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Carolina Visits Duke On Wednesday
February 18, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Essential Info: No. 15/16 North Carolina (18-7, 8-4 ACC) vs. No. 4/5 Duke (22-3, 9-3 ACC)
Wednesday February 18, 2015 • 9 p.m. • Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, N.C.
Tickets: Sold out
Rankings: Carolina is No. 15 in the Associated Press poll and No. 16 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. Duke is No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, in the same polls.
TV: ACC Network (list of affiliates/watch online). Tim Brando (play-by-play) and Dan Bonner (analyst) will have the call. ESPN. Dan Shulman (play-by-play), Jay Bilas (analyst) and Shannon Spake (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.
UNC 2014-15 Digital Game Program: Download Now
On The Web: GoHeels.com | GoDuke.com | Live Stats
Twitter: @UNC_Basketball | @DukeBluePlanet
Smith Center Information: Tickets | Parking Information | Tar Heel Express | Smith Center Info (Directions, Policies, etc.)
North Carolina (18-7, 8-4 ACC) will try to bounce back from Saturday's loss at Pitt when it visits Duke (22-3, 9-3) on Wednesday night in the first meeting between the schools this season. The Tar Heels will be playing their fourth road game in the last five outings. They have lost three of their last four games overall.
ESPN will televise the game nationally at 9 p.m. with Dan Shulman (analyst), Jay Bilas (analyst) and Shannon Spake (reporter) on the call. WatchESPN will stream the game online.
The ACC Network will televise the game regionally in the ACC footprint with Tim Brando (play-by-play) and Dan Bonner (analyst) on the call. Links: Watch online | List of affiliates
The Tar Heels enter the game with an Atlantic Coast Conference record of 8-4, tied for fourth place with Louisville behind Virginia (11-1), Notre Dame (10-3) and Duke (9-3).
Carolina lost, 89-76, at Pitt on Saturday afternoon, as the Panthers shot 64.9 percent from the floor. In the last two weeks, UNC lost at Louisville (Jan. 31), lost at home to Virginia (Feb. 2), won on the road at Boston College (Feb. 7) and lost at Pitt (Feb. 14).
Duke enters Wednesday's game ranked No. 4 by the Associated Press and No. 5 by the coaches. The Blue Devils beat Syracuse, 80-72, on Saturday in the Carrier Dome. Jahlil Okafor had 23 points and 13 rebounds led Duke to its fifth consecutive win.
Duke is No. 8 overall in the KenPom.com rankings, coming in at No. 2 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 57 in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Carolina leads the all-time series with Duke, 133-105. The Tar Heels have played more games against Duke than against any other opponent.
UNC and Duke split a pair of meetings last year with each team winning on its home court. The Blue Devils have won eight of the last 11 meetings in the series (since the start of the 2009-10 season). UNC had won six of seven from 2006-09.
Duke has won four of the last five meetings in Durham after Carolina won four in a row over the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium from 2006-09. Duke leads the series 51-47 in games played in Durham and 42-35 in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Tar Heels have won five of the last nine meetings in Durham. Head coach Roy Williams is 5-6 against Duke in games played in Cameron (all while head coach at UNC).
A CAROLINA WIN WOULD...
Improve Carolina to 19-7 this season and 9-4 in ACC play...Improve Carolina to 7-3 on the road this season...Improve the Tar Heels to 134-105 all-time against Duke...Improve Roy Williams to 11-13 against Duke as the Tar Heel head coach...Move Carolina to 48-51 against the Blue Devils in Durham and 36-42 in Cameron Indoor Stadium...Give Roy Williams his 743rd career victory (16th all-time) and his 1,017th combined win as a college coach (head and assistant).
A CAROLINA LOSS WOULD...
Drop the Tar Heels to 18-8, 8-5 ACC...Mark Carolina's fourth loss in its last five outings...Improve Duke to 106-133...Mark Duke's third consecutive win over Carolina in Durham and its fifth in the last six meetings with Carolina in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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 2,132 (trailing Kentucky and Kansas).
• UNC is 4-4 against ranked teams this season (wins over Florida, UCLA, Ohio State and Louisville and losses to Kentucky, Notre Dame, Louisville and Virginia).
