University of North Carolina Athletics
ACC Tournament Drive Begins Thursday
March 10, 2016 | Men's Basketball
THE MATCHUP
♦ North Carolina (25-6, 14-4 ACC) will try to win its 18th Atlantic Coast Conference championship on March 10-12 at the 2016 New York Life ACC Tournament in Washington D.C.
♦ Carolina is the top seed and will play on Thursday against No. 8 seed Pittsburgh, which nipped No. 9 seed Syracuse on Wednesday afternoon.
♦ The Tar Heels and the Panthers will tip off at 12:08 p.m. on Thursday in the Verizon Center.
♦ Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Doris Burke (analyst) and Allison Williams (reporter) will call the game for an ESPN national TV audience (also online with WatchESPN).
♦ Tim Brant (play-by-play), Mike Gminski (analyst) and Debbie Antonelli (reporter) will have the call for the ACC Network (also online at TheACC.com).
TAR HEEL STORYLINES
♦ Carolina is competing in the ACC Tournament as the top seed for the 25th time and has won the title as the No. 1 seed 10 times (including in 2007 and 2008 under Roy Williams).
♦ UNC is seeking its third ACC championship under Williams and its 18th overall.
♦ The Tar Heels have reached the ACC final in four of the last five seasons and six times under Williams.
♦ UNC is 16-7 in the ACC Tournament since 2007.
♦ Carolina is ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press and coaches' polls this week.
UP NEXT
♦ The winner of Thursday's game will advance to Friday's semifinal round at 7 p.m. against No. 4 seed Notre Dame, No. 5 seed Duke, No. 12 seed N.C. State or No. 13 seed Wake Forest.
♦ The ACC championship game will be at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night.
A TAR HEEL WIN WOULD ...
♦ Improve UNC to 26-6 in 2015-16.
♦ Send the Tar Heels to the ACC semifinals for the 48th time and the fifth time in the last six years and the eighth time in 13 years under Roy Williams.
♦ Improve Williams' ACC Tournament record to 19-10.
♦ Improve Carolina to 2-1 in the ACC Tournament in Washington D.C.
♦ Improve Williams' career record as a head coach to 776-208 overall.
♦ Make Williams 358-107 at Carolina.
♦ Improve UNC to 5-0 at neutral sites this season.
A TAR HEEL LOSS WOULD ...
♦ Drop Carolina to 25-7 in 2015-16.
♦ Drop Roy Williams' career record to 775-209 overall.
♦ Make Williams 357-108 at Carolina.
♦ Drop UNC to 4-1 at neutral sites this season.
ACC TOURNAMENT FAST FACTS
♦ North Carolina has won 17 ACC Tournament championships and played in the title game a record 32 times.
♦ A Tar Heel has won the ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player award 18 times. The MVPs include: Lennie Rosenbluth (1957), Larry Miller (1967, 1968), Charles Scott (1969), Lee Dedmon (1971), Robert McAdoo (1972), Phil Ford (1975), John Kuester (1977), Dudley Bradley (1979), Sam Perkins (1981), James Worthy (1982), J.R. Reid (1989), Rick Fox (1991), Jerry Stackhouse (1994), Shammond Williams (1997), Antawn Jamison (1998), Brandan Wright (2007) and Tyler Hansbrough (2008).
♦ Dean Smith won 13 Tournament titles, tied with Mike Krzyzewski for most in history. Smith's teams were 58-23 and played in the championship game 21 times.
♦ Roy Williams has won two titles (2007, 2008).
TAR HEELS AS THE NO. 1 SEED
♦ This is the 25th time Carolina has been the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament. The Tar Heels have been the top seed in 1957, 1960, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1993, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2016 (bold indicates championships won).
♦ UNC has gone 47-14 as the No. 1 seed, winning 10 titles (including 2007 and 2008 under Roy Williams).
♦ Carolina is 12-4 in its seventh appearance as the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament under Roy Williams, winning titles in 2007 and '08, advancing to the final in 2011 and 2012 and reaching the semifinals in 2005 and '09.
♦ The 2015-16 season is the 30th time Carolina has won at least a share of the ACC regular-season championship (and the seventh time under Williams: 2004-05, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2015-16).
♦ UNC has won 20 outright regular-season ACC titles, including six in 13 years under Williams (2005, 2009, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2016).
♦ Williams has won or tied for 16 conference regular-season championships in 28 years as a head coach, including nine Big 8/12 regular season titles as Kansas' head coach and seven ACC regular season titles at Carolina (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016).
CAROLINA'S HISTORY IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT
♦ The Tar Heels have an all-time record of 93-44 in Tournament play.
♦ Carolina's all-time ACC Tournament winning percentage of .679 and win total are second-best in conference history behind Duke (94-43, .686).
♦ In 2015, Carolina made its 33rd appearance in the ACC Tournament final, most all-time. UNC is 17-16 in its 33 championship game appearances.
♦ The Tar Heels have won the ACC Tournament 17 times, second in league history behind Duke's 19.
