University of North Carolina Athletics
Men's Basketball Game Notes
February 16, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2001
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Date & Time: Sunday, February 18, 2001, 4 p.m.
Site: Littlejohn Coliseum, Clemson, S.C.
Records: Carolina 21-2 overall, 11-0 ACC, Clemson 10-14 overall, 1-10 ACC
Rankings: Carolina 1st in Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today, Clemson unranked
Series Record vs. Clemson: Carolina leads 108-16 overall, 31-12 in Clemson and 20-9 at Littlejohn Coliseum
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 (Tim Brant, Gil McGregor)
TOP-RANKED, FIRST-PLACE TAR HEELS VISIT CLEMSON AFTER WEEK OFF No. 1 ranked North Carolina brings a 18-game winning streak and a 11-0 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference to Littlejohn Coliseum on Sunday, February 18, for a rematch with the Clemson Tigers. The Tar Heels won the first matchup between these two teams this season with a 92-65 win in Chapel Hill on Jan. 17. In that contest, Joseph Forte (14 points) led 13 Carolina scorers in a balanced attack as UNC improved to 47-0 alltime in Chapel Hill versus Clemson.
The Tar Heels are 21-2 overall this season but have not played in eight days. Carolina defeated No. 13/13 Maryland last Saturday in the Smith Center. Clemson lost an 85-51 decision at NC State on Wednesday night. Sunday's game will be televised regionally by Raycom/Jefferson-Pilot.
UNC has now won at least 21 games for the 31st straight season, extending its own NCAA record for consecutive 20-win seasons.
Carolina, which hasn't lost a game in over two months, has won 18 in a row since losing back-to-back games to Michigan State and Kentucky. The 18-game winning streak is UNC's longest since 1985-86, when the Tar Heels started the season 21-0.
Carolina's 18-game winning streak is the longest in the nation. Stanford's season-best 20-game streak was snapped on February 3 by UCLA.
UNC's 11-game ACC winning streak is its longest since winning 16 consecutive ACC contests over a two-year period in 1987-88 (Carolina went 14-0 in 1986-87 and won its first two ACC games in 1987-88). Carolina is 11-0 in the ACC for the first time since going 14-0 in 1986-87.
The 21-2 Tar Heels are within one victory of their win total from the 1999-2000 season. Carolina entered the 2000 NCAA Tournament with a record of 18-13 and finished the season 22-14.
UNC returns to action on Thursday, February 22, at home versus Florida State at 8 p.m. That contest will be televised by Raycom/Jefferson-Pilot.
FORTE, HAYWOOD AMONG NAISMITH FINALISTS Joseph Forte and Brendan Haywood are among the 15 finalists for the 2000-2001 Naismith Male Collegiate Player of the Year award, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced on Feb. 12.
Former Tar Heel winners of the Naismith Award include Michael Jordan (1984) and Antawn Jamison (1998). Carolina is one of four schools to have two Naismith Award finalists this season. Stanford's Jarron Collins and Casey Jacobson, Michigan State's Charlie Bell and Jason Richardson and Duke's Shane Battier and Jason Williams are also finalists.
Other finalists include: Troy Bell (Boston College), Michael Bradley (Villanova), Eddie Griffin (Seton Hall), Terence Morris (Maryland), Troy Murphy (Notre Dame), Jamaal Tinsley (Iowa State) and Michael Wright (Arizona).
Selection for the award is based on a nationwide poll of the Naismith Selection Committee, consisting of Atlanta Tipoff Club National Advisory Board members, NCAA Division I coaches, former Naismith Award winners, NCAA Division I conference commissioners and selected media representatives. The winner of the award will be announced in Atlanta on April 7.
21 WINS, AGAIN Carolina's 96-82 victory over Maryland on Feb. 10 ensured its 31st 21-win season in a row and extended its own NCAA record for consecutive 20-win seasons. The next-longest consecutive 20-win season streak in the ACC is five (by Duke, including this season). Should Maryland win 20 games this season, the Terps also would have five straight 20-win campaign. The last time UNC failed to win at least 20 games was in the 1969-70 season, when the Tar Heels went 18-9.
