University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Looking For Seventh Straight Win
December 10, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2004
The University of North Carolina men's basketball team will look to win its seventh consecutive game when it hosts Loyola University Chicago on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. in the Smith Center. Carolina is 6-1 this season, winning six in a row after losing its season-opener vs. Santa Clara at the Pete Newell Challenge in Oakland, Calif. on Nov. 19.
The Tar Heels are ranked No. 8 in the nation in the Associated Press poll and No. 8 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll this week. UNC played five of its first six games away from Chapel Hill and now is in the second game of a stretch in which it will play eight of nine games at home. Carolina's only road game between Dec. 4 and Jan. 15 is a Dec. 19 visit to Virginia Tech in its Atlantic Coast Conference opener.
Sunday's game will be nationally televised by Fox Sports Net, the seventh of eight consecutive nationally-televised games for Carolina. The Tar Heels are coming off a 91-78 win over No. 8/8 Kentucky on Dec. 4 in the Smith Center. The Carolina players are taking fall semester final exams. The Loyola game is the only contest in a 15-day span for Carolina.
Following Sunday's game, the UNC players will take more time off for final exams and return to action on Dec. 19 at Virginia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.
Key Defensive Indicators
Carolina head coach Roy Williams emphasizes defense, and the Tar Heels are playing better on the defensive end of the court this season.
The Tar Heel defense has forced its opponents into six separate scoreless stretches of four minutes or longer this season (once vs. BYU, Tennessee, Southern California and Kentucky and twice vs. Indiana).
Carolina has forced 153 turnovers in seven games, an average of 21.9 per contest. UNC opponents have committed at least 19 turnovers in six of seven games this season.
Opponents shot at least 44 percent from the field against Carolina in the past three seasons. Prior to that stretch, they hadn't accomplished shooting 44 percent in even one season since 1989-90. Tar Heel opponents are hitting 41.2 percent of their shots this season.
News & Notes
* The Tar Heels had an eight-day break between games for exams last week. Although weeklong breaks used to spell trouble (the Heels lost two of three games in that situation during the 2000-01 season), Carolina has won three of their last four games after a 7+ day break.
* Carolina is the top-scoring team in the ACC with 87.1 points per game. It's still early, but that would be their highest figure since averaging 87.6 during the 1990-91 campaign. Carolina's best teams have always played at a fast tempo: since the beginning of the Dean Smith era, UNC's Final Four teams have averaged 81.5 points per game.
* Raymond Felton leads the ACC in assists per game with 7.83.
* Jawad Williams is well above his career numbers so far this year in field goal percentage (61.4 this year compared to 46.7 career), three-point field goal percentage (41.2 this year compared to 33.6), free throw percentage (79.3 compared to 69.6), and scoring (16.6 this year compared to 12.6 career). But before his concussion last year against UNC-W, he was averaging similar numbers. He posted 19 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game, and was making 56.3 percent of his shots through his first seven games as a junior.
* Jawad Williams is fourth in the ACC in field goal percentage (61.4 percent) and tied for ninth in scoring (16.6 points per game).
* Sean May is third in the conference in rebounds per game (9.9 rpg) and 16th in scoring with 14.4 ppg. u Rashad McCants is third in the ACC in points per game (20.3) and third in three-point field goal percentage (53.5).
* McCants is scoring more (20.3 ppg compared to 20.0 last year) but doing it while shooting much less. He's taken 89 shots through the first seven games, compared to 106 through seven games as a sophomore. He averaged 15.6 shots per game last year; that figure is 12.7 so far this year.
* David Noel has missed only seven shots all year and is leading the team with a 68.2 field goal percentage. He missed seven shots in one game as a freshman, a 6-of-13 performance against Wake Forest. u A measure of Carolina's depth: despite playing some stiff early-season competition, the minutes per game for every member of the rotation except Jackie Manuel are down at least three minutes.
* If the rankings hold, the Tar Heels will go at least 35 days without facing a ranked opponent before they take on Maryland on Jan. 8. That's the longest stretch in two years -- the Heels went 42 days between a Dec. 7, 2002, loss to Kentucky and a Jan. 18, 2003, win over Connecticut.
* Marvin Williams was named UNC's defensive player of the game twice in the team's first five games, the first freshman in Roy Williams' 16 years as a head coach to do so.
* The addition of Marvin Williams to this year's team means "Williams" is the most popular surname in Carolina basketball history. Six Tar Heels have shared that name, and they've all played in the past 15 years--Marvin, Donald, Jawad, Scott Williams (1986-90), Scott Williams (1998-99) and Shammond. That surge has pushed Williams past Smith, which is in second place with five examples--Larry, James, Kenny, Mike, and Ranzino. It wouldn't be too hard to find a coach for a Williams vs. Smith battle -- Roy Williams and Dean Smith.
Felton Needs Four Assists For 500
Carolina junior point guard Raymond Felton needs four assists to become the ninth Tar Heel to amass 500 assists in his career.
Felton has 496 assists entering Sunday's game vs. Loyola University Chicago. He had seven assists in the win over No. 8 Kentucky. Felton led the ACC in assists last season and is doing so again this year, averaging 7.8 per game.
Other Carolina players to dish out 500 assists include: Ed Cota (1,030), Kenny Smith (768), Phil Ford (753), Derrick Phelps (637), King Rice (629), Jeff Lebo (580), Jimmy Black (525) and Steve Hale (503).
