University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Host Wake Forest In Top-10 Matchup
December 18, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2003
Carolina will play its first Atlantic Coast Conference game of the 2003-04 season on Saturday when it hosts Wake Forest at 4 p.m. in the Smith Center. The game will be a matchup of undefeated, top-10 teams that are the two highest-scoring squads in the ACC. It also is the first conference game for either team this season.
Saturday's game will be the first after the Tar Heels completed fall semester final exams on Dec. 17. Following the Wake Forest game, Carolina will take some time off for the holidays and return to action on Sunday, Dec. 28 vs. UNC Wilmington in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The Tar Heels have started the 2003-04 season 6-0 and are coming off of a 64-53 win over Akron last Sunday. Wake Forest is 6-0 this season and coming off a 78-66 win at SMU on Monday night.
Carolina is ranked No. 4 in both the latest Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN coaches polls. The Demon Deacons are ranked No. 14 and No. 9, respectively, in the two polls.
BROADCAST INFO
Saturday's game will be televised nationally by Fox Sports Net. Thom Brennaman (play-by-play), Mike Gminski (analyst) and Dwayne Ballen (sideline) will have the call.
This season, 26 of 27 regular-season Carolina games will be televised (the lone exception is the Dec. 30 game with Coastal Carolina). Fifteen UNC games will be nationally broadcast, not including ACC and NCAA Tournament contests.
The game also will be broadcast live on radio by the Tar Heel Sports Network, for which Woody Durham (play-by-play) and Mick Mixon (analyst) are in their 15th year together calling the action for Carolina Basketball. For the third straight season, former UNC All-America Phil Ford (analyst) joins Durham and Mixon on the broadcast team. All Carolina men's basketball games may be heard on the Internet at TarHeelBlue.com.
LAST TIME OUT - UNC 64, AKRON 53
Carolina got a Smith-Center record 21 rebounds from Sean May and defeated Akron, 64-53, despite shooting poorly. The game was a brief respite from final exams for the Tar Heels.
UNC won despite shooting just 30.4 percent from the field for the game (its worst shooting performance since hitting 30.0 percent in a home loss to Davidson on Nov. 20, 2001) and 23.5 percent in the second half (the lowest in a half by Carolina since at least the start of the 1979-80, which is as far back as UNC records include field goal percentage by half).
The Tar Heels also turned the ball over 14 times and hit just 4 of 21 three-point attempts but did out-rebound the Zips, 53-40.
May's 21 boards were a career high and, combined with his 10 points, gave him his third double-double of the season. It was the first time a Tar Heel has had 20 rebounds in a game since Serge Swikker had 20 vs. Southern California on Dec. 6, 1996.
Rashad McCants (14 points) led all scorers, while Jawad Williams (13) and Raymond Felton (12) also hit double-figures for Carolina.
THE SERIES WITH WAKE FOREST
* Carolina leads the all-time series against Wake Forest, 146-61, but Wake has beaten UNC four straight times, sweeping the season series in both 2001-02 and 2002-03.
* UNC has won more games against Wake Forest than any other opponent.
* The Tar Heels are 68-17 against the Demon Deacons in games played in Chapel Hill.
*Carolina is 15-3 against the Deacons at the Smith Center since the building opened in 1986, with the losses coming in 1994-95, 2001-02 and 2002-03.
* Last season in Chapel Hill: Josh Howard scored 32 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds as Wake outlasted Carolina, 79-75 in the Smith Center on Feb. 2. The Demon Deacons out-rebounded the Tar Heels, 47-30 and won despite turning the ball over 21 times. Jawad Williams had his second straight 20-point performance, finishing with a team-high 22 to lead five Tar Heel double-figure scorers. David Noel got the start and had 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots.
* Last season in Winston-Salem: Josh Howard tallied 24 points and nine rebounds and Jamaal Levy had 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists and five steals as Wake Forest defeated Carolina, 75-60, in Winston Salem on March 5 at the Joel Coliseum. The Demon Deacons outscored Carolina 36-18 in the paint and outrebounded the Tar Heels 40-28. After shooting 52.0 percent in the first half, UNC hit just 30.0 percent in the second half. Raymond Felton was 2 for 14 from the field and committed six turnovers. Rashad McCants was limited by foul trouble to 19 minutes of action and attempted just six shots.
ACC TEAMS DOMINATE THE NATIONAL POLLS
For the first time since Dec. 17, 2001, three ACC teams are ranked in the top five of the weekly Associated Press basketball poll. Duke is ranked third, North Carolina 6-0 is ranked fourth, Georgia Tech is fifth followed by Wake Forest at 14th and Maryland at 25th.
This is the 17th time in conference history that three ACC teams have been ranked simultaneously in the top five of the weekly AP poll. In addition, Georgia Tech's number-five ranking is the highest rating for the Yellow Jackets since they were ranked fourth on February 25, 1986.