11 ACC WINS FOR THE 21ST TIME The Tar Heels enter the Clemson game with an Atlantic Coast Conference record of 11-0. This is the 21st time in history that Carolina has won at least 11 ACC games and the first time UNC has won at least 11 ACC games since going 13-3 in 1997-98.
The Tar Heels have now won at least 11 ACC games five times in the last nine years and at least 10 ACC games in eight of the last nine seasons
ROAD WINS OVER DUKE, WAKE FOREST AND NC STATE IN THE SAME SEASON Carolina has defeated Duke, Wake Forest and Wake Forest on the road this year for the first time since the 1989-90 season. This is the 10th time the Tar Heels have accomplished this feat since the beginning of ACC play in the 1953-54 season -- 1956-57, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1966-67, 1975-76, 1981-82, 1983-84, 1986-87, 1989-90 and 2000-01.
STILL NO. 1 Carolina is ranked No. 1 in the nation in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls for the second week in a row. This is the first time the Tar Heels have been ranked No. 1 in the nation in those polls since late in the 1997-98 season, Bill Guthridge's first as UNC's head coach.
The Tar Heels took over the top spot in both polls on Feb. 5. That was Carolina's first time atop either poll since March 8, 1998. UNC was ranked No. 1 in both polls that day. They were released after the Tar Heels beat previously No. 1 Duke in the ACC Tournament championship game. It was the final AP poll released that season. Carolina finished third behind NCAA champion Kentucky and Utah in the final coaches poll released on April 1.
DOHERTY AND CREMINS ONLY PLAYER-COACH NO. 1s IN ACC HISTORY Matt Doherty is just the second person in Atlantic Coast Conference history to play for a No. 1 ranked team and be the head coach of a No. 1 ranked team. Bobby Cremins also accomplished the feat. In 1969-70, South Carolina was No. 1 in the preseason poll, but fell out of the top spot the next week. In 1985-86, Georgia Tech was No. 1 in the preseason poll, but fell out of the top spot the next week.
500TH AP TOP-10 APPEARANCE FOR CAROLINA This week's poll marks Carolina's 500th appearance in the Associated Press Top 10. That is the second-highest figure in NCAA basketball history (Kentucky is first with 520 Top 10s). Carolina has appeared in the AP poll 643 times, more than any other school in history.
CAROLINA AND THE NO. 1 RANKING BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS * This is the 15th different season in which the University of North Carolina has been ranked No. 1 in the nation since the Associated Press began its rankings in 1948-49. The previous seasons include 1957, 1958, 1959, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1998.
* This is the 81st week the Tar Heels have been ranked No. 1. Carolina is third alltime in weeks ranked No. 1 in the country behind only UCLA (128) and Kentucky (87).
* Matt Doherty (two weeks at No. 1) is the fourth different Carolina head coach to have his team ranked No. 1 in the nation and the second to accomplish this in his first season as UNC's head coach. Frank McGuire had teams ranked No. 1 in 11 weeks, Dean Smith had teams ranked No. 1 60 times and Bill Guthridge led the Tar Heels to the No. 1 ranking for eight weeks.
* Matt Doherty spent 29 weeks as a Tar Heel player ranked No. 1 in the nation. Carolina was 52-5 with Doherty in the lineup as the No. 1 team in the country, winning the NCAA title in 1982 and finishing No. 1 in the final poll in 1982 and 1984.
* Carolina has a 138-23 record as the No. 1 team in the AP poll. That included a 30-10 record in the 1990s. The Tar Heels are 48-5 at home as No. 1, 36-10 on the road and 54-8 at neutral sites.
* The Tar Heels are 11-0 vs. Clemson as No. 1 in the nation. This is the first meeting against the Tigers with Carolina ranked No. 1 since Jan. 3, 1998, when UNC won 73-70 in Littlejohn Coliseum.
