University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Look To Close Out Perfect January At NC State
January 26, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 26, 2001
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Date & Time: Sunday, January 28, 2001, 1 p.m.
Site: Entertainment and Sports Arena, Raleigh, N.C.
Records: Carolina 16-2 overall, 6-0 ACC, NC State 10-7 overall, 2-4 ACC
Rankings: Carolina No. 5 Associated Press, No. 6 ESPN/USA Today
Series Record vs. NC State: Carolina leads, 126-70 overall, 49-41 in
Raleigh, 1-0 in the Entertainment and Sports Arena
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Radio Network, a division of Learfield
Communications. Woody Durham (play-by-play) and Mick Mixon (color)
provide the call. A live broadcast also is available on the University
of North Carolina's official athletic website, TarHeelBlue.com
Television: Raycom/Jefferson-Pilot/espn2 (Tim Brant and Bucky Waters)
TAR HEELS LOOK TO CLOSE OUT PERFECT JANUARY AT NC STATE
North Carolina looks to win its 14th game in a row and close out a
perfect month of January on Super Bowl Sunday when the Tar Heels visit
rival NC State in the Entertainment and Sports Arena. Gametime is 1 p.m.
The game will be televised nationally by espn2 and in the ACC area by
Raycom/Jefferson-Pilot. This is the second of three straight UNC games
that will be nationally televised.
Carolina is 16-2 overall and tied for first place in the ACC standings with a 6-0 league record. The Tar Heels are coming off an 88-81 win at home over No. 12 Virginia.
NC State defeated Florida State, 84-81 in overtime on Thursday night in Tallahassee in its latest action. The Wolfpack is 10-7 overall and 2-4 in the ACC.
Carolina has won 13 games in a row since losing back-to-back decisions to Michigan State and Kentucky. The 13-game winning streak is UNC's longest since beginning the '97-'98 season 17-0. UNC's six-game ACC winning streak is its longest since winning eight in a row in the ACC during the 1997-98 season.
Carolina's 13-game winning streak is currently tied for the second-longest streak in the nation. Stanford is the only school in the country with a longer current win streak than the Tar Heels. The Cardinal has won 18 in a row. Fresno State has also won 13 in a row. UNC returns to action on Thursday night at Duke at 9 p.m.
Carolina and the WOLFPACK
The Tar Heels lead the series, 126-70, and have won five in a row and
nine of the last 10 in the series with NC State. Last year, Carolina
won its first-ever game at the Entertainment and Sports Arena, led by
Brendan Haywood's 19 points and 10 rebounds (see game summary below).
The Wolfpack's last victory over Carolina came in the Smith Center
during the 1997-98 season. NCSU's last win over UNC in Raleigh was
during the 1995-96 season. The Tar Heels have won four in a row over
the Wolfpack in Raleigh.
CAROLINA 83, NC STATE 75-- January 8, 2000 (in the Smith Center)
Carolina shot 71.1 percent from the floor (its best shooting game in
seven seasons), including a blistering 78.9 percent clip in the second
half, in an 83-75 win in Chapel Hill. The last time Carolina had shot
70 percent or better in a game was on Dec. 1, 1992, versus Old Dominion,
when it hit 43 of 57 shots (75.4 percent).
Carolina went on a 10-0 run to close the first half and a 22-9 run to start the second half.
Senior point guard Ed Cota hit all eight of his field goal attempts and scored a career-high 23 points for Carolina. Joseph Forte scored 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting that included 2-of-3 three-pointers. Brendan Haywood went 7-for-7 from the floor and finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
CAROLINA MOVES UP TO NO. 5 IN ASSOCIATED PRESS POLL
Wins over Clemson and Florida State and a 12-game win streak has helped
Carolina climb once again in the national rankings to No. 5 in The
Associated Press poll for January 22. The Tar Heels remained No. 6 in
the country in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll.
UNC's No. 5 ranking is its highest of the season and its highest in the AP poll since being ranked No. 2 in the nation last season. The Tar Heels were No. 2 in the fourth poll of the season, but lost to Michigan State and fell to No. 7 the following week.
This week marks the 497th alltime appearance in the AP Top 10 for the Tar Heels. That is the second-highest figure in NCAA basketball history (Kentucky is first with 520 Top 10s). Carolina has appeared in the AP poll 640 times, more than any other school in history.
DOHERTY OFF TO FASTEST ACC START IN CAROLINA COACHING HISTORY
Carolina head coach Matt Doherty is 6-0 so far this season in Atlantic
Coast Conference competition. That 6-0 record is the best start ever in
ACC play by a UNC head coach. Frank McGuire went 4-0 in his first
season (1953-54), Dean Smith began his first season 2-1 in the ACC
(1961-62) and Bill Guthridge went 4-0 to begin his first season
(1997-98).
FORTE LEADS THE WAY AGAINST VIRGINIA
Joseph Forte scored 33 points, the second-most in his career, as the Tar
Heels defeated Virginia, 88-81, on Jan. 24 in Chapel Hill. With the
win, Carolina improved to 15-1 alltime against Virginia in the Smith
Center and 57-4 against the Cavaliers in Chapel Hill.
The Tar Heels shot 58.8 percent in the first half and led, 50-35, at the break. UVa went on a 16-4 run to start the second half, cutting the UNC lead to 54-51. Shortly thereafter, Forte scored nine points in a 2:06 span and Carolina went back up by eight, 65-57.
Forte has now scored 20 or more points 10 times this season, including eight of the last 12 games. He hit 13 of 23 field goals on the night, both of which were season highs. The 23 field goal attempts are a career high.
