Tar Heels Host Wake Forest To Open ACC Play

Saturday, December 30

Chapel Hill

12:00 PM

North Carolina

Wake Forest

Cameron Johnson

Photo by: J.D. Lyon Jr.

December 28, 2017 | Men's Basketball

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• Carolina plays its final game of the calendar year 2017 when it hosts Wake Forest on Dec. 30th in the Atlantic Coast Conference season opener for both teams.
• UNC is 33-6 in 2017. The year began with an 89-86, overtime win at Clemson on 1/3/17.
• The Tar Heels concluded regular-season, non-conference play with an 11-2 record, including 6-1 away from the Smith Center.
• This is the 12th consecutive year UNC has won at least 10 games before playing its first ACC game and the third year in a row UNC has won at least 11 before its first conference game.
• Carolina beat Ohio State, 86-72, in New Orleans on Dec. 23rd, in its final non-conference game of the regular season.
• Carolina is 52-12 in ACC openers.
• Eight of Carolina's 12 losses in ACC openers have come on the road (1966 at Clemson, 1980 at Clemson, 1990 at Maryland, 1997 at Wake Forest, 1999 at Georgia Tech, 2013 at Virginia, 2014 at Wake Forest and 2017 at Georgia Tech).
• The four home losses in ACC openers came in 1992 (Florida State), 1995 (NC State), 2004 (Wake Forest) and 2009 (Boston College).
• This is the seventh time in 15 years Roy Williams' teams have opened ACC play at home. UNC is 4-2 in its six previous ACC openers at home. The Tar Heels are 9-5 overall in their first ACC game under Williams.
• Last year, UNC opened at Georgia Tech with a 75-63 loss to the Yellow Jackets.
• Carolina has opened ACC play against Wake Forest twice in the Williams Era and lost both times (2003-04 at home in triple overtime and 2013-14 in Winston-Salem).

THIRD IN THE RPI
• Carolina enters ACC play No. 3 in the nation in the NCAA's RPI behind Duke and Xavier. TCU and Villanova round out the top five; Arizona State, Texas A&M, Michigan State, Tennessee and Oklahoma are No. 6-10.
• Carolina's strength of schedule is 12th-strongest in the country.
• Carolina's first 13 opponents have an average RPI of 96, which is the second-best in the country.

CAROLINA-WAKE FOREST SERIES
• Carolina leads the all-time series against Wake Forest, 159-66.
• The Tar Heels have beaten the Demon Deacons in 12 of the last 15 meetings.
• Carolina has won the last four games, and averaged 92.0 points in those four wins.
• UNC has won more games (159) against Wake Forest than any other opponent.
• Roy Williams is 15-6 vs. Wake Forest as a head coach, including a 13-5 record at Carolina. That 13-5 record includes a 7-3 mark in Winston-Salem and a 6-2 record in Chapel Hill. Williams was 2-1 against Wake Forest while coaching at Kansas.
• UNC won 83-68 the last time the teams played in the Smith Center (1/20/2016).
• Carolina is 75-18 at home, including 21-5 in the Smith Center, vs. the Deacs.

LAST TIME THEY MET
Carolina 93, Wake Forest 87
Jan. 11, 2017 in Winston-Salem
• It was the first time last season all five Tar Heel starters scored in double figures, led by Justin Jackson with 19 and Joel Berry II and Kennedy Meeks with 18 each.
• Meeks had 11 rebounds, attempted a career-high 18 shots from the floor, made a season-high nine field goals and added three steals and three blocks.

GAME 13: UNC 86, OHIO STATE 72
CBS Sports Classic in New Orleans
• Carolina is 3-1 in the CBS Sports Classic
• Carolina is 16-2 in New Orleans and 20-3 in the state of Louisiana.
• The game was UNC's 3,000th. Carolina became the fifth school to play 3,000 games with Kansas, Oregon State, Washington State and Duke. The Tar Heels are 2,217-783.
• Seven different players made a three-pointer for the Tar Heels, a season high. That was the first time seven Tar Heels made threes since 11/21/2012 vs. Chaminade.
• Carolina made 13 threes, including nine in 16 attempts in the first half when UNC out-scored the Buckeyes, 41-27.
• The Tar Heels' nine three-pointers accounted for 27 points, which matched Ohio State's scoring output for the first half.
• Carolina was 21 for 25 from the free throw line. The Tar Heels shot 84 percent, second best this season and one of three times over 80 percent.
• The Tar Heels tied their season high with 17 turnovers (UNC has won both games it has turned the ball over 17 times...also vs. Western Carolina).
• UNC has committed 64 turnovers in the last four games (16 per).
• Carolina grabbed 30 defensive rebounds, while the Buckeyes pulled down three offensive boards.
• The Buckeyes did not have an offensive rebound until the 10:00 mark of the second half.
• Carolina's bench out-scored the OSU reserves, 32-6, led by Cameron Johnson (14) and Jalek Felton (12).
• Theo Pinson tied his career high with 19 points (also vs. Bucknell) and set a career high with 10 made free throws (in 10 attempts).
• Pinson is the first Tar Heel to go 10 for 10 or better from the line since Marcus Paige was 10 for 10 vs. Kentucky on 12/14/13.
• Pinson made the first of UNC's nine first-half threes. It was his first made three since 11/23 vs. Portland.
• Joel Berry II moved past Kris Lang for 38th in UNC scoring with 1,403 points.
• Cameron Johnson scored a season-high 14 points.
• Jalek Felton tied season highs with four three-pointers and a team-high five assists. He scored nine of his 12 points in the first half. He hit three consecutive three-pointers (nine straight UNC points) in a span of one minute and 35 seconds. His first tied the game at 20, his second gave UNC a 23-20 lead and his third gave Carolina the lead for good at 26-23 with 5:25 to play in the half.
• Luke Maye had a game-high 10 rebounds, the eighth time this year he grabbed double-digit rebounds.