CAROLINA AND THE COACHES POLL This is the 13th season in which the Tar Heels have been ranked No. 1 in the nation by the coaches (UPI, CNN/USA Today or ESPN/USA Today). Those seasons include 1957 (eight weeks), 1958 (two weeks), 1959 (one week), 1982 (nine weeks), 1983 (two weeks), 1984 (nine weeks), 1986 (12 weeks), 1987 (three weeks), 1993 (three weeks), 1994 (two weeks), 1995 (six weeks), 1998 (eight weeks) and 2001 (two weeks). This is the 67th week the Tar Heels have been ranked No. 1 in the nation in the coaches' poll.
CAROLINA AND THE TIGERS The Tar Heels lead the series with Clemson, 108-16, including a 92-65 win in Chapel Hill earlier this year. Carolina is 20-9 against the Tigers in Littlejohn Coliseum and 31-12 overall in games vs. the Tigers at Clemson. Carolina has won 13 of the last 15 games between the two schools since the 1993-94 season. Clemson's only two wins in that span against UNC were a 78-63 win in Clemson in 1998-99 and a 75-73 win in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals in Greensboro in 1996.
The Tar Heels have won 21 of the last 24 games between the two rivals, beginning in the 1990-91 season.
EARLIER THIS SEASON IN CHAPEL HILL Joseph Forte (14 points) led 13 Tar Heel scorers in a balanced attack as Carolina downed Clemson, 92-65 on Jan. 17. UNC improved to 47-0 at home alltime versus Clemson with the victory.
Forte joined Kris Lang (13 points and six rebounds), Jason Capel (11 points, nine rebounds and five assists) and Brendan Haywood (11 points, five rebounds and six blocks) in double figures for UNC.
Carolina held Clemson to 38.7 percent shooting from the floor, its fifth straight opponent to shoot under 40 percent. Haywood's six blocked shots, along with two from Lang, helped stifle the Tigers. Will Solomon, the ACC's leading scorer entering the game at 21.9 ppg, scored 17 points and managed just two points after halftime. Forte, Ronald Curry and Brian Morrison combined to limit Solomon in the second half. Clemson made just four of its first 20 shots in the second half.
LAST TIME IN CLEMSON
CAROLINA 73, CLEMSON 60 - FEBRUARY 6, 2000
All five Carolina starters scored in double figures as the Tar Heels earned their second straight ACC road win, 73-60, on Feb. 6 at Clemson. Carolina shot 52.2 percent from the floor in the game and held the Tigers to 39.7 percent. Clemson shot 52.2 percent in the first half but the UNC defense buckled down after halftime and held the Tigers to 31.4 percent after the break.
Ed Cota had 17 points, six rebounds and seven assists to lead the Heels. Other double-figure scorers included Jason Capel (14), Kris Lang (12), Brendan Haywood (11 and eight rebounds) and Joseph Forte (11 and six rebounds).
Clemson's Will Solomon, the ACC's leading scorer, finished with 26 points, including six three-pointers, but did not score after hitting a field goal with 7:47 left in the second half. After that shot by Solomon pulled the Tigers to within 58-54, UNC went on a 15-6 run to close out the game. Carolina hit 12 of 16 free throws during that span.
TAR HEELS SWEEP MARYLAND, 96-82 Jason Capel's career-high 27 points, Julius Peppers' career-high 18 points and Ronald Curry's career-high eight assists led the way as Carolina defeated Maryland, 96-82, in the Smith Center on Feb. 10. With the win, UNC swept the season series with the Terrapins for the first time since 1993-94 and has won four of its last five contests with the Terps.
Peppers made his first career start due to Kris Lang's sore right ankle and responded with the best game and highest scoring total of his career. Capel matched his career high with four three-pointers and hit 10 of 14 field goals.
Joseph Forte (23 points, seven rebounds, six assists) scored at least 20 points for the seventh game in a row. Since scoring seven points against Maryoland in his first game against the Terps as a freshman, Forte has scored 26, 26 and 23 points in his last three games against Maryland.
Carolina shot a season-high 58.3 percent (35 of 60) from the floor, a season-high 70.0 percent (7 of 10) from three-point land and a season-high 95.0 percent (19 of 20) from the free throw line.
