University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Look for Second Straight ACC Road Win
February 9, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2004
North Carolina will play its third game against a ranked team game in six days when it visits Georgia Tech at 9 p.m. on Tuesday at Alexander Memorial Coliseum in Atlanta. The game will be regionally televised by Raycom/Jefferson-Pilot.
Carolina won at No. 16/15 Wake Forest, 79-73, on Saturday. The Tar Heels have not won back-to-back ACC road games since Feb. 2001, when they won at Duke and at Wake Forest in the midst of an 18-game winning streak and run to the No. 1 ranking in the nation.
The Tar Heels' victory in Winston-Salem last weekend snapped a 10-game ACC road losing streak and followed a stretch in which UNC had lost 19 of 21 conference road games (since late in the 2000-01 season).
Carolina, which enters Tuesday's game with a 4-5 ACC record, hopes to even its conference record vs. Georgia Tech. Earlier this season, No. 12/13 Carolina beat No. 8/8 Georgia Tech, 103-88 in the Smith Center on Jan. 11.
The Tar Heels are 14-6, 4-5 in the ACC this season. Georgia Tech is 17-5, 4-4 in the ACC. The Yellow Jackets are coming off a a 77-62 non-conference win at Tennessee on Saturday.
Following Tuesday's game, Carolina will return home to host Maryland on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in the Smith Center.
ACC Leaders
Rashad McCants, Sean May and Raymond Felton lead the ACC in scoring, rebounding and assists, respectively.
The last time a team had different players lead the ACC in scoring and rebounding was 1998-99, when Clemson's Terrell McIntyre led in scoring and Harold Jamison led in rebounding. The only time since 1973 (when assists became an official statistic) that a team had players lead in all three categories was 1997-98 (UNC - Antawn Jamison in scoring and rebounding and Ed Cota in assists). No team has ever had three different players lead the ACC in scoring, rebounds and assists.
Win at Wake Snaps ACC Road Skid
Prior to the win over Wake Forest last Saturday, Carolina had been 0-3 on the road in Atlantic Coast Conference play this season. The Tar Heels had lost 10 consecutive (and 19 of of their last 21) ACC road games before beating the Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem.
Praise for Manuel
Junior guard Jackie Manuel has established a reputation as one of the ACC's best defenders. Recently, in the News & Observer's midseason conference report, the paper named Manuel to its "William H. Macy Team" (valuable players in supporting roles). The News & Observer also named Manuel to its "Floor-Slappers Team" (the hardest working defenders).
After Duke's overtime win over Carolina on Feb. 5, Blue Devil guard J.J. Redick said of Manuel: "He blocked a couple of my shots early, and, after that, it was in the back of my head. I started rushing things, and I never really caught the ball in rhythm. He is one of the quickest at recovering to my shot. He's probably the toughest defender I've faced."
Overtime Troubles
* With the 83-81 overtime loss to No. 1 Duke on Feb. 5, Carolina now has lost five consecutive overtime games for the first time in its 94-year basketball history. Carolina's last overtime victory was on March 1, 2000, vs. Georgia Tech.
* The Tar Heels have played three overtime games this season, the most by a UNC team since the 1997-98 squad played five (going 4-1 in the process).
* This season is the first time since 1963-64 (Dean Smith's third season as the UNC head coach) that the Tar Heels have lost three overtime games in the same season.
Tuesday is Swing Game in Brutal Three-Game Stretch
Carolina is winding up a stretch in which it has played three games against ranked teams in six days (with two of those games on the road). The Tar Heels lost in overtime to No. 1/1 Duke on Thursday at home. They won 79-73 at No. 16/15 Wake Forest on Saturday and visit No. 15/16 Georgia Tech on Tuesday night.
Five Double-Figure Scorers
Five Tar Heels are averaging in double figures in scoring this season - Rashad McCants (19.0 ppg), Sean May (15.5), Jawad Williams (13.1), Raymond Felton (11.9) and Melvin Scott (11.6).
Carolina has had five double-figure scorers in four previous seasons in its history, most recently in 1994-95 (Jeff McInnis, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Dante Calabria and Donald Williams).
The school record is six double-figure scorers, set in 1988-89 (J.R. Reid, Kevin Madden, Steve Bucknall, Jeff Lebo, Rick Fox, and Scott Williams).
McCants' Scoring
Sophomore Rashad McCants leads the ACC in scoring with 19.0 points per game. He also ranks among the conference's top 10 in field goal percentage, free throw percentage, three-point percentage and steals. In ACC games only, McCants leads the conference with 21.0 ppg and 2.22 steals per game.
McCants had 27 points vs. Duke on Feb. 5 and has scored 25 or more points in five of the last seven games. He has scored 25 or more points seven times this season and 13 times in 55 career games (23.6 percent).
