Tar Heels Return Home To Host Hurricanes

Jan. 21, 2005

The University of North Carolina men's basketball team will face off against new Atlantic Coast Conference member Miami when it hosts the Hurricanes on Saturday evening at 8 p.m. The game will be televised regionally by Raycom/Jefferson-Pilot.

Earlier this season, the Tar Heels welcomed the other new ACC team, Virginia Tech, to the conference with an 85-51 win in Blacksburg, Va.

No. 6/6 Carolina has won 15 of its last 16 games. UNC was riding a 14-game winning streak before losing at No. 4/3 Wake Forest last Saturday afternoon, 95-82. The Tar Heels dropped to No. 6 in both polls after the loss in Winston-Salem but bounced back with a 77-58 win at Clemson on Wednesday night.

Saturday's game vs. Miami is the second of a seven-game stretch during which the Tar Heels will play five road contests. During the sevengame stretch, Carolina will play at Clemson (a 77-58 win on Jan. 19), at Virginia (Jan. 29), at Florida State (Feb. 6), at Duke (Feb. 9) and at Connecticut (Feb. 13). The only remaining UNC home game during this stretch will be NC State (Feb. 3).

The Tar Heels (15-2 overall, 4-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) won a conference road game on Wednesday night when they defeated Clemson, 77-58, despite committing 23 turnovers and playing somewhat sloppily.

Miami is 12-4 and 3-2 in the ACC after Wednesday night's home loss to Duke. After the Miami game, the Tar Heels will visit Virginia next Saturday (Jan. 29).

LAST TIME OUT
(JAN. 19, 2005)
NO. 6/6 CAROLINA 77
CLEMSON 58

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Carolina scored 50 second- half points and held Clemson to 33.3 percent shooting for the game to defeat the Tigers, 77-58, on Jan. 19 in Littlejohn Coliseum.

The Tar Heels picked up the win despite turning the ball over 23 times. Sixteen of those turnovers came in the first half and the score was tied at 27-27 at the break. Carolina opened the second half with an 11-0 run in the first 3:50 of the period to jump out to a 38-27 lead that it would not relinquish.

Carolina shot 50.9 percent from the floor for the game. Rashad McCants led the Tar Heels with 23 points (17 in the second half) and a game-high six assists and a team-high two blocked shots.

Marvin Williams (12 points and eight rebounds), Raymond Felton (11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds), Sean May (11 points and eight rebounds) and Jawad Williams (10 points and eight boards) also scored in double figures for UNC.

SERIES VS. MIAMI
Carolina leads the series with Miami, 7-1, including a 4-0 mark in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels beat Miami, 89-64, in the Smith Center last season.

The Tar Heels swept a pair of games at Miami during the 1949-50 season, won home games in the series in 1986-87 and 1989-90 and beat Miami in 1999-2000 in the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Fla. In 2000-01,

Carolina defeated Miami 67-45 in Chapel Hill as Brendan Haywood became the first Tar Heel in recorded history to post a triple-double. The Hurricanes won the most recent meeting in Coral Gables, a 64-61 overtime win in Coral Gables on Jan. 4, 2003.

LAST SEASON IN CHAPEL HILL
Sean May had 23 points and 16 rebounds while three other Tar Heels had at least 15 points as Carolina defeated Miami, 89-64, for its 200th all-time win in the Smith Center.

Jackie Manuel was 6 of 9 from the floor and scored 15 points in the game. Rashad McCants played a good all-around game and finished with 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Jawad Williams totaled 15 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Robert Hite led UM with 27 points and six rebounds.

Williams' defensive effort held Miami forward Darius Rice to just seven points on 2 of 8 shooting in 34 minutes. The Tar Heels out-rebounded the Hurricanes, 52-32, and forced 22 turnovers.

UNC IS LEADING THE NATION IN SCORING
Carolina is scoring points at a blistering pace in 2004-05. The Tar Heels are leading the nation in scoring at 92.0 points per game this season. That would be the highest scoring average in UNC history if the season were to end today. The previous record was 91.3 ppg by the 1986-87 team.

UNC is averaging 92.0 points per game, an increase of 9.9 ppg over last year.

Carolina's field goal percentage of 51.2 percent is its best since 1997-98 (51.8 percent).

UNC has shot 50.0 percent or better from the floor in 21 of 34 halves of play this season. after doing so in 26 halves all of last season. UNC has shot 50.0 percent or better in BOTH halves of a game seven times after doing so six times all of last season.

Carolina has shot 55.0 percent or better in 15 of 34 halves after shooting 55 percent in just nine of 60 halves last year.

The Tar Heels have shot 60.0 percent or better in eight halves this season after shooting 60 percent in six halves last year.

The Tar Heels lead the ACC in scoring (92.0 ppg), scoring margin (+22.4 ppg), field goal percentage (51.2), three-point field goal percentage (42.6) and free throw percentage (72.8). u UNC has scored 100 points in five games this season, more than in all of 2003-04 (four games).

Carolina scored 85 or more points in nine straight games before shooting just 40.3 percent at Wake Forest on Jan. 15. That is the longest stretch of games scoring 85 or more points in UNC history. The previous mark was eight in a row set in 1985-86 and 1993-94.

Carolina has scored 50 points or more in 10 of 34 halves this season.

Five of the Tar Heels' top eight players (in playing time) are shooting at least 50.0 percent from the field -- Jawad Williams, David Noel, Sean May, Rashad McCants and Marvin Williams.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Raymond Felton

Brendan Haywood

Jackie Manuel

Sean May

Rashad McCants

David Noel

Jawad Williams

Marvin Williams

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