University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels To Host Davidson Sunday
December 5, 2015 | Men's Basketball
THE MATCHUP
♦ Ninth-ranked North Carolina (6-1) will take a break from fall semester final exams and try for its fourth win in a row when it hosts Davidson (5-0) on Sunday evening in the Smith Center. UNC students began final exams on Friday and will finish them late next week.
♦ Sunday's tipoff is set for just after 6 p.m. in the Smith Center. Mike Morgan and former Tar Heel Jason Capel will call the game for an ESPNU national television audience.
TAR HEEL STORYLINES
♦ Carolina, ranked ninth in both national polls, is looking for its seventh win in eight tries this season and its fourth in a row.
♦ UNC will be playing with guard Marcus Paige for the second game this season. The All-America candidate returned to the lineup with 20 points and five assists in 34 minutes vs. No. 2 Maryland on Tuesday night. He missed the first six games of the year due to a broken bone in his right hand.
♦ The Tar Heels are in the second game of 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 four cities in a busy first 12 days of the season, Carolina will play eight in the month of December.
UP NEXT
♦ After the Davidson game, the Tar Heels will visit Texas next Saturday and host Tulane on Wednesday Dec. 16 before facing UCLA on Dec. 19 in the CBS Sports Classic in Brooklyn.
A TAR HEEL WIN WOULD ...
♦ Improve Carolina to 7-1 in 2015-16.
♦ Make UNC 4-0 in the Smith Center this year and 367-47 there in 31 seasons overall.
♦ Improve Roy Williams' career record as a head coach to 757-203 overall.
♦ Make Williams 339-102 at Carolina.
♦ Make Williams 6-0 against Davidson.
♦ Give Carolina its seventh consecutive win over Davidson and its 13th in 14 meetings since the 1951-52 season.
A TAR HEEL LOSS WOULD ...
♦ Drop Carolina to 6-2 this season.
♦ Make UNC 3-1 in the Smith Center in 2015-16 and 366-46 there in 31 seasons overall.
♦ Drop Roy Williams' career record to 756-204 overall.
♦ Make Williams 338-103 at Carolina.
♦ Mark Davidson's first win over UNC in the last seven meetings and its second since Feb. 18, 1952.
TAR HEEL TIDBITS
♦ Marcus Paige made four three-point field goals in the win over Maryland, tying Wayne Ellington for second place in UNC history with 229 career three-pointers. Shammond Williams holds the record with 233.
♦ Justin Jackson was UNC's defensive player of the game vs. Maryland for the second time in three games. He won the award once in all of 2014-15.
♦ Jackson is eighth in the ACC in assist/turnover ratio at 2.78.
♦ Kennedy Meeks is tied for third in the ACC in steals with 1.71 per game. He had three steals to go with his 12 points, six rebounds and three assists in the win over Maryland.
♦ Carolina's starting backcourt of Paige (20 points, five assists, one turnover, two steals) and Joel Berry II (14 points, five assists, two turnovers, two steals) combined for 34 points, 11 of 19 shooting, nine assists, three turnovers and four steals in the win over Maryland.
♦ Paige enters Sunday's game with 1,436 career points. He needs 12 points to pass Jason Capel for 30th place in UNC scoring history with 1,447. Capel is scheduled to be the color analyst for the game vs. Davidson.
♦ Theo Pinson leads UNC and is fourth in the ACC with 4.86 assists per game. He tied his career high with eight assists against Northwestern on Nov. 23.
♦ UNC has shot 50 percent or better in the second half in 14 of its last 17 games dating back to last season.
♦ Carolina has made 110 of 211 shots from the floor (.521) in the second half in 2015-16.
♦ Brice Johnson has five double-doubles and is averaging 13.4 points and a team-high 9.7 rebounds per game in 2015-16. He's seventh in the ACC in field goal percentage (.585), sixth in rebounding (9.7) and tied for third in defensive rebounds (7.57 per game).
♦ Berry has scored in double figures in five of seven games this season. As a freshman he scored in double figures one time.
♦ Berry leads Carolina with 12 three-pointers made.
♦ Nate Britt leads the team with a three-point percentage of 45.8. He's second on the team with 11 three-pointers made (in 24 attempts).
♦ Theo Pinson is 9 for 21 (.429) from three-point range this season, ranking second on the team. He made just seven three-pointers all year as a freshman.
♦ Carolina has committed 79 turnovers in its first seven outings (11.3 per game) despite playing the first six games without Marcus Paige. Last year, the Tar Heels averaged nearly 13 miscues per contest.
♦ Carolina is ranked No. 8 in the nation in the KenPom.com statistical rankings. UNC is fourth in adjusted offensive efficiency (115.7) and 25th in adjusted defensive efficiency (94.4).
♦ Davidson is 55th in the KenPom.com rankings (18th in offensive efficiency at 112.4 and 174th in defensive efficiency at 102.3).
TOYS FOR TOTS GAME SUNDAY
♦ Carolina fans can help provide toys to over 5,000 Orange County children who would go without any gifts if not for the help of the Orange County Toys for Tots campaign. Carolina Basketball and Orange County Toys for Tots are teaming up to collect all of those toys on one night at the Smith Center for the Davidson game on Sunday.
♦ Collection bins will be outside every Smith Center entrance.
♦ Toy donations can also be made directly online at hillsborough-nc.toysfortots.org.
SERIES HISTORY
♦ An old rivalry will be renewed on Sunday evening when Carolina meets Davidson in the Smith Center.
♦ The Tar Heels and Wildcats have faced off 74 times over the years, with UNC winning 63 of those contests (including 36 of the last 40) to lead the series, 63-11.
♦ Carolina has beaten Davidson six times in a row and in 12 of the last 13 meetings since a Wildcat win on Feb. 18, 1952, at Davidson (a win that occurred prior to UNC joining the ACC).