Carolina has shot at least 50.0 percent from the floor in seven of the last eight halves against nationally-ranked opponents.
FORTE SHOOTING FOR NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR Sophomore guard Joseph Forte has made a major move in the National Player of the Year chase in the last month with a string of extraordinary performances.
Forte is now being considered among the favorites for the National Player of the Year awards along with Duke's Jason Williams and Shane Battier, Notre Dame's Troy Murphy and Stanford's Casey Jacobsen.
Forte scored 33 points at home in the win over Virginia, had 24 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and three steals in one of the great all-around performances in Carolina history in the 85-83 win over Duke, and had 23 points and nine rebounds as UNC defeated Georgia Tech. He shot just 7 of 17 from the field but had a team-high 24 points, four three-pointers, six rebounds and five steals at Wake Forest on Feb. 6.
Forte has scored 20 or more points 15 times this season, including 13 times in the last 17 contests. Forte has made 50 percent or more of his shots from the floor in 11 of his 15 20-point scoring games this season.
He also leads the Tar Heels this season with 83 assists. The last Carolina player to lead the team in scoring and assists was current L.A. Clipper point guard Jeff McInnis, who accomplished the feat in 1995-96.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT FORTE Joseph Forte is drawing raves from college basketball observers, opposing players and coaches for his play this season. Below is a sampling of the praise being heaped upon the UNC sophomore:
"Forte is a sensational player," John Kresse, College of Charleston's head coach: "He is very opportunistic. I would pay admission to see him play. He's a ballerina. He makes the game look easy. He's so smooth, he's poetry in motion. He has a mid-range game and a go-to-the-hoop game."
Said Virginia coach Pete Gillen: "Forte is an unbelievable player, a tremendous two guard, the best I have seen in college in a long time ... He reminds me of [Wayne] Gretzky on ice. He just flows."
Said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski: "Forte is one of the premier players in the country. He steps forward when they need him. I like the fact he doesn't need to have the ball all the time, nor does he have to take shots all the time. He just plays the game, and all of a sudden he hits you with flurries. I really love the way he plays."
Said Florida State guard Delvon Arrington: ``Great players sprout when their team needs them. He does it often. He's one of those players who can't wait for the big play. He's waiting always for the big play and he comes out on top. We were trying to keep the ball out of his hands. We wanted the other players to take the shots to give us more of a chance. He made that 3 and got his game going and after that it turned the game around. He quieted the crowd and got the crowd out of it and Carolina went from there.''
CBS Sportsline's Dan Wetzel wrote after Forte scored 23 points against the Yellow Jackets that he had become "the best overall player in the game."
ESPN's Jay Bilas said Forte was "the best two-guard in college basketball."
Forte was named midseason National Player of the Year by Frank Burlison of FOXSports.com.
FORTE FASTEST TO 1,000 POINTS SINCE CHARLIE SCOTT Joseph Forte scored his 1,000 point in his 56th career game when he scored 24 at Duke on February 1. He became the 51st player in Tar Heel history to score 1,000 career points.
Forte reached 1,000 points faster than any Tar Heel player since freshmen became eligible in 1972-73, surpassing the former record held by Phil Ford (57 games). The last Tar Heel to reach 1,000 points faster was Charlie Scott (52 games) in 1968-69.
Lennie Rosenbluth (40 games) reached 1,000 points faster than any player in Carolina history, followed by Billy Cunningham (41), Bob Lewis (42), Larry Miller (46), Scott (52) and Forte (56).
Forte has 1,087 points, 44th in UNC history.
FIRST CAREER START NO PROBLEM FOR PEPPERS Sophomore forward Julius Peppers made his first career start on Feb. 10 against Maryland, subbing for Kris Lang, who was bothered by a sore right ankle. Peppers responded with a career-high 18 points and a career-high seven field goals in 26 minutes of action. His baskets included dunks, acrobatic layups and a jump shot, demonstrating his athleticism and versatility.
