Tar Heels Vs. Kentucky Saturday In Chicago

GAME 11 NOTEBOOK
• Carolina is 3-1 in the CBS Sports Classic. UNC beat Ohio State, 82-74, on 12/20/14 in Chicago; beat UCLA, 89-76, on 12/19/15 in Brooklyn; lost to Kentucky, 103-100, on 12/17/16 in Las Vegas; and beat Ohio State, 86-72, on 12/23/17 in New Orleans.
• Carolina is 4-3 in Chicago, including 3-1 in the United Center and 1-2 in Chicago Stadium. This is the Tar Heels' first appearance in the United Center since beating Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic on 12/20/14. UNC also has wins in the United Center over Louisville (12/3/97) and Valparaiso (12/20/08).
• Luke Mayescored 20 points against Gonzaga to become the 77thplayer to score 1,000 points for Carolina (77 have scored 1,000 or more points playing for Carolina; Cameron Johnson reached the 1,000-point mark earlier this year after scoring 583 points in three seasons at Pitt. Johnson has scored 489 in less than two seasons as a Tar Heel).
• Carolina's 77 1,000-point scorers are the most in NCAA history. Louisville is second with 68.
• Mayeleads the ACC in rebounding at 10.1 per game. Last year, the Huntersville, N.C., native was second in the league in rebounds per game at 10.1.
• Cameron Johnson earned ACC Player of the Week honors for his play against Gonzaga. It was Johnson's first career ACC honor. He is the second active Tar Heel to have won ACC Player of the Week honors (Luke Mayewas a three-time recipient in 2017-18).
• Johnson has led UNC in scoring five times in 10 games; he did that three times a year ago.
• The win over Gonzaga marked the first time in five games that UNC won when opponents scored 80 or more points and the first time in five games that UNC won when the opponent shot 50 percent from the floor.
• Carolina shot 57.1 percent from the floor, including 52.0 from three-point range, and 80.0 percent from the free throw line in its win over Gonzaga. That was the first time UNC shot 50/50/80 since an 85-64 win over Pittsburgh on 2/14/2016 (.556/.533/.867). Cameron Johnson scored three points in 13 minutes for the Panthers in that game in the Smith Center.

UNC-KENTUCKY SERIES
• Carolina is 24-15 all-time against Kentucky with eight wins in the last 13 meetings.
• Carolina is the only school in the country with 10 or more wins and a winning record against Kentucky. In fact, Saint Louis (9-8) is the only other school with at least five wins and a winning record vs. UK.
• Carolina and Kentucky enter the game with 250 combined NCAA Tournament wins (126 Kentucky, 124 Carolina). No other game in college basketball history has included teams with as many combined NCAA Tournament wins as today's UNC-UK game in Chicago.
• Carolina is 12-5 against Kentucky at neutral sites, including 2-1 in Charlotte, Greensboro and Louisville; 1-0 in Atlanta, Birmingham, College Park, East Rutherford, N.J., Memphis and Raleigh; and 0-1 in Newark and Las Vegas.
• Roy Williams is 8-6 against Kentucky at North Carolina and 9-9 overall.
• This is the 24th time Carolina has played the Cats as a top-10 team in the AP poll. The Tar Heels are 14-9 in those games.
• This is the 17th time the Tar Heels enter the game as the higher-ranked team in the AP poll. UNC is 11-5 against UK in those games.
• Carolina is 0-1 against Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic, dropping a memorable 103-100 decision in Las Vegas on 12/17/16. Malik Monk scored 47 and De'Aaron Fox had 24 points and 10 assists to offset a career-high 34 points by Tar Heel junior Justin Jackson.
• That game was just the second in UNC history, and the first in a regulation-length game, in which the Tar Heels lost when scoring 100 points.
• Luke Maye came off the bench to hit two three-pointers and scored a then-career-high 11 points. Kenny Williams started and matched his then-career-best with five assists.

LAST TIME: CAROLINA 75, KENTUCKY 73
MARCH 26, 2017, MEMPHIS, TENN.
• Sophomore forward Luke Maye hit a jump shot with 0.3 seconds to play to give No. 1 seed North Carolina a 75-73 win over No. 2 seed Kentucky to win the South Regional in Memphis.
• The win advanced the Tar Heels to the Final Four in Arizona, where UNC beat Oregon and Gonzaga to win the 2017 NCAA championship.
• Maye's basket was the fourth last-second shot to secure a Final Four berth since 1985: Christian Laettner (Duke vs. UConn, 1990), Laettner (vs. Kentucky, 1992) and Scottie Reynolds (Villanova vs. Pitt, 2009).
• Maye was named Most Valuable Player of the South Regional after scoring a career high for the second straight game, including a game-winning shot from just inside the three-point line with 0.3 seconds to play. He had 17 points against Kentucky, two days after setting a career high with 16 in the Sweet 16 vs. Butler.
• Kennedy Meeks grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds.
• All-America and ACC Player of the Year Justin Jackson led all scorers with 19 points.