♦ Carolina has won ACC Tournament championships in 1957, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2007 and 2008.
♦ The Tar Heels have played in the ACC Tournament final in 18 of the last 29 seasons.
♦ Roy Williams is aiming for his third ACC championship as a head coach after capturing the 2007 title in Tampa and the 2008 title in Charlotte.
♦ While the head coach at Kansas, Williams won four Big 8/12 Tournament titles (1992, 1997, 1998 and 1999). Williams was an assistant coach under Dean Smith for three ACC championships at UNC (1979, 1981, 1982).
ACC TOURNEY IN D.C.
♦ Carolina is 1-1 in ACC Tournament games played in Washington D.C., reaching the semifinals in 2005 in what was then known as the MCI Center (now the Verizon Center).
♦ UNC was 6-2 in ACC Tournament games in nearby Landover, Md., winning the event in the Capital Centre in 1981 and reaching the finals there in 1976 and 1987.
ROY WILLIAMS IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT
♦ Carolina is making its 13th ACC Tournament appearance under head coach Roy Williams.
♦ The Tar Heels are 18-10 in ACC Tournament play under Williams' tutelage.
♦ Williams' ACC Tournament winning percentage of .643 is seventh-best in ACC history (minimum five appearances).
♦ Williams is aiming for his third ACC championship as a head coach after capturing the 2007 title in Tampa and the 2008 title in Charlotte.
SERIES HISTORY VS. PITT
♦ Carolina leads the all-time series with Pitt, 9-3.
♦ The Panthers won the only previous ACC Tournament meeting, an 80-75 win in the 2014 quarterfinals in Greensboro.
♦ Last month in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels shot the ball well and beat Pitt, 85-64, in Chapel Hill.
♦ Last year, the Panthers beat Carolina, 89-76, in the Peterson Center in Pittsburgh.
♦ In 2013-14, UNC beat the Panthers, 75-71, on Feb. 15, 2014, in Chapel Hill in the regular season and PItt beat Carolina, 80-75, in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals in Greensboro.
♦ Carolina is 5-0 against Pitt in Chapel Hill, 3-1 in Pittsburgh and 1-2 at neutral sites.
♦ Two of the early meetings between UNC and Pitt came in NCAA Tournament play. The Panthers beat the Tar Heels, 26-20, in the 1941 East Regional semifinal in Madison, Wisc. (Carolina's first NCAA Tournament game). The Tar Heels beat Pitt, 74-57, in the 1981 West Regional second round in El Paso, Texas.
♦ Roy Williams is 3-2 against Pitt, beating the Panthers on March 16, 1991, in the NCAA Tournament second round in Louisville while he was the head coach at Kansas in addition to a 2-2 record with Carolina.
LAST MONTH IN CHAPEL HILL
♦ Carolina shot a blistering 59.3 percent as a team and ran past Pittsburgh, 85-64, on Feb. 14 in the Smith Center.
CAROLINA NOTES
♦ The Tar Heels shot 59.3 percent from the floor, its highest this season. Previous high was .554 vs UNCG; previous high this year in an ACC game was .537 in the home win over Boston College.
♦ Carolina shot 55.6 percent from the floor in the first half and 63.0 percent in the second half. The second was the best in a half since UNC shot .643 in the second half at Syracuse.
♦ Carolina held Pitt to 37.3 percent from the floor for the game. The Panthers shot .353 in the first half and .394 in the second. That's the first time in ACC play and the second time this season (Fairfield on 11/15/15) UNC held an opponent below 40 percent in both halves.
♦ Carolina grabbed one offensive rebound (shot a season-high percentage from the floor and second-highest percentage from the free throw line), the fewest in any game in the Roy Williams era at UNC. The previous was four on 12/12/15 at Texas.
♦ UNC had two second-chance points (previous low this year was six in a loss at Northern Iowa).
♦ The Tar Heels had 26 assists on 32 field goals. That's UNC's most in any ACC game this year (previous was 24 at Syracuse). UNC had assists on 81.3 percent of its field goals, its second-highest percentage of baskets on assists this year (.833, 30 on 36 vs. Tulane).
♦ The Panthers out-rebounded the Tar Heels, 41-29. That's the largest margin UNC has been out-rebounded by this year (previous was nine in a loss at Texas.
♦ It was just the second time in 16 games Pitt had lost when it out-rebounded its opponents this season (also in a loss to Miami).
PLAYER NOTES
♦ Brice Johnson led five Tar Heels in double figure scoring with 19 points. This was the 10th time this season Johnson has led UNC in scoring. He passed Shammond Williams for 32nd in UNC career scoring with 1,448 points.
♦ Marcus Paige had 15 points, three assists and two steals. He was 3 for 6 from three-point range.
♦ Justin Jackson had 14 points, six assists and two blocks. He was 6 for 10 from the floor, including 2 for 3 from three-point range. He also had six assists.
♦ Joel Berry II had 13 points, six rebounds, three steals, two blocked shots and two assists.