Peppers is averaging 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game this season and is shooting 56.2 percent from the floor.
Said CBS/Raycom-JP TV analyst Billy Packer on Feb. 6: "Julius Peppers not only has great size and hands, but also the best basketball court sense of any player in the country."
HAYWOOD MAKING STATEMENT AS NATION'S BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER Senior center Brendan Haywood should receive serious consideration as the best defensive player in college basketball. He certainly is one of the most influential players in the game, as evidenced by his current shot-blocking tear. Haywood has blocked 86 shots in 23 games this season (3.7 per game, 1st in the ACC and 7th in the nation), including five or more blocks in six of the last nine games. Led by Haywood altering and blocking shots, rebounding misses and creating havoc for offenses in the paint, the Tar Heels are playing outstanding team defense. The Tar Heels have not allowed the opponents to shoot 50 percent in 18 straight games, all of which UNC has won. Haywood already has the third-most blocked shots in UNC single-season history. Rasheed Wallace set the record with 93 in 1994-95 and Haywood came within two of that total a year ago. Warren Martin blocked 81 shots in both 1984-85 and 1985-86.
HAYWOOD CAROLINA'S ALLTIME LEADING SHOT BLOCKER Senior center Brendan Haywood is in the midst of his most prolific shot-blocking streak. He 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 Jan. 20 in Tallahassee. Haywood moved past former All-America Sam Perkins in the UNC record book. Perkins blocked 245 shots in his 135 games as a Tar Heel. Haywood has now blocked 270 in 131 contests.
He also has 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.
Haywood had a then-career-high eight blocks in the win over Tulsa, a school-record 10 versus Miami, six versus Clemson at home, seven at FSU and six at NC State. He has blocked five or more shots nine times this year, including six of the last 10 contests.
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 RECORDS ON BOTH ENDS OF THE COURT, ONLY ACC PLAYER TO ACCOMPLISH THIS FEAT Brendan 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 270 career blocked shots, a UNC record.
No other school in the ACC has one career leader in both of those categories.
CAPEL'S CAREER GAME Junior forward Jason Capel scored a career-high 27 points on Feb. 10 against Maryland, also grabbing eight rebounds and matching his career high with four three-pointers. He also had four three-pointers at Clemson on Feb. 6, 2000.
Prior to that effort against Maryland, Capel had posted back-to-back double-doubles against Georgia Tech and Wake Forest.
Against the Demon Deacons on Feb. 6, he had 13 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. That followed an 11-point, 11-rebound, five-assist effort in the 82-69 win over Georgia Tech on February 3 and a 20-point, six-rebound, five-assist performance at Duke.
Capel has scored in double figures in nine of the last 10 games, grabbed 10 or more rebounds five times this year, had five or more assists eight times, hit at least two three-point field goals 11 times this year, and is shooting 82.4 percent from the free throw line.
DOHERTY OFF TO FASTEST ACC COACHING START IN CONFERENCE HISTORY Carolina head coach Matt Doherty is 11-0 thus far in Atlantic Coast Conference competition. That 11-0 record is the best start ever by a first-year ACC head coach.
FORTE ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR FOURTH TIME Joseph Forte was named the ACC Player of the Week on Feb. 5 after averaging 23.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in wins over No. 2 Duke and Georgia Tech.
Forte was named co-ACC Player of the Week honors with Alvin Jones for January 22-28. Forte earned the award for his play in Carolina's wins over Virginia and NC State. Forte scored 33 points on 13 of 23 shooting against the Cavaliers and had 21 points in the win at NC State.
This was the fourth time in seven weeks that Forte received ACC Player of the Week honors. He was also honored by the ACC on December 25 (following the UCLA game) and January 1 (following his MVP performance in the Tournament of Champions in Charlotte).
Forte is the only player to have won the award four times this season. Duke's Shane Battier is a two-time recipient. Eight other players have been named one time this year. Last year, Clemson's Will Solomon was the only three-time recipient.
Forte is the first Carolina player to earn at least four ACC Player of the Week awards in one season since Antawn Jamison set the single-season record with seven honors in 1997-98.