• Backup point guard Joel Berry II missed seven games with a pulled groin but returned to action at Boston College on Feb. 7. He played 10 minutes against the Eagles and 28 minutes at Pitt last Saturday.
• Isaiah Hicks made his second career start at Boston College on Feb. 7 and led the Tar Heels with a career-high 21 points on 7 of 10 shooting and 7 of 11 free throws. In addition to his career scoring high, Hicks also set career highs in field goals (seven), free throws (seven) and minutes (28) against the Eagles.
• Nate Britt is shooting .478 (11 for 23) from three-point territory in ACC play.
• Carolina is 4-2 on the road in ACC play in 2014-15 and 62-34 on the road in 12 seasons under head coach Roy Williams.
• Isaiah Hicks led Carolina with 21 points in the Feb. 7 win at Boston College and became the sixth UNC player to lead the team in scoring this season. Marcus Paige has done so a team-high nine times in 2014-15.
• Marcus Paige is eighth in UNC history with 191 career three-pointers. Dante Calabria is seventh with 193 and Hubert Davis is sixth with 197.
• Paige's 512 career three-point attempts are already fifth in Carolina history. Rashad McCants is fourth with 533 and Shammond Williams is the record-holder at 578.
• Carolina's effective defensive field goal percentage (44.6) ranks 26th nationally and its offensive rebounding percentage (42.2) is second in the nation in the KenPom.com stats.
• Point guard Marcus Paige is battling a case of plantar fasciitis but has not missed any games in 2014-15. He leads Carolina players with 32.1 minutes per game (over four more than the next-highest player).
• Paige is shooting 40.5 percent from three-point range (30 for 74) against ACC opponents in 2014-15. He has made 60 three-pointers overall. The rest of the Tar Heel team has combined for 54 three-pointers this season.
• Paige has 410 career assists and is the 10th Tar Heel with 400 assists, 1,000 points and 100 steals (joining Ed Cota, Walter Davis, Matt Doherty, Raymond Felton, Phil Ford, Ty Lawson, Jeff Lebo, Jeff McInnis and Kenny Smith). Of that group, only Lebo (211) has made more three-pointers than Paige's 191.
• Brice Johnson is averaging 8.7 rebounds in ACC games and 8.7 in Carolina wins but 5.6 boards in losses this season. He's averaging a career-high 7.8 rebounds per game overall in 2014-15.
• The Tar Heels have held 16 opponents to 40 percent or lower field goal shooting and are 13-3 in those games.
• Carolina leads the ACC in offensive rebounding percentage at .422 (No. 2 nationally) overall and at .398 in ACC games. The Tar Heels are fourth in the ACC in defensive rebounding percentage in conference games at .719.
• Justin Jackson has started every game this season, making him the only Tar Heel other than Marcus Paige to do so.
• The win over Boston College was the 742nd of Roy Williams's head coaching career. He ranks 16th in NCAA career coaching victories. Phog Allen is 15th with 746.
• UNC has scored 100 or more points 49 times in Williams' 12 seasons as head coach. The Tar Heels are 48-1 in those games.
• Carolina had won six consecutive overtime games before losing at Louisville on Jan. 31. Carolina has won nine of its last 12 overtime games and are 9-8 in OT under Roy Williams.
• A pair of former Tar Heels signed on with NBA teams in January. James Michael McAdoo, who had been playing with Santa Cruz in the NBDL, has signed two 10-day contracts with Golden State. Larry Drew II, who played at Carolina from 2008-11 before transferring to UCLA, signed a 10-day contract with the Philadelphia 76ers on Jan. 16. Drew had been playing with the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the D-League.
• There now have been 19 former Carolina players in the NBA this season.
• Reserve point guards Stilman White and Luke Davis also have all been out of action due to injury. White has a stress reaction in his foot and missed eight games but was cleared to play prior to the Pitt game. Davis has been out with a stress fracture in his foot since October but re-aggravated the injury in practice in early January and now is expected to be out until early March.
• Freshman Theo Pinson broke the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot in the first half at Wake Forest on Jan. 21. He is out indefinitely.
• UNC is 15-3 this season when leading at halftime.
The Tar Heels will play their first home game in nearly three weeks when they host Georgia Tech in the Smith Center on Saturday.