"Forte is an unbelievable player, a tremendous two guard," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said after the game. "The best I have seen in college in a long time."
Jason Capel (14 points and seven rebounds), Kris Lang (12 points and six rebounds) and Brendan Haywood (nine points, 10 rebounds and four blocks) all played well for UNC. Chris Williams (14 points and 11 rebounds) and Travis Watson (16 points and 10 rebounds) led Virginia. The Tar Heels shot 56.9 percent for the game (their best shooting performance since the Buffalo game this season) and held the Cavs to 42.6 percent, making them the 13th consecutive UNC opponent to shoot under 50 percent this season.
Carolina's 88 points were the most it had scored in its last 24 games against Virginia, dating to the 1990-91 season.
FORTE SHOOTING FOR 1,000 POINTS
Sophomore Joseph Forte has 972 points in his 54 career games at UNC.
With 28 more points, he will become the 51st player in Tar Heel history
to score 1,000 career points.
Forte is on pace to reach 1,000 points faster than any Tar Heel player since freshmen became eligible in 1972-73. Phil Ford (57 games) currently is the quickest Carolina player since '72-'73 to reach 1,000 points, followed by Mike O'Koren (58) and Antawn Jamison (59).
Lennie Rosenbluth (40 games) reached 1,000 points faster than any player in Carolina history. Billy Cunningham (41), Bob Lewis (42), Larry Miller (46) and Charlie Scott (52) round out the top five fastest Tar Heels to reach 1,000 points.
HAYWOOD NOW CAROLINA'S ALLTIME LEADING SHOT BLOCKER
Senior center Brendan Haywood is in the midst of his greatest
shot-blocking streak and became the University of North Carolina's
alltime leader when he swatted away seven Florida State shot attempts in
UNC's 80-70 win on January 20 in Tallahassee. Haywood moved one block
ahead of former All-America Sam Perkins in the UNC record book. Perkins
blocked 245 shots in his 135 games as a Tar Heel. Haywood has blocked
250 in 126 contests.
He also moved into the Top 10 in ACC history in blocks, passing Maryland's Cedric Lewis and Georgia Tech's John Salley in the game at Florida State. Haywood is now ninth in ACC history. Clemson's Sharone Wright is eighth with 288. Only one other active ACC player has more blocked shots than Haywood. Yellow Jacket Alvin Jones is fourth alltime with 387.
The Greensboro, N.C., resident blocked 91 shots last year and 60 as a sophomore. He has 66 blocked shots in the first 18 games (including 30 in the last six contests) this season to lead the ACC. He had five in the opener against Winthrop, a then-career-high eight in the win over Tulsa, a school-record 10 versus Miami, four against UMass, five at Maryland and against Marquette, six versus Clemson at home and seven at FSU.
Haywood twice this year set the Smith Center record for blocked shots in a game. The previous mark was seven by Clemson's Wright (February 17, 1993) and Rony Seikaly of Syracuse (March 17, 1988, in an NCAA Tournament game against North Carolina A&T).
HAYWOOD HOLDS UNC RECORDS ON BOTH ENDS OF THE COURT,
ONLY ACC PLAYER TO ACCOMPLISH THIS FEAT
rendan Haywood is the only player in ACC history to lead his school in
both career field goal percentage and blocked shots. He currently is
the alltime ACC leader in field goal percentage at 64.5 percent and has
250 career blocked shots, a UNC record.
No other school in the ACC has one career leader in both of those
categories.
Defense Holds 13 Straight Under 50 Percent
Carolina's 13-game win streak coincides with the fact that the Tar Heels
have not allowed a team to shoot at least 50 percent from the floor in
the last 13 games.
Over the last 13 games, UNC's opponents have made just 36.1 percent of their shots from the floor (304 of 841). By comparison, the Tar Heels have shot 48.7 percent from the floor in those 13 games. Carolina was tied for eighth in the nation in field goal percentage defense (as of Jan. 23). The Tar Heels have held their opponents to 38.2 percent from the field this season.
Dating back to last season, Carolina has held its opponents to under 50 percent shooting for the game in 34 of the last 35 games (the only exception since last January was Kentucky). The Tar Heels have held two teams under 30 percent in that time. Miami shot just 23.4 percent to set a Smith Center record for lowest field goal percentage, and Marquette made only 29.5 percent. In the 84-70 win at Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets went 7 of 30 in the second half, a percentage of .233.
Carolina held Wake Forest to 37.1 percent shooting from the floor in its 70-69 win. That was the Deacons' lowest shooting performance of the season. The Tar Heels followed that effort by holding Maryland to 36.4 percent shooting in an 86-83 victory. Clemson shot 37 percent in the first half and made just four of their first 20 shots in the second half.
Only three teams " Michigan State, Kentucky and Charleston " have shot better than 45 percent against the Tar Heels. Kentucky shot a season-high 50.7 percent in its win over UNC and the Spartans made 46.6 percent from the floor in their win at East Lansing, Mich. Charleston led the Tar Heels by a point at the half and had the game tied with less than a minute to play before Carolina pulled out the victory. The opponents have shot 50 percent or better from the floor in five of 36 halves played this year. Kentucky and Michigan State shot 54.5 and 52.9 percent in a half, respectively, in their wins over the Tar Heels. uffalo, Florida State and Virginia all shot at least 50 percent in a half in losses to UNC.
In 36 halves, the opponents have shot 50 or better five times, 40-49.9 percent nine times, 30-39.9 percent 17 times and less than 30 percent five times.
