University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels To Host Terps In ACC/Big Ten Challenge
November 30, 2015 | Men's Basketball
CHAPEL HILL—North Carolina (5-1) will renew an old rivalry in an unfamiliar way when it hosts Maryland (6-0) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday December 1 in the Smith Center. The Tar Heels and Terrapins were both charter members of the Atlantic Coast Conference but will meet as representatives of opposing conferences on Tuesday.
Tipoff between the top-10-ranked teams is set for 9:35 p.m. in the Smith Center. Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Shannon Spake will call the game for an ESPN national television audience.
TAR HEEL STORYLINES
♦ Carolina is looking for its sixth win in seven outings this season and its third in a row.
♦ The Tar Heels are starting a stretch with seven of nine contests at home after beginning 2015-16 with four of six away from Chapel Hill.
♦ After playing six games in a frenzied first 12 days of the season, Carolina will play eight in the month of December.
♦ The Tar Heels have started the season shorthanded, playing without senior All-America Marcus Paige for the first six games due to a broken bone in his right hand suffered on Nov. 3. He is expected to return to the lineup vs. Maryland.
♦ Despite Paige's absence, Carolina won the CBE Hall of Fame Classic last week in Kansas City with victories over Northwestern and Kansas State. The Tar Heels trailed KSU by eight points with 4:22 to play last Tuesday but finished the game on a 21-3 run to win, 80-70.
SERIES HISTORY
♦ Carolina leads the all-time series with Maryland, 122-57, including wins in each of the last eight meetings and 14 of the last 18. UNC's last loss to the Terps on Feb. 7, 2010, in the aftermath of a major snowstorm in College Park.
♦ The last meeting between these former Atlantic Coast Conference rivals was a 75-63 Tar Heel win on Feb. 4, 2014, in the Smith Center. Maryland left for the Big Ten after the 2013-14 season.
♦ Tuesday will mark the first non-conference, regular season meeting between Carolina and Maryland since Dec. 29, 1960, in the Dixie Classic in Raleigh.
♦ The Tar Heels are 58-17 against Maryland in Chapel Hill, including 19-8 in the Smith Center. The Terrapins' eight wins in the Smith Center are more than any other UNC opponent except Duke (14).
♦ UNC has won eight of its last nine home games against Maryland with wins in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons. The Terps won in Chapel Hill in 2008.
♦ Roy Williams is 13-7 against Maryland as a head coach, including 13-5 at Carolina and 0-2 at Kansas.
