Tar Heels Enter The Heart Of ACC Play

Jan. 7, 2005

Lucas: Ready To Light Up Smith Center

Carolina Vs. Maryland

Date: Saturday, January 8, 2005
Time: Noon
Site: Smith Center, Chapel Hill
Records: Carolina 12-1, 1-0 ACC; UM 9-2, 1-0 ACC
Rankings: North Carolina is ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press poll and No. 4 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll. Maryland is ranked 22nd and 21st, respectively, in the same polls.
TV: ESPN. Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Dick Vitale (analyst) and Doris Burke (sideline) provide the call.
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Radio Network, a division of Learfield Communications. Woody Durham (play-by-play) and Mick Mixon (analyst) provide the call. A live broadcast is available on UNC's official website, TarHeelBlue.com
Websites: North Carolina (TarHeelBlue.com); Maryland (UMTerps.com)

Tar Heels Enter The Heart Of ACC Play
The University of North Carolina men's basketball team will enter the meat of 2004-05 Atlantic Coast Conference play when it hosts Maryland in a nationally televised game on Saturday at noon in the Smith Center.

The Tar Heels are 1-0 in the ACC after opening conference play with an 85-51 win at Virginia Tech on Dec. 19. Maryland is 9-2 after Tuesday's win over Mount St. Mary's and began its ACC season with an overtime win at home over Florida State on Dec. 19.

After Saturday's game, the Tar Heels will host Georgia Tech on Wednesday Jan. 12 and visit Wake Forest on Saturday Jan. 15. UNC has just one more non-conference game on its regular season schedule - a February 13 trip to Connecticut. Fifteen of the Tar Heels' final 16 regular season games are ACC contests.

The Tar Heels, who are riding an 12-game winning streak, are 12-1 this season after losing their season-opener to Santa Clara. Carolina has won its last six games by an average of 35.7 points.

The Tar Heels are ranked No. 3 in the nation this week in the Associated Press poll and No. 4 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll. Maryland is ranked 22nd and 21st, respectively, in the two polls. The Maryland game is the fifth of a six-game home stand for the Tar Heels. The next road game for UNC is Jan. 15 at Wake Forest.

Williams Needs One Win For 450
Carolina head coach Roy Williams needs just one win for his 450th victory as a head coach. He has a career record of 449-113 in 15+ seasons entering the Maryland game.

Williams is 31-12 at UNC in this, his second season as Carolina's head coach. Entering the season, he had the highest winning percentage (79.6) of any active head coach in the nation with 10 years of experience, ranking fifth all-time.

UNC Offensive Is Rolling
Carolina is scoring points at a blistering pace this season. The Tar Heels are leading the nation in scoring at 92.7 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.

Carolina leads the nation in scoring (92.7 ppg) and assists per game (21.8) and is third in scoring margin (+24.5 ppg), third in field goal percentage (52.6), fourth in steals per game (11.8) and fifth in three-point field goal percentage (43.9).

UNC is averaging 92.7 points per game, an increase of 10.6 over last year. That would be the largest one-season increase for a Carolina team since the 1985-86 squad improved on the 1984-85 team by 13.1 points per game.

The Tar Heels, who lead the conference in field goal percentage at 52.6 percent in 2004-05, are the only ACC team shooting at least 50.0 percent in 2004-05.

Carolina's field goal percentage of 52.6 percent is its best since 1988-89 (52.7 percent). u UNC has shot 50.0 percent or better from the floor in 17 of 26 halves of play this season. after doing so in 26 halves all of last season. It has shot 50.0 percent or better in BOTH halves of a game six times after doing so six times all of last season. u Carolina has shot 55.0 percent or better in 13 of 26 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 have shot 50 percent in both halves in three straight games. Carolina shot 51.4 and 65.4 percent vs. William and Mary on Jan. 2, 56.8 and 57.1 percent vs. Cleveland State on Dec. 30 and 58.1 and 60.0 percent vs. UNC Wilmington on Dec. 28.

The Tar Heels lead the ACC in scoring (92.7 ppg), scoring margin (+24.5 ppg), field goal percentage (52.6), three-point field goal percentage (43.9) and free throw percentage (71.9).

With 105 points against William and Mary, the Tar Heels have scored at least 85 points in 11 of their last 12 games.

The Tar Heels have eclipsed the 100-point mark in back-to-back games for the first time since the 1993-94 season. The last time a Carolina team had three straight 100-point games was the first three games of the 1992-93 season. UNC has scored 100 points in four games this season, the same number as in all of 2003-04.

Carolina has scored 50 points or more in eight of 26 halves this season.

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

Three Tar Heels (Jawad Williams, Rashad McCants and Sean May) rank in the ACC's top 10 scoring leaders. Duke is the only other conference school with two players in the top 10.

Three Big 4 Teams In Top 5 For First Time
(note courtesy of Wake Forest Sports Info.)
Monday's Associated Press poll marked the first time ever that three of the "Big Four" schools (Duke, North Carolina, NC State and Wake Forest) have been ranked in the top five simultaneously.

North Carolina is ranked third, Wake Forest fourth and Duke fifth in this week's AP poll.

The closest three Big Four schools have come to being ranked in the top five previously came one week in the 1978-79 season when Duke, North Carolina and NC State were ranked in the top six.

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Players Mentioned

Raymond Felton

Sean May

Rashad McCants

David Noel

Jawad Williams

Marvin Williams

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