No. 9 Tar Heels Host Clemson Friday

Feb. 3, 2005

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Tip-off
Following a road win at Georgia Tech, the Tar Heel women's basketball team returns home to host Clemson on Friday at Carmichael Auditorium. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. and the game will be televised by the Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports South, Comcast, Sunshine Network).
The Tar Heels are 17-3 on the season and 5-2 in the ACC after Sunday's 55-41 victory over the Yellow Jackets. Clemson is 7-12 overall and 1-6 in the ACC following an 83-61 loss at Miami on Monday. Carolina is ranked ninth in this week's Associated Press poll and sixth in the coaches' poll. Clemson is not ranked.

Up next
Carolina travels to Charlottesville, Va., to take on Virginia on Monday night. Tipoff at University Hall is 7 p.m.

On the air
Friday's game against Clemson will be televised live on the Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports South, Comcast, Sunshine Network). Mike Hogewood will provide play-by-play and Charlene Curtis will handle color commentary.
The game also will air on the Tar Heel Radio Network, which includes 12 stations. WCHL-AM 1360 in Chapel Hill is the flagship. Jones Angell is the Tar Heels' play-by-play announcer and Adam Pohl is the color commentator.
Live stats are available on the UNC website, www.TarHeelBlue.com.

Tickets
General admission tickets to UNC women's basketball games are $7 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. A limited number of reserved seats are also available at $10 for adults and $7 for students and seniors.
Tickets may be purchased at the Carmichael Auditorium ticket window prior to the game or through the UNC ticket office by calling (919) 962-2296 or (800) 722-HEEL.
North Carolina students, faculty and staff are admitted free with their UNC One Cards.

UNC at a glance
2004-05 record 17-3 (5-2 ACC)
Current rankings 9th A.P., 6th ESPN/USA Today
Head coach Sylvia Hatchell
Career record 671-265 (30th season)
Record at UNC 399-185 (19th season)
Assistant head coach Andrew Calder
Assistant coaches Tracey Williams, Charlotte Smith-Taylor
Media contact Dana Gelin
Gelin's phone/email (919) 962-0083/dgelin@uncaa.unc.edu
UNC athletics website www.TarHeelBlue.com
UNC ticket office (919) 962-2296, (800) 722-4335
Home arena Carmichael Auditorium (cap. 10,180)
Press row number (919) 843-9509

Briefly ...

UNC leads the series with Clemson 40-26. The Tar Heels have won the last seven and 10 of the last 11.

Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell is one win away from registering her 400th victory at UNC. She is in her 19th season as coach of the Tar Heels.

Freshman forward Erlana Larkins has earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors in the last three weeks and a total of four times this season.

The Tar Heels have won all 11 of their home games this season, nine at Carmichael and two at the Smith Center. The team's home winning streak now stands at 13, 11 in a row at Carmichael. UNC's women and men (10-0 at home) are both undefeated in Chapel Hill this season.

Camille Little is 3-for-3 from three-point range over the last two games (2-2 vs. Wake Forest, 1-1 vs. Georgia Tech).

At No. 9, Carolina is one of five ACC teams ranked in this week's Associated Press poll. The last time that many conference teams were in the AP rankings was the week of Dec. 7, 1998.

The Tar Heels are 3-2 against ranked teams this season, with wins over No. 4 Connecticut, No. 24 Villanova and No. 1 Duke, and losses to No. 21 Maryland and No. 24 FSU.

UNC's win over Duke on Jan. 24 was the program's first victory over a No. 1 team in 20 tries.

For the first time in school history, UNC beat two ranked teams in the month of November. The Tar Heels won games against No. 4 Connecticut (Nov. 21) and Nov. 24 Villanova (Nov. 27).

The Tar Heels' win over No. 4 Connecticut was the program's first against a top-five team since UNC beat the Huskies in the 1994 East Region final to advance to the Final Four. UConn was ranked No. 4.

At the conference media day in October, North Carolina was picked as the preseason favorite to win this year's ACC title. The Tar Heels received 20 of 40 votes, two more than defending champion Duke. Ivory Latta and Camille Little were named to the Preseason All-ACC team.

UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June. She is in her 30th season as a head coach.

Noting the numbers

Carolina leads the nation in steals with 14.5 per game. The Tar Heels moved into first this week, passing Arkansas.

Carolina's top three scorers are a freshman (Erlana Larkins) and two sophomores (Ivory Latta, Camille Little). Between them, they account for 53.7 percent of the team's points.

Ivory Latta leads the team in minutes played with 32.6 per game. No other Tar Heel averages more than 28.6 (Camille Little) minutes per game.

Senior Nikita Bell reached the 1,000-career-points mark in the Jan. 17 game against Miami and now has 1,040 career points. She is the only player on this year's team who has reached that milestone.

North Carolina leads the ACC in scoring (78.7 ppg), three-point percentage defense (.249 by opponents) and steals (14.45). Tar Heel players lead the way in field goal percentage (Erlana Larkins, .638), free throw percentage (Ivory Latta, .902) and assist-turnover ratio (Leah Metcalf, 2.00). Latta ranks second in three-pointers per game (2.50).

UNC's statistical leaders
Scoring: Ivory Latta, 15.3 ppg
Field goal percentage: Erlana Larkins, .638 (111-174)
Three-point percentage: Camille Little, .452 (14-31)
Free throw percentage: Ivory Latta, .902 (55-61)
Rebounding: La'Tangela Atkinson, 7.7 per game
Assists: Ivory Latta, 4.7 per game
Steals: Camille Little, 2.7 per game
Blocks: LaToya Pringle, 1.4 per game
Minutes: Ivory Latta, 32.6 per game

UNC in the NCAA statistics
Through games of Jan. 31
Individual
Erlana Larkins: 4th, field goal percentage (.638)
(LaToya Pringle's percentage of .596 would be 15th if she had the required five makes per game,)
Ivory Latta: 7th, free throw percentage (.902)
Ivory Latta: T25th, three-pointers per game (2.5)
Team
Scoring: 5th (78.7 ppg)
Scoring defense: T30 (55.5 ppg)
Scoring margin: 5th (23.2)
Field goal percentage: 26th (45.0)
Field goal percentage defense: 19th (35.4)
Rebounding margin: T13th (7.9)
Win-loss percentage: T13th (.850)
Assists: 15th (18.1)
Steals: 1st (14.5)

The UNC-Clemson series
UNC and Clemson will meet on Friday for the 67th time in a series that dates back to the 1975-76 season. The Tar Heels lead the series 40-26 after winning the last seven meetings and 10 of the last 11. Carolina won both of last year's games by decisive margins, 72-47 in Chapel Hill and 72-41 in Clemson.
The Tigers' last win in the series came in the 2001 ACC Tournament, when they knocked the Tar Heels out of the field, 75-57, in the quarterfinals. Clemson was the No. 2 seed and UNC was the No. 7. That year marked the only time since 1996 that Carolina has not played in the ACC Championship game.

UNC and Clemson met for ACC titles three years in a row, in 1997 (UNC 62, Clemson 58), 1998 (UNC 81, Clemson 50) and 1999 (Clemson 87, UNC 72).

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Nikita Bell

Erlana Larkins

Ivory Latta

Camille Little

Leah Metcalf

LaToya Pringle

Related Videos