member of the Carolina Cougars and set the ABA single-game scoring record of 67 points in a 139-125 victory over the Memphis Pros on March 18, 1972 at Greensboro, N.C. Miller made 25 of 40 field-goal attempts and 17 of 23 from the free-throw line. He missed his lone 3-point shot.

Miller averaged 13.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in 486 career ABA games.

--Field Level Media