Jawad Williams NAMED TO VITALE'S "NEED SOME INK TEAM"
Junior forward Jawad Williams was named to Dick Vitale's "Need Some Ink Team" in Vitale's weekly column in USA Today on Dec. 16. Vitale writes that Williams "plays in the shadow of the Big 3 - Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton and Sean May - but he is an inside-outside standout."
FELTON'S HIGH SCHOOL JERSEY RETIRED
Sophomore point guard Raymond Felton journeyed home to Latta, S.C., on Dec. 15 to have his No. 20 Latta High School jersey retired. Felton led the Vikings to back-to-back 1-A state titles and was the national high school player of the year in 2002. He scored 2,992 career points, a state record, and averaged over 30 points per game as a senior.
MAY SETS SMITH CENTER SINGLE-GAME REBOUNDING RECORD
Sophomore big man Sean May grabbed a career-high 21 rebounds in the Dec. 14 win over Akron in Chapel Hill, setting a new Smith Center record for single-game rebounds by a player. May had 10 points to go with his 21 rebounds, giving him his third double-double of the 2003-04 season. He is averaging 19.0 points and 11.3 rebounds per game this season, ranking second in the ACC in scoring and first in rebounding.
The previous Smith Center record for single-game rebounds was 19, set by Iowa's Ed Horton on Jan. 7, 1989. The previous record for a UNC player was 17 by Ademola Okulaja vs. Florida International on Nov. 16, 1998.
The 21 boards marked the first time that a Tar Heel had 20-or-more rebounds in a game since Serge Zwikker had 20 vs. Southern California on Dec. 6, 1996. It was the first time a Tar Heel had 21 rebounds since Mitch Kupchak vs. Tulane in 1975-76 (a four-overtime game).
OFFENSIVE NUMBERS ARE UP
Carolina is averaging 88.3 points per game in 2003-04 after averaging 72.1 ppg last season. The Tar Heels are shooting 48.2 percent as a team this season after shooting 43.6 percent last year.
Carolina has topped 60 percent shooting in two games this season (Old Dominion, George Mason) after last doing so during the 1999-2000 season. The Tar Heels have shot 50 percent or better in seven of 12 halves of play this season.
TAR HEELS DO HOLIDAY SHOPPING AT WAL-MART FOR CHARITY
On Sunday Dec. 14, a few hours after their win over Akron, the Tar Heel players and coaches, many accompanied by their girlfriends and wives, drove to Wal-Mart in Durham to do some holiday shopping for local families.
Staff administrative assistant C.B. McGrath contacted Orange County Social Services in November to get information about needy families in the Chapel Hill area. McGrath assigned each player a family, and as the Tar Heels entered the Wal-Mart, they were handed a sheet listing the ages of each member of their assigned family and a few items on each person's holiday gift wish list. Each player was asked to spend $50 on each person on his list, and each list had about three people on it.
UNC head coach Roy Williams began the shopping tradition about 10 years ago at Kansas with the encouragement of former Jayhawks player Roger Morningstar. In addition to the Wal-Mart items, which will be dropped off at Orange County Social Services on Dec. 22, each family also will receive a $50 grocery gift card.
NOEL PRACTICING, COULD PLAY VS. WAKE FOREST
Sophomore forward David Noel had the cast removed from his injured right thumb on Dec. 9 and began practicing with the Tar Heels on a limited basis (wearing a heavy splint) on Dec. 10. UNC doctors will continue to monitor Noel's progress before determining when Noel can return to game action. He has practiced this week and could play against Wake Forest.
Noel was expected to miss 6-8 weeks of action due to a torn ligament in his right thumb, an injury which occurred in practice on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Noel underwent surgery on Nov. 12 to repair the torn ligament. Last year, the Durham, N.C., native played in all 35 games and averaged 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. He had career-bests of 21 points and 12 rebounds against DePaul in the first round of the NIT.
"I am so disappointed for David and our team," said head coach Roy Williams at the time of the injury. "David worked hard in the off-season to develop his all-around game and that work had shown well in his play in the first weeks of practice. We look forward to his full recovery and expedient return to the lineup."
FELTON SETS SCHOOL ASSIST RECORD
Raymond Felton set a UNC record with 18 assists vs. George Mason on Dec. 7. The old UNC record of 17 assists in a game was held by Jeff Lebo and Ed Cota.
The 18 assists are the fourth-highest single-game total in ACC history.
UNC BASKETBALL HOLIDAY CLINIC
The Tar Heels will host their annual UNC Basketball Holiday Clinic on Wednesday, Dec. 31, from 9 a.m. to noon in the Smith Center. The clinic is open to all boys and girls in grades 1 through 8. The cost of the clinic is $40 per child and registration begins at 8:30 a.m. at the Smith Center's Entrance A.
UNC BASKETBALL CLINIC FOR SPECIAL OLYMPIANS
The Tar Heels will host a clinic for Special Olympians on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2004, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Smith Center.
