University of North Carolina Athletics
No. 11 Carolina Hosts NC State Friday
January 13, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2011
CHAPEL HILL --- North Carolina plays its first Atlantic Coast Conference home game Friday when the Tar Heels return to Carmichael Arena to host longtime rival NC State at 7 p.m. Carolina is 15-1 on the year (1-1 in the ACC) after an 84-83 win at Boston College on Sunday afternoon. NC State is 9-7 (1-1 ACC) following an 80-59 win over Wake Forest on Monday. UNC is ranked No. 11 in the AP poll and the coaches' poll. NC State is unranked.
AT A GLANCE
Records: North Carolina 15-1 (1-1 ACC), NC State 9-7 (1-1 ACC)
Rankings: North Carolina is ranked No. 11 in the AP poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll. NC State is unranked.
TV: Carolina All-Access. Tonight's game is available live and on-demand at TarHeelBlue.com.
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network, a division of Learfield Communications. Dave Nathan (play-by-play) and Jan Boxill (analyst) have the call.
On The Web: TarHeelBlue.com (UNC), GoPack.com (NC State)
NC STATE SERIES NOTES
• North Carolina is 40-50 all-time against NC State, including a 21-17 mark in Chapel Hill.
• The teams split the 2010 season series, with Carolina winning 81-69 in Raleigh and NC State taking the rematch in Chapel Hill, 74-63.
• While NC State still holds an advantage in the all-time series, Carolina has held the upper hand in recent years. The Tar Heels have won 18 of the last 21 meetings, their most successful stretch against the Wolfpack.
• NC State is Carolina's most common opponent in terms of games played as well as the Tar Heels' oldest
rival. Friday will be the 91st all-time meeting dating back to UNC's very first varsity game, a 74-47 win over the Wolfpack on Jan. 13, 1975. No ACC rivalry has been played more often.
• Of teams with at least 10 all-time meetings with UNC, only NC State (50-40), Old Dominion (12-7) and
Tennessee (14-3) have winning records.
NOTING THE WOLFPACK
• NC State is 9-7 (1-1 ACC) following an 80-59 win over Wake Forest on Monday.
• Junior Bonae Holston leads three Wolfpack players in double figures with 16.7 points per game. Holston is also NC State's leading rebounder with 8.5 boards per outing.
• Senior Amber White (13.3 ppg) and sophomore Marissa Kastanek (12.9 ppg) are also averaging double figures.
LAST TIME OUT
No. 8 UNC 84, Boston College 83
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. (AP) --- Jessica Breland had 18 points and nine rebounds, scoring on a late tip-in after Boston College cut the deficit to one point and then forcing a jump ball to help No. 8 North Carolina hold on and beat the Eagles 84-83 on Sunday. Chay Shegog scored 16 points with eight rebounds and Cetera DeGraffenreid had 10 points, seven steals and six assists for the Tar Heels, who were coming off a 71-70 loss to Georgia Tech on Thursday that knocked them from the ranks of the unbeaten.
TAR HEELS IN CARMICHAEL ARENA
• Carolina is 389-86 all-time in Carmichael, with a 16-3 record since the building re-opened after being closed for renovations from March 2008 to December 2009.
• The Tar Heels have won at least 14 home games in each of the last nine seasons, including a school-record 18 during an undefeated 2007-08 home campaign.
• With an all-time home winning percentage of .818 (432-96, including a 43-10 record in the Dean E. Smith Center), Chapel Hill ranks as the ninth most difficult location for visiting teams all-time in Division I women's basketball.
BRELAND, LUCAS NAMED TO WOODEN MIDSEASON TOP 20 LIST
• The John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 20 list was announced Jan. 11 by the Los Angeles Athletic Club and North Carolina seniors Jessica Breland and Italee Lucas were among the selections. The list is comprised of 20 student-athletes who, based on their individual performance and team records, are the current frontrunners for college basketball's most prestigious honor.
• The Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced the week of the Elite Eight round during the NCAA Tournament, making it unique among college postseason awards. Transfers, freshmen and medical redshirts are eligible for this midseason list but did not appear on the preseason Top 30. All players nationally who excel throughout the season will be evaluated and considered for the official voting ballot released in March. The National Ballot consists of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA.
DeGRAFFENREID TIES SCHOOL FREE THROW MARK
Senior Cetera DeGraffenreid now owns a piece of the school record for career free throws made. With 489 career makes, DeGraffenreid has tied former Tar Heel All-America forward Erlana Larkins' school mark of 489 set from 2004-08. With 11 more makes, DeGraffenreid will become only the fifth player in ACC history to reach 500 career made free throws.
ASSOCIATED PRESS POLL NOTES
• According to longtime women's basketball writer and AP poll historian Mel Greenberg, Monday's ranking in the AP top 25 was the 332nd in Carolina history, good for 10th place overall.
• In addition to moving back into the all-time top 10, Carolina's ranking was the 303rd under head coach Sylvia Hatchell.
DeGRAFFENREID LEADS NATION IN ASSIST-TURNOVER RATIO
Despite averaging a career-low 7.4 points per game so far in 2010-11, point guard Cetera DeGraffenreid is off to an incredible start to her senior season. DeGraffenreid has tallied 102 assists against just 22 turnovers through the season's first 16 games, making her the nation's leader in assist-turnover ratio (4.64). She also ranks third in the NCAA in steals per game (3.6) and eighth in assists per game (6.4) and leads the ACC in all three categories.
CAROLINA WELL-REPRESENTED IN NCAA STATS RANKINGS
UNC is back in familiar territory among the nation's elite teams in a variety of statistical categories. In the most recent NCAA statistics rankings released on Jan. 9, the Tar Heels were ranked in the top 10 in the country in 10 different categories. They are as follows (all stats per game):
• Scoring Offense - 2nd (85.7)
• Blocked Shots - 2nd (7.3)
• Field-goal % Defense - 3rd (31.4)
• Scoring Margin - 3rd (+31.5)
• Winning % - 4th (93.8)
• Turnover Margin - 5th (+8.69)
• Steals - 6th (14.0)
• Rebound Margin - 7th (+10.9)
• Assists - 9th (18.8)
• Assist-Turnover Ratio - 10th (1.2)