TRENDING...
• Carolina set a school-record last season with a rebound margin of 12.3 per game, which was the fourth-highest margin by any school in the country since 1980. UNC is slightly ahead of that figure at 12.5 over its first 13 games this season.
• Five Tar Heels averaging double-figure minutes are shooting 50 percent or better from the floor – Sterling Manley (.600), Luke Maye (.528), Garrison Brooks (.538), Kenny Williams (.522) and Andrew Platek (.500).
• The Tar Heels are second in the ACC and fifth in the country in rebounds per game (43.8) and second in the country and ACC in rebound margin behind Duke.
• Luke Maye is 12th in the country in rebounding (10.5) and 13th in double-doubles (7).
• Carolina is hitting 7.8 three-pointers per game, which ties the second most in school history. The record is 8.3 per game in 2002-03. The 1994-95 team also made 7.8 per game. UNC made 13 in its last game against Ohio State. Last year, UNC made 7.1 per game.
• Carolina has scored 85 or more points 10 times (all wins), 90 or more points five times, 100 points twice and averaged 60.0 points in its two losses.
• The Tar Heels have shot 50 percent from the floor six times. UNC is shooting 47.9 percent for the season. That includes 50.8 percent in its 11 wins and 30.2 percent in the two losses.
• Carolina ranks 17th nationally in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency and 15th in adjusted defensive efficiency ratings.
• Carolina has finished in the top 15 nationally in points per 100 possessions 10 times in Roy Williams' first 14 seasons.
• Carolina has scored 27.1 percent of its points on three-point field goals. That's the second-highest percentage in Roy Williams' 15 seasons as UNC's head coach.

SCORING FROM THREE-POINT FGs (last 15 seasons)
29.3 percent – 2012-13
27.1 percent – 2017-18
26.2 percent – 2005-06
25.5 percent – 2004-05
25.3 percent – 2016-17

• Roy Williams' teams have finished in the top 10 nationally in rebound margin in 14 of his previous 29 seasons as a head coach, including ninth, ninth and first in the last three seasons.
• Four Tar Heels averaging double-figure minutes are shooting 80 percent or better from the free throw line – Cameron Johnson (.917), Brandon Robinson (.889), Joel Berry II (.875) and Theo Pinson (.820).
• Johnson is 11 for 12 from the line in his two games.
• Pinson has made all 17 of his free throw attempts over the last three games.
• Six Tar Heels averaging double-figure minutes are making at least half their three-point attempts in Carolina's 11 victories – Brandon Robinson (.571), Kenny Williams (.543), Luke Maye (.536), Jalek Felton (.500), Andrew Platek (.500) and Cameron Johnson (.500).
• Eleven Tar Heels are averaging 10 or more minutes per game, including four freshmen (forwards Garrison Brooks and Sterling Manley and guards Jalek Felton and Andrew Platek).
• Luke Maye, Theo Pinson, Kenny Williams and Brandon Robinson are averaging career highs in minutes played.
• In Carolina's two losses, the Tar Heels shot 30.2 percent from the floor, made 8 of 43 three-pointers, shot 67.7 percent from the free throw line, got out-rebounded by 3.0 per game, committed 30 turnovers and scored just 60.0 points per game.

IN THE POLLS
• Carolina is No. 13 in the Associated Press poll and No. 14 in the USA Today/Coaches poll released on Dec. 25th.
• Carolina is ranked in the AP poll for the 69th consecutive week (last four weeks in 2013-14, all 19 weeks in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 and the first eight weeks this season).
• Carolina is ranked in the AP poll for the 885th time, most in college basketball history.
• This is UNC's 665th time in the AP top 10, second-most behind Kentucky.
• Carolina and Duke have combined for 244 weeks all-time as the No. 1 team in the AP poll. That's 244 of 300 weeks as No. 1 by every current ACC school.
• The 2017-18 season is the 55th (out of 70) in which the Tar Heels have been ranked in the top 10.
• Carolina was No. 9 in this season's preseason AP poll. It marked the 12th time in Roy Williams' 15 seasons as head coach the Tar Heels entered the year ranked in the top 10. UNC has finished the year in the AP top 10 nine times in Williams' first 14 seasons.