MISCELLANEOUS TEAM NOTES
• The Tar Heels lead the nation in rebound margin (+14.1), are third in scoring (94.3 ppg), fifth in assists (19.9) and 13th in scoring margin (+19.0).
• Carolina's rebound margin of 14.1 per game not only leads the nation, but is ahead of UNC's school-record margin of 12.3 set in 2016-17.
• Carolina has finished in the top in the nation in rebound margin in nine of Roy Williams' first 15 seasons at UNC, including No. 1 in the country in 2008, 2012 and 2017. The Tar Heels have finished ninth, ninth, first and third in the nation in the last four years.
• Carolina leads the ACC in scoring, rebound margin and assists, is second in rebounds per game and offensive rebounding, fourth in field goal percentage and three-pointers made and fifth in three-point percentage.
• KenPom ranks the Tar Heels third in the nation behind Savannah State and FIU in shortest average length of offensive possessions (13.3 seconds) and eighth in tempo (most possessions per game).
• Carolina has scored 100 or more four times (and 90 or more in seven games). This is the first time since the national championship season in 2008-09 the Tar Heels reached triple digits four times and 90 or more points seven times in the first 10 games.
• Carolina has led by double digits in all 10 games, including its losses to Texas and Michigan.
– UNC led Texas 17-4 less than 5:00 into the game before the Longhorns went on a 25-11 run over the next 10:00 to take the lead. Texas hit a three at the buzzer to take a 43-42 lead at the half.
– UNC led Michigan 21-11 with 12:37 to play in the first half. The Wolverines went on an 11-0 run to take the lead. UNC led 35-33 with less than a minute to play in the half before a 3FG with 0:02 to play gave UM a 39-35 advantage at the break.
• Led by Cameron Johnson's 26 three-pointers in 10 games (2.6 per game, the fourth most in the ACC) and Coby White's 21 threes in nine games (2.3 per game), the Tar Heels are making 8.5 threes per game. UNC's single-season record is 8.3 in 2002-03, one of only two seasons in school history in which Carolina made at least 8.0 per game (8.2 in 2017-18).
• Carolina is averaging 18.3 second-chance points, almost double what the opponents are averaging (9.7). That includes a 27-0 margin against Gonzaga.
• The Zags did score 24 fastbreak points, a season high for the opponents, many of which came among the Zags' 29 points off UNC's 23 turnovers. Gonzaga scored as many fastbreak points as Texas, UCLA, Michigan and UNCW combined to score (24).
• Sophomore forward Garrison Brooks has won defensive player of the game honors four times. No other Tar Heel has won more than one time. No player qualified for the award in three games.

AP POLL NOTES
• Carolina is ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press poll and 10th in the coaches poll.
• Carolina is ranked this week in an AP poll for the 903rd time, more than any other school in college basketball history.
• This is the 87th consecutive AP poll the Tar Heels have been ranked, dating back to mid-conference play in the 2013-14 season.
• UNC began the year No. 8 in the preseason AP poll. It was the 13th time in 16 seasons under Roy Williams UNC was ranked in the preseason Top 10.
• This season is the 56th time in 71 seasons the Tar Heels have been ranked in the top 10 in at least one week of the poll.
• UNC finished the year in the AP poll top 10 in 10 of Williams' first 15 seasons.
• Carolina has finished in the top 10 37 times, including 26 of the last 38 years. UNC has finished the season ranked in the AP poll 50 times.

NUMBER ONE IN WINS PER SEASON
• This is the 109th season of Carolina Basketball. The Tar Heels have won 2,240 games, third most in NCAA history.
• Carolina has won an average of 20.7 games per season. UNC is the only school in the top 10 in all-time NCAA wins that has averaged at least 20 wins per season.

ROY WILLIAMS COURT
• On 8/23/18, Carolina officially dedicated the Tar Heels' home floor as Roy Williams Court at the Dean E. Smith Center.
• The dedication was part of a two-day Carolina Basketball reunion of more than 300 players, coaches, managers and staff.

WILLIAMS INKS EIGHT-YEAR CONTRACT EXTENSION
• Carolina announced on Dec. 20 that head coach Roy Williams has signed a contract extension through the 2027-28 season.
• Williams is in his 16th season as the head coach at his alma mater. He is the first coach to win three national championships at his alma mater (2005, 2009, 2017).
• Williams' previous contract ran through 2020.

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Players Mentioned

Garrison Brooks

Cameron Johnson

Luke Maye

Coby White

Kenny Williams

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University of North Carolina Athletics