Tar Heels Start Homestand Vs. Evansville

Dec. 6, 2011

TAR HEELS START NINE-GAME HOMESTAND WITH EVANSVILLE

Fourth-ranked North Carolina will open a five-week homestand and look to bounce back from its loss at top-ranked Kentucky on Tuesday night when it hosts Evansville in the Smith Center at 7 p.m. ESPNU will televise the game nationally. Mike Patrick (play-by-play) and former Tar Heel Hubert Davis (analyst) will have the call.

Tuesday's game is the first of nine consecutive home games for Carolina, which will play its next game away from the Smith Center on Jan. 14 at Florida State. The Tar Heels played five of their first eight games away from home.

Carolina is ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press poll and No. 6 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll this week. The Tar Heels were No. 5 in both polls last week after being No. 1 in both for the first three weeks of this season.

Carolina is 6-2 this season after Saturday's 73-72 loss on the road at top-ranked Kentucky. Earlier last week, the Tar Heels beat No. 9/7 Wisconsin, 60-57 at home in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Evansville enters Tuesday's game with a 3-3 record after a home loss to Texas Christian on Saturday.

UPCOMING: After Tuesday's game, Carolina will host Long Beach State on Saturday night in the Smith Center, then break for a week for Fall semester final exams. Starting on Dec. 17, UNC will play three games in five nights (Dec. 17 vs. Appalachian State, Dec. 19 vs. Nicholls and Dec. 21 against Texas). After an eight-day break for Christmas, the Tar Heels will play their final non-conference games of the regular season when they host Elon (Dec. 29) and Monmouth (Jan. 1). UNC's Atlantic Coast Conference opener is Jan. 7 against Boston College.

ZELLER NEEDS 13 POINTS FOR 1,000

Senior Tyler Zeller enters the Evansville game with 987 career points and needs 13 more to be Carolina's NCAA-record 64th 1,000-point scorer. Louisville is second in NCAA annals with 63 1,000-point scorers.

UNC's most recent 1,000-point scorer was Deon Thompson, who reached the plateau during the 2009-10 season and finished with 1,414 career points.

John Henson (758 points) and Harrison Barnes (718) are the next-closest Tar Heels to 1,000.

THE SERIES VS. EVANSVILLE

Carolina leads the all-time series with Evansville, 2-0, winning in Chapel Hill during the 2008-09 season and at Evansville last year (see more detailed summary below).

Tuesday's game will be the third meeting between the two schools in the last four seasons.

In the first-ever meeting on Dec. 18, 2008, in Chapel Hill, senior Tyler Hansbrough scored 20 points and broke Phil Ford's UNC career scoring record in a 91-73 Carolina victory. Ty Lawson had 16 points, six assists and one turnover for Carolina, while Danny Green had 14 points and five rebounds, Deon Thompson had 13 points and five boards and Will Graves had 10 points and five boards off the bench. Ed Davis grabbed 10 rebounds and scored six points. Carolina built a 46-28 lead by halftime and never led by fewer than 16 throughout the second half.

LAST SEASON VS. THE ACES

Carolina forward Tyler Zeller returned to his home state of Indiana for a game at Evansville on Dec. 8, 2010, and responded with a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds in a 76-49 UNC win in front of many of his family and friends.

Evansville is located approximately 60 miles from Zeller's home in Washington, Ind.

Zeller hit 5 of 9 field goal tries and 8 of 10 free throws, posting a line of 18 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in 26 minutes in his home state. Zeller scored 10 of his points in the first half.

Justin Knox scored 13 points as UNC's only other double-digit scorer. Knox hit 4 of 5 shot attempts and 5 of 6 free throw tries while also grabbing five rebounds.

Harrison Barnes and Reggie Bullock both scored nine points for Carolina but did not shoot well in doing so (3 for 11 for Barnes, 3 for 9 for Bullock).

Carolina's defense held Evansville to 31.7 percent shooting in the game (33.3 percent in the first half, 30.0 percent in the second half). u The game started slowly until the Tar Heels went on a 14-2 run to grab a 21-8 lead in the first half. Carolina cruised the rest of the way.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Harrison Barnes

Reggie Bullock

Ed Davis

Danny Green

Tyler Hansbrough

John Henson

Justin Knox

Ty Lawson

Deon Thompson

Tyler Zeller

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