CAROLINA SECOND NATIONALLY IN FIELD GOAL DEFENSE Carolina's 18-game win streak coincides with the fact the Tar Heels have not allowed a team to shoot 50 percent from the floor in any of those 18 games.
Over the last 18 games, UNC's opponents have made just 36.7 percent of their shots from the floor (444 of 1209). By comparison, the Tar Heels have shot 49.5 percent in those 18 games.
Carolina leads the ACC and is second in the nation (through Feb. 15) in field goal percentage defense. The Tar Heels have held their opponents to 38.2 percent overall from the field this season.
Field Goal Percentage Defense (as of Feb. 15) Holy Cross, 38.1 North Carolina, 38.2 Kansas , 38.3 Illinois, 38.5 Ark.-Little Rock, 39.0
That 38.2 percent field goal defense is Carolina's lowest since 1959-60 (37.5 percent) and its sixth-lowest since the beginning of ACC play in 1953-54 (the top five all occurred before 1960).
Dating back to last season, Carolina has held its opponents to under 50 percent shooting for the game in 39 of the last 40 games (the only exception since last January was Kentucky).
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.
UNC opponents have shot 50 percent or better from the floor in five of 46 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. Buffalo, Florida State and Virginia all shot at least 50 percent in a half in losses to UNC.
In 46 halves, the opponents have shot 50 or better five times, 40-49.9 percent 14 times, 30-39.9 percent 21 times and less than 30 percent six times.
THREE TAR HEELS REPEAT AS NBA ALL-STARS For the second consecutive year, Carolina will be represented in the NBA All-Star game by a trio of former Tar Heel stars, Toronto's Vince Carter, Detroit's Jerry Stackhouse and Portland's Rasheed Wallace.
Carolina was the only school in the country to have three alumni named to the original NBA All-Star teams. After the late addition of Dikembe Motumbo to the East roster due to an injury to Alonzo Mourning, Georgetown also has three selections.
"You look at the NBA and you look at Carter and Jamison, Stackhouse and Wallace, what they are doing at the NBA level. It just blows you away," said Dick Vitale on the February 3, 2001 ESPN telecast of the UNC-Duke game. "Their numbers have gotten so much better because at Carolina, they learned how to play the team concept, they learned how to be unselfish, they learned fundamentals and they transformed that into the NBA to where they are standouts."
Carolina has as many NBA All-Stars as does the rest of the ACC combined (Duke's Grant Hill, Georgia Tech's Stephon Marbury and Wake Forest's Tim Duncan).
Carter received more votes than any other NBA player in fan balloting for the second consecutive year. Carter will start for the East. Stackhouse and Wallace were selected to the teams by the NBA.
Antawn Jamison, who was averaging 25.1 poinst per game for Golden State, was named by ESPN as one of the "Most Notable Ommisions" from the NBA All-Star teams.
76ers forward George Lynch was named to ESPN.com's All-Unsung All-Star Team.
SMITH CENTER VOTED NO. 1 ARENA IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL In a recently published survey of Division I head coaches, The Sporting News ranked the Dean E. Smith Center as the No. 1 Game Venue in all of college basketball. The Smith Center beat out Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse and Madison Square Garden. The Sporting News wrote that "packing more than 21,000 people who bleed Tar Heel blue into the Smith Center is a sure thing for creating that warm glow that college sports fans flock to in the dead of winter."
Carolina also was selected by the coaches to have the best NBA Alumni Association of former players, the best two-sport athlete in the country in defensive end/forward Julius Peppers and the best rivalry in the country with Duke. Carolina's uniforms were voted the second-best in the country behind Cincinnati and UNC was tied with Duke for the third-best on-campus visit behind Pepperdine and UCLA.
CURRY POINTS THE WAY TO VICTORY In the last 13 games, sophomore point guard Ronald Curry has played 371 minutes. In that time, Curry has handed out 56 assists and committed only 32 turnovers. That is one miscue every 11.6 minutes. Curry had a season-high 11 points in the win at Maryland and a season-best eight assists at home against Maryland on Feb. 10.
