University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina To Face Notre Dame For ACC Title
March 14, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Essential Info: No. 5 seed North Carolina (24-10) vs. No. 3 seed Notre Dame (28-5)
Saturday March 14, 2015 • 8:30 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. 11 in the KenPom.com ratings. Notre Dame is No. 11 in the AP poll, No. 9 in the coaches poll and No. 13 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 (where to watch)
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 | Notre Dame
On The Web: GoHeels.com | TheACC.com | Live Stats
Twitter: @UNC_Basketball | @ACCMBB
GREENSBORO—Fifth-seeded North Carolina (24-10) and third-seeded Notre Dame (28-5) will meet on Saturday night in Greensboro with the 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference title on the line.
Carolina is making a record 33rd appearance in an ACC final and is 93-43 in ACC Tournament games overall. A Tar Heel win vs. Notre Dame would tie Duke (94-43) for most ACC Tournament victories in conference history.
The Tar Heels are seeking their 18th ACC championship, their third under head coach Roy Williams and their first since winning back-to-back ACC Tournaments in 2007 and 2008.
Carolina also is vying for its ninth ACC Tournament title in Greensboro, having previously won titles in the city in 1967, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1997 and 1998. UNC is 8-5 in ACC championship games played in Greensboro, winning the tournament here in 1967, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1997 and 1998 and losing in 1971, 1988, 1995, 2011 and 2013.
The Tar Heels and Fighting Irish will be meeting in the ACC Tournament for the first time. Carolina and Notre Dame played once during the 2014-15 regular season, way back on Jan. 5 in Chapel Hill when the Irish beat the Tar Heels, 71-70.
To reach Saturday night's championship game, the Tar Heels beat 12th-seeded Boston College (81-63), fourth-seeded Louisville (70-60) and top-seeded Virginia (71-67) earlier this week in Greensboro. As the No. 3 seed, Notre Dame earned a bye to the quarterfinals. The Fighting Irish beat sixth-seeded Miami and second-seeded Duke to reach Saturday night's title game.
Carolina is 93-43 in the ACC Tournament; 39-17 in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro; 121-32 in Greensboro; 115-29 in the Greensboro Coliseum; and 17-15 in ACC championship games.
Justin Jackson hit a season-high four three-pointers and scored a season-high 22 points to lead the win over Virginia on Friday. Jackson scored in double figures for the eighth consecutive game. He went 11 for 54 from three-point range in the first 26 games and is 12 of 24 from beyond the arc in the last eight games.
TAR HEEL TOURNEY TIDBITS
• Saturday night's ACC final marks the first time since January 7-10, 1931, that the Tar Heels have played four games in four days. Carolina beat the Raleigh YMCA, Guilford and Randolph-Macon the first three days, then lost 18-17 to Davidson on the 10th.
• A UNC victory over Notre Dame would mark the first time Carolina has won four games in four days since the 1922 season, when the Tar Heels won five games in five days to win the 1922 Southern Conference Tournament. On Feb. 24-28, 1922, UNC beat Howard (which is now Samford), Newberry, Georgia, Alabama and Mercer in Atlanta to win the SoCon title.
• Carolina's 17 ACC Tournament championships are second-most to Duke's 19. Other than North Carolina State's 10, the rest of the ACC has combined to win 15 titles.
• Carolina's 33 championship game appearances are most in ACC history. Duke is second with 31. No other school has been in the final more than 17 times.
• Roy Williams has reached his sixth ACC championship game in 12 years as the Tar Heel head coach. The Tar Heels won the title in 2007 (N.C. State) and 2008 (Clemson) and lost in the finals in 2011 (Duke), 2012 (Florida State) and 2013 (Miami).
• Carolina is playing in its sixth ACC final under Williams and all six games have been against different teams-—N.C. State (2007), Clemson (2008), Duke (2011), Florida State (2012), Miami (2013) and Notre Dame (2015).
• This is the third time under Williams that UNC has won three ACC Tournament games in one year – the other two times UNC won the title in 2007 and 2008.
• No team has ever won four games to win the ACC Tournament. Carolina is the fourth team to reach the final in its fourth games in an ACC Tournament. The other schools to do so include:
- #8 N.C. State, lost to UNC in the 1997 final
- #10 N.C. State, lost to UNC in the 2007 final
- #7 Georgia Tech, lost to Duke in the 2010 final
• A No. 5 seed has never won the ACC Tournament (but the six seed has won it five times).
• This is only the fourth time a No. 5 seed has played in the championship game. No. 5 Wake Forest lost to No. 2 Duke in 1978; No. 5 Virginia lost to No. 3 Georgia Tech in 1990; and No. 5 Georgia Tech lost to No. 3 Duke in 2005.
• A win over Notre Dame would give Williams his third ACC title, tying him for fifth-most in history. Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski each have 13 titles, Everett Case and Vic Bubas won four each and Norm Sloan and Bobby Cremins both won three.
• Williams has an 18-9 record in the ACC Tournament as a head coach. His 18 wins are tied for fourth-most in history. Dean Smith won 58 ACC Tournament games, Mike Krzyzewski has 56 and Vic Bubas had 22. Roy Williams, Frank McGuire and Gary Williams are tied for fourth with 18.
• This is the first time Carolina has played three teams ranked in the AP poll in the same ACC Tournament (No. 14 Louisville, No. 3 Virginia and No. 11 Notre Dame). This is the 10th time Carolina has faced at least two AP ranked teams in the ACC Tournament and the fourth time in those 10 Tournaments that UNC won twice against ranked teams (in 1975 beat No. 14 Clemson and No. 8 NC State; in 1981 beat No. 11 Wake Forest and No. 20 Maryland; in 1998 beat No. 20 Maryland and No. 1 Duke).
• Six members of the 2015 Tar Heels played in the 2013 ACC Tournament championship game vs. Miami. Marcus Paige started as a freshman and had 17 points, five assists, two steals and one turnover in 36 minutes. Joel James (one rebound in five minutes), Brice Johnson (two minutes), J.P. Tokoto (two minutes), Desmond Hubert (two minutes) and Jackson Simmons (one minute) also played against the Hurricanes. Hubert (three minutes) and Stilman White (one steal in one minute) also played in the 2012 ACC championship game vs. Florida State.
