University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels To Meet Cavs In ACC Semifinal
March 13, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Essential Info: No. 5 seed North Carolina (23-10) vs. No. 1 seed Virginia (29-2)
Friday March 13, 2015 • 7 p.m. • Greensboro, N.C. • Greensboro Coliseum
Where To Watch
Tickets
Rankings: Carolina is No. 19 in both the Associated Press poll and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls this week. The Tar Heels are No. 13 in the KenPom.com ratings. Virginia is No. 3 in the AP poll, No. 4 in the coaches poll and No. 3 in the KenPom ratings.
TV: ESPN-Dan Shulman (play-by-play), Jay Bilas (analyst) and Allison Williams (reporter) will have the call nationally. ACC Network-Tim Brant (play-by-play), Mike Gminski (analyst) and Debbie Antonelli (reporter) will call the game in the ACC region.
Watch Online: WatchESPN or TheACC.com
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 | Virginia
On The Web: GoHeels.com | TheACC.com | Live Stats
Twitter: @UNC_Basketball | @ACCMBB
GREENSBORO—North Carolina (23-10) and Virginia (29-2) will meet in the ACC Tournament semifinals for the first time in over 20 years when the fifth-seeded Tar Heels and top-seeded Cavaliers meet on Friday night in Greensboro. Tipoff is set for just after 7 p.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum, and a berth in Saturday night's championship game is on the line.
These two teams have played just twice in the last 20 ACC Tournaments and haven't played in the semifinals since March 13, 1993, in Charlotte, when Carolina defeated Virginia, 74-56. That's a game best remembered for having the lights go out in the Charlotte Coliseum due to a snowstorm and UNC point guard Derrick Phelps being injured and unable to play the next day in the championship.
UNC is 11-3 all-time against Virginia in the ACC Tournament, including 5-0 in Greensboro.The teams last played in 2006 in the quarterfinals (a 79-67 Tar Heel victory). The Cavaliers last beat UNC in the ACC Tournament in the 1990 quarterfinals. UNC has won the last five Tournament meetings.
Carolina and Virginia met once during the 2014-15 regular season, with the Cavaliers taking a 75-64 win in Chapel Hill on February 2.
To reach Friday night's semifinals, the Tar Heels beat 12th-seeded Boston College, 81-63, in Wednesday's second round and came from behind to beat Louisville, 70-60, in the quarterfinals.
As the No. 1 seed, Virginia earned a bye to the quarterfinals and beat ninth-seeded Florida State, 58-44, on Thursday afternoon.
Carolina is 92-43 in the ACC Tournament; 38-17 in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro; 120-32 in Greensboro; 114-29 in the Greensboro Coliseum; and 32-14 in ACC Tournament semifinals.
Brice Johnson scored a game-high 22 points, including 18 in the second half, in the ACC quarterfinal win over Louisville. He led UNC in scoring for the 11th time this year. Johnson has scored at least 16 points in 11 of the last 15 games. In that stretch, he has scored 16, 17 three times, 18 twice, 19 twice, 20 and 22 twice and averaged 15.1 per game (had 22 total in the other four games).
Kennedy Meeks missed several days of practice and the first game in his college career vs. Boston College due to flu-like symptoms. He returned to the lineup and played 19 minutes vs. Louisville on Thursday, tallying nine points, five rebounds and two blocked shots off the bench.
Theo Pinson has missed both of the first two ACC Tournament games after tweaking his left foot in practice on Monday (the same foot he broke at Wake Forest on January 21st). His availability for the rest of the weekend will be on a day-to-day basis.
The winner of Friday's game will advance to play the winner of the semifinal between No. 2 seed Duke and No. 3 seed Notre Dame in the ACC championship game on Saturday night.
THE SERIES VS. VIRGINIA
• Carolina leads the series with Virginia, 128-52, and has won 10 of the last 14 meetings.
• UNC is 11-3 against UVa in ACC Tournament games. The Tar Heels have won all five previous ACC Tournament meetings in Greensboro. The teams last played in 2006 in the quarterfinals, a 79-67 Tar Heel victory. The Cavaliers last beat UNC in the ACC Tournament in 1990 in the quarterfinals. UNC has won the last five meetings in the ACC Tournament.
• Roy Williams is 15-7 as a head coach against Virginia, including a 13-6 mark at Carolina and a 2-1 record at Kansas.
