Tar Heels To Face Syracuse Wednesday In ACC Tournament

Wednesday, March 7

Brooklyn, N.Y.

9:00 PM

North Carolina

Syracuse

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

March 6, 2018 | Men's Basketball

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• The Tar Heels enter the 2018 ACC Tournament with a 22-9 overall record after an 11-7 mark in league play.
• UNC will face Syracuse, which beat Wake Forest on Tuesday, in Wednesday night's contest.
• Carolina finished in a four-way tie for third in the ACC and is the No. 6 seed in the Tournament.
• This is the first time UNC has ever been the No. 6 seed.
• This is the 56th time in 65 seasons the Tar Heels have finished in the top three in the ACC regular-season standings.
• Carolina is 10-6 away from the Smith Center this season. That includes a 7-5 record in road games and 3-1 at neutral sites (2-1 in Portland, Ore., in PK80, and 1-0 in New Orleans in the CBS Sports Classic).
• Carolina is 97-45 in ACC Tournament play with 18 championships and 34 appearances in the finals.
• Carolina is 36-24 in New York City (6-10 in the original Madison Square Garden, 28-13 in the current Garden and 2-1 in Barclays Center).
• The Tar Heels posted a winning record in ACC regular-season play for the 58th time in 65 seasons (the 13th time in 15 seasons under head coach Roy Williams).
• This is the 42nd time in 65 seasons the Tar Heels have won at least 10 ACC regular-season games and 34th time (13th time in 15 seasons under Roy Williams, including eight years in a row) UNC won at least 11.

TV/RADIO/SATELLITE
• Wednesday's second round game will be televised on ESPN2 (Mike Couzens, LaPhonso Ellis and Allison Williams) and the ACC Network (Wes Durham, Dan Bonner).
• Jones Angell and Eric Montross will provide the call on the Tar Heel Sports Radio Network.
• The game may be heard on satellite radio on channel 80 and the new ACC Channel (371).

RPI, TOUGHEST SCHEDULE NOTES
• UNC's strength of schedule is the most difficult in the nation.
• Carolina is No. 6 in the NCAA's RPI (as of 3/5). UNC's opponents have an average RPI of 75, which is the second highest in the country.
• Carolina has played 10 games against teams in the top 25 in the RPI. The Tar Heels are 5-5 with wins over Duke (4), Tennessee (10), Clemson (11), Michigan (13) and Ohio State (23).
• The top five strength of schedules are: 1- North Carolina, 2- Kansas, 3- Vanderbilt, 4- Kentucky and 5- Alabama.
• Carolina has 11 wins over current Quadrant I opponents, most in the country ahead of Kansas (10), Florida (9), Virginia (9) and Villanova (8).
• The Tar Heels' non-conference strength of schedule was the 11th-most difficult. It is the highest-rated non-conference schedule in the ACC.
• Carolina won road games at Stanford, Davidson, Tennessee, Notre Dame, NC State, Louisville and Syracuse. Those teams had a combined home record of 90-26.

RANKINGS
• Carolina is ranked No. 12 in the Associated Press poll and No. 11 in the coaches poll.
• This is the 79th consecutive week and the NCAA-record 895th time overall the Tar Heels are ranked in the AP poll.
• Carolina has five wins this season over teams in this week's AP poll – No. 5 Duke, No. 7 Michigan, No. 13 Tennessee, No. 17 Ohio State and No. 19 Clemson.
• Carolina is No. 7 in KenPom's overall rankings – fourth in offensive efficiency and 49th in defensive efficiency.
• How challenging a schedule have the Tar Heels played? Carolina's opponents average the second-best offensive efficiency and the No.1 defensive efficiency in the nation (KenPom).
• Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas are the only teams whose opponents rank in the top 10 in the country in efficiency on both ends of the court.
• Carolina's KenPom offensive efficiency of 122.2 is its second highest in the last eight years, trailing only 2015-16 (124.1).
• The Tar Heels have played 11 games against teams who are in the top 20 nationally in defensive efficiency. UNC is 7-4 in those games (wins over Michigan, Tennessee, Clemson, Duke, Louisville and Syracuse; and losses to Michigan State, Virginia, Clemson and Duke).

AWARDS
• The Sporting News and USA Today have named Luke Maye a third-team All-America.
• Maye and Joel Berry II earned first-team All-ACC honors. Theo Pinson also received votes.
• Maye is the first Tar Heel to make one start as a freshman and sophomore and earn first-team All-ACC honors as an upperclassman.
• Berry is UNC's first senior to play point guard and earn first-team All-ACC honors since Kenny Smith in 1987. Berry joins Tommy Kearns (1957-58), Larry Brown (1963), George Karl (1973), Phil Ford (1976-77-78), Smith (1987), Raymond Felton (2005), Ty Lawson (2009) and Marcus Paige (2014) as the ninth Tar Heel point guard to earn first-team All-ACC honors (12th time).
• This is the first time since 2012 Carolina placed multiple players on the All-ACC first team. That year, three Tar Heels – Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes and John Henson – made the first team.
• This is the 23rd season in which two or more Tar Heels made the All-ACC first team: 1957-58-59-60-63-67-68-69-72-76-77-78-82-83-84-87-93-95-98-2005-09-12-18.
• Maye and Berry received the third- and fourth-most votes for All-ACC honors behind only ACC Player of the Marvin Bagley III (Duke) and Jerome Robinson (Boston College), who leads the ACC in scoring heading into the ACC Tournament.
• Maye is the ACC's Most Improved Player. He is the second Tar Heel to win the award in the five years it has been given (Marcus Paige in 2014). UNC is the only school with two Most Improved Player awards.
• Maye is the 2018 winner of the Skip Prosser Award as the ACC's top scholar-athlete in men's basketball. Maye is the third Tar Heel to win the Prosser Award in the last eight years (Tyler Zeller in 2011 and 2012; Paige in 2015 and 2016).
• Maye is the fourth player to win first-team All-ACC honors and the Prosser Award in the same season (with Miami's Jack McClinton in 2009, UNC's Tyler Zeller in 2012 and Duke's Mason Plumlee in 2013). Marcus Paige won