University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels To Host Appalachian State On Monday
December 21, 2015 | Men's Basketball
THE MATCHUP
♦ North Carolina (9-2) will play its final game before the Christmas holiday and its second in three days when it hosts Appalachian State (2-8) on Monday night in Chapel Hill.
♦ The Mountaineers and Tar Heels will tip off just after 7 p.m. in the Smith Center.
♦ Dave O'Brien and LaPhonso Ellis will call the game for an ESPN2 national television audience. Every Tar Heel game in December will be televised nationally.
TAR HEEL STORYLINES
♦ Carolina is coming off an 89-76 victory over UCLA, a win that saw UNC shoot a season-high 61.1 percent in the second half in running past the Bruins.
♦ The Tar Heels will have just one non-conference game remaining on the 2015-16 regular season schedule after hosting the Moutaineers. Carolina will host UNCG on Dec. 28, then open Atlantic Coast Conference play on Dec. 30 against Clemson.
♦ Carolina is looking for its seventh win in its last eight games and its 10th victory of the season.
UP NEXT
♦ After hosting the Mountaineers, the Tar Heels will take a week off for the holidays before hosting UNCG next Monday (Dec. 28).
♦ Carolina will open ACC play with back-to-back home games vs. Clemson (Dec. 30) and Georgia Tech (Jan. 2), then hit the road to play at Florida State on Monday Jan. 4.
A TAR HEEL WIN WOULD ...
♦ Improve Carolina to 10-2 in 2015-16.
♦ Make UNC 6-0 in the Smith Center in 2015-16 and 369-67 there in 31 seasons overall.
♦ Improve Roy Williams' career record as a head coach to 760-204 overall.
♦ Make Williams 342-104 at Carolina.
A TAR HEEL LOSS WOULD ...
♦ Drop Carolina to 9-3 this season.
♦ Make UNC 5-1 in the Smith Center this season and 368-68 in the arena overall.
♦ Drop Roy Williams' career record to 759-205 overall.
♦ Make Williams 341-105 at Carolina.
♦ Be Appalachian State's first win over the Tar Heels in six tries.
TAR HEEL TIDBITS
♦ Carolina has scored 80 or more points in seven consecutive games. The Tar Heels have reached 80 nine times in 11 outings this season and are averaging 90.8 ppg in their last five contests.
♦ Carolina had eight turnovers vs. UCLA, its third straight game with fewer than 10 miscues. UNC has combined for 21 in the last three games.
♦ Carolina has shot 50 percent or better from the field in five consecutive games (and eight times in 11 games this year). The Tar Heels are shooting .498 as a team in 2015-16.
♦ UNC has shot 50 percent or better from the floor in nine of the last 11 halves, doing so in eight in a row before shooting 48.6 percent in the second half vs. Tulane on Dec. 16 and 42.4 percent in the first half vs. UCLA on Dec. 19.
♦ The Tar Heels have shot 50 percent or better in the second half of 17 of their last 21 games (including eight of 11 games in 2015-16).
♦ No Tar Heel player scored 25 points in a game last season, but the team has had four 25-point performances already this year. Justin Jackson (25 vs. Northern Iowa), Kennedy Meeks (25 vs. Temple) and Brice Johnson twice (25 vs. Tulane and 27 vs. UCLA)
♦ Marcus Paige needs five points for 1,500 in his career. He has scored 1,495 points entering the UCLA game, 28th in Carolina history. Tyler Zeller is 27th with 1,501, Scott Williams is 26th with 1,508 and J.R Reid is 25th with 1,552.
♦ Paige has 499 career assists and needs one to become the 13th Tar Heel with 500 or more assists.
♦ Paige should soon become the 12th ACC player and the second Tar Heel (joining Jeff Lebo) to compile 1,500 points, 500 assists, 150 steals and 200 three-pointers.
♦ Paige made two three-pointers vs. UCLA to extend his career school record to 240.
♦ Paige has 25 assists and four turnovers in his five games this year.
♦ Brice Johnson is the only Tar Heel to score in double figures in each of the first 11 games this season.
♦ Johnson has set a career scoring high in each of the last two games. He scored 25 in the Dec. 16 win over Tulane and followed up that effort with 27 in the Dec. 19 victory over UCLA.
♦ Johnson has six double-doubles and is averaging 15.7 points and a team-high 9.2 rebounds per game in 2015-16.
♦ Johnson leads the ACC in field goal percentage (64.2), is seventh in rebounding (9.2) and third in defensive rebounds (7.27 per game).
♦ Joel Berry II scored a career-high 17 points vs. UCLA on a career-best eight field goals.
♦ Berry has scored in double figures in eight of 11 games this season. As a freshman he scored in double figures one time all year.
♦ Berry is averaging 11.9 points per game and shooting 43.8 percent this season after averaging 4.2 ppg and shooting 40.4 percent as a freshman.
♦ Justin Jackson has won UNC's team defensive player of the game award (after coaches' film study) four times in the last seven games. He won the award once in 2014-15. Jackson leads UNC with four defensive awards this season.
♦ Jackson had five assists vs. UCLA and has 12 assists and only one turnover in the last two games.
♦ Theo Pinson is 11 for 27 (.407) from three-point range this season. He made just seven three-pointers all year as a freshman in 2014-15.
♦ Carolina is averaging 10.5 turnovers per game in 2015-16. Last year, the Tar Heels averaged nearly 13 miscues per contest.
♦ Carolina is ranked No. 9 in the nation in the KenPom.com statistical rankings. UNC is second in adjusted offensive efficiency (118.7) and 47th in adjusted defensive efficiency (96.3).
SERIES HISTORY VS. APPALACHIAN STATE
♦ Carolina leads the all-time series with Appalachian State, 5-0. That includes a 3-0 UNC advantage in Chapel Hill.
♦ Monday's game will be the first meeting between the schools in four seasons and the second in the last 15 years.
♦ Roy Williams is 1-0 against Appalachian State with a win in Chapel Hill on Dec. 17, 2011.
♦ The most recent meeting was a 97-82 Tar Heel win in Chapel Hill on Dec. 17, 2011, when former UNC player Jason Capel was the Appalachian head coach (see full summary below).
♦ The previous meeting (Nov. 17, 2000 ) was the first road game of the Matt Doherty era at UNC and the first meeting in Boone since Jan. 3, 1940. Carolina beat the Mountaineers by a 99-69 score. The Tar Heels hit 10 of 13 first-half three-point attempts and shot 56.9 percent from the field in the game. Sophomore Joseph Forte scored 20 points on 9 of 13 shooting. Kris Lang tallied 16 points and six rebounds and Brian Morrison added 13 points, two assists and two steals.
PREVIEWING APPALACHIAN STATE
♦ Appalachian State enters Monday's game with a record of 2-8 and is coming off an 82-66 loss at home to Charlotte on Saturday.
♦ The Mountaineers have lost five games in a row, including a 67-55 loss at Texas on Dec. 15. Three days prior to that loss, the Tar Heels lost 84-82 at Texas.
♦ Appalachian State is ranked No. 310th in the KenPom.com statistical ratings entering Monday's game.