Curry has made 14 of 35 from behind the arc. As a freshman, he went 6 for 42 from three-point range. Curry joined the starting lineup in the Buffalo game. The Tar Heels are 16-0 with Curry in the starting lineup this year and 17-0 in his career.
He had eight second-half points against Duke, all on drives to the basket. Those eight points included six in a 46-second span.
FORTE IN THE ACC RANKINGS Joseph Forte is on pace to become the first Tar Heel to average 20 points per game since Antawn Jamison averaged 22.2 en route to being named National Player of the Year in 1997-98. Forte is averaging 21.2 points a game (18th in the nation).
Only five Carolina players have averaged 20 points a game in the last 30 years. (Phil Ford, 20.8 in 1978, Michael Jordan, 20.0 in 1983, Brad Daugherty, 20.2 in 1986, Hubert Davis, 21.4 in 1992, and Jamison, 22.2 in 1998).
Forte is second in the ACC in scoring, third in steals, third in free throw percentage, 12th in field goal percentage, 10th in assists and 16th in rebounding. Forte is the leading rebounder in the ACC for guards at guards at 6.0 per game.
Forte's scoring is up this year from 16.7 to 21.2, his field goal percentage is up from .459 to .475, his free throw shooting is up from .752 to .847 and his assists have increased one a game from 2.6 to 3.6 per game.
ON THE GLASS Carolina is out-rebounding its opponents by 4.7 per game. However, in UNC's 18-game winning streak, the Tar Heels have 121 more rebounds than the opponents (+6.7 rebound margin). Carolina has out-rebounded its opponents by at least 11 rebounds in seven of those 18 games.
As a team, Carolina leads the ACC with 41.8 rebounds per game and is second in rebound margin (+4.7). Virginia is the only team in the league with a better rebounding margin.
DOHERTY RETURNS TO COACH ALMA MATER Matt Doherty is the second former UNC player in history to serve as head coach of his alma mater. He is the only active Atlantic Coast Conference head coach who won a national championship as a player. Doherty, a 1984 UNC graduate, is in his first season as Carolina's head coach. He took over the program on July 11, 2000, following Bill Guthridge's resignation. Guthridge led the Tar Heels to an 80-28 record in his three seasons as head coach.
He has a 43-17 record as a head coach at Notre Dame and Carolina.
ALEX WOLFF ON CAROLINA BASKETBALL Sports Illustrated senior writer Alex Wolff penned a column on CNN/SI.com on February 8, 2001. The following are excerpts from that column:
"North Carolina is, familiarly if unexpectedly, atop the polls once more. Check out the NBA scoring leaders, and among the top eight you'll find three erstwhile Heels: Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison. I'm going to take the decidedly old-school position that you can trace the success of all four of these guys to some aspect of the Carolina way. Yes, Stackhouse and Carter are open-court colts, unfettered and alive, in the Joni Mitchell phrase. But there aren't many others in the NBA as adept at knowing where and when to bring their physical gifts to bear. (Dean) Smith's teachings linger, like faint thought balloons, over the heads of each. "Most of all, at Carolina all these guys learned the habit of winning. They developed the mental conditioning to face, and usually subdue, a succession of opponents determined to make their own season by taking out the princelings of the Piedmont. Imposing your will, night after night, is one of the most grueling demands the NBA makes on its players.
"Word out of Chapel Hill is that new coach Matt Doherty, with a side glance eight miles up the road at Duke's lean speed, will look to remake future North Carolina teams in that image. But right now he's doing awfully well with the Montross-ian Brendan Haywood, and the clunky Jason Capel, and Ronald Curry and Julius Peppers, who are playing only their second-best sport.
"None of those four will ascend to the heights of the NBA scoring list. But fundamentals are the game's required reading, its compulsory figures. If he refuses to learn them, an ordinary ballplayer won't become good. If he does learn them, who knows where someone blessed with talent will soar?
"Year after year, North Carolina gives us examples of both."
(For a complete version of the notes, please download the .pdf file)
