University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels to Host No. 17 Wake Forest on Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
February 1, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2003
CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina hopes to bounce back from three consecutive losses when it hosts No. 17/18 Wake Forest on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. in the Smith Center. The game will be televised nationally by Fox Sports Net (Thom Brennaman and Mike Gminski will have the call).
Carolina (11-8, 2-4 ACC) has lost three in a row to Maryland, NC State and Georgia Tech after upsetting No. 6 Connecticut on Jan. 18 in Chapel Hill.
UNC head coach Matt Doherty emphasized that his team must focus on improving its defense to beat the Demon Deacons.
"With a young team it's so important to develop good habits and reward those habits," Doherty said on Friday. "That's what we need to focus on more. Today we need to focus on North Carolina and our defense and make sure we're doing the things we did earlier in the year to limit team's from scoring so many points against us."
Georgia Tech shot 49.2 percent from the floor in beating Carolina last Wednesday, becoming the third straight Tar Heel opponent to top 48 percent. UNC held 10 of its first 13 opponents below 41 percent, winning nine of those games.
Wake Forest (14-2, 4-2 ACC) beat UNC twice last year -- by 22 points in Chapel Hill and by 24 in Winston-Salem. The Demon Deacons have won back-to-back games over Florida State and Clemson since losing at Virginia on Jan. 23.
Carolina leads the all-time series against Wake Forest, 146-59. The two teams have split their last six meetings. The Demon Deacons beat the Tar Heels twice last season -- 84-62 in Chapel Hill and 90-66 in Winston-Salem. UNC has won more games against Wake Forest than any other opponent, and the Tar Heels have won nine of the last 13 meetings with the Deacons.
Carolina is 15-2 against the Deacons at the Smith Center since the building opened in 1986, with the losses coming in 1994-95 and 2001-02.
