University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Host 'Cuse On Big Monday
January 26, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Essential Info: No. 15/15 North Carolina (16-4, 6-1 ACC) vs. Syracuse (14-6, 5-2 ACC)
Monday January 26, 2015 • 7 p.m. • Smith Center, Chapel Hill
Tickets: Available
Rankings: Carolina is No. 15 in the Associated Press poll and No. 15 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. Syracuse is unranked.
TV: ESPN. Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Shane Battier (analyst) and Allison Williams (reporter) will have the call.
Watch Online: ESPN3
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network (list of affiliates). Jones Angell (play-by-play), Eric Montross (analyst) and Dave Nathan (host) will have the call. GoHeels TV subscribers can listen online.
Game Notes: Carolina | Syracuse
UNC 2014-15 Digital Game Program: Download Now
On The Web: GoHeels.com | Cuse.com | Live Stats
Twitter: @UNC_Basketball | @Cuse_MBB
Smith Center Information: Tickets | Parking Information | Tar Heel Express | Smith Center Info (Directions, Policies, etc.)
CHAPEL HILL—North Carolina (16-4, 6-1 ACC) returns to the Smith Center court on Monday night for ESPN's Big Monday against Syracuse (14-6, 5-2), looking for its sixth ACC win in a row and 11th in 12 games overall. The 15th-ranked Tar Heels and the Orange will tipoff just after 7 p.m. on Monday night, with Syracuse making its first appearance in Chapel Hill.
ESPN will televise the game nationally. Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Shane Battier (analyst) and Allison Williams (reporter) will have the call. Both Carolina and Syracuse will be playing their second game in three days on Monday night. The Tar Heels held off Florida State, 78-74, and Syracuse lost to Miami, 66-62, on Saturday afternoon.
The Tar Heels have won five in a row and are shooting 50.0 percent as a team during their winning streak. Carolina has shot 50.0 percent or better from the floor as a team in six of the last nine halves and is shooting 37.7 percent as a team from three-point range during the five-game winning streak (including 46.4 percent for Marcus Paige at 13 for 28).
Carolina is off to a 6-1 ACC start, its best conference start in three years (since 7-1 starts in both 2011-12 and 2010-11).
Syracuse enters Monday's game with a record of 14-6, 5-2 in the ACC. The Orange have lost two of three after putting together a monthlong, seven-game winning streak from late December through mid-January.
The Orange lost, 66-62, at home to Miami on Saturday afternoon. Last Tuesday it beat Boston College at home after having lost at Clemson on Saturday Jan. 17.
In the KenPom.com adjusted efficiency ratings, Syracuse ranks 128th offensively (103.3) and 45th defensively (94.1). The Orange's defense holds opponents to one of the longest average possession lengths in the nation (20.2 seconds), 348th of 351 Division I teams. Carolina's average offensive possession of 15.8 seconds ranks 16th-fastest in the nation.
The all-time series between Carolina and Syracuse is tied, 4-4. The Orange have won the last two meetings and the only one since Syracuse joined the ACC last year (in Syracuse last season). Syracuse will be making its first appearance in Chapel Hill against Carolina.
Monday's game between the Tar Heels and the Orange will mark just their third meeting in the last 27 seasons (since Nov. 21, 1987) and Syracuse's first appearance in Chapel Hill. Last year, Syracuse beat UNC 57-45 in the Carrier Dome on Jan. 11, 2014.
TAR HEEL TIDBITS & TRENDS
• North Carolina is in its 105th season as a varsity basketball program and is third in NCAA history in wins with 2,130 (trailing Kentucky and Kansas).
• Brice Johnson has three double-doubles in the last five games, averaging 14.0 points and 9.8 rebounds while shooting 61.7 percent during that stretch.
• Johnson is 24 for 36 from the floor in the last four games (.667).
• The Tar Heels committed a season-low five turnovers against Florida State on Saturday. The five turnovers are the fewest by Carolina in Roy Williams' 415 games as the Tar Heels' head coach and the fewest by UNC since it committed a school-record low two against Fairfield in the 1997 NCAA Tournament first round in Winston-Salem.
• Carolina has outscored Wake Forest and Florida State in the paint by a combined 92-50 margin in the last two games. UNC outscored the Demon Deacons, 50-26, in the paint and outscored FSU in the paint, 42-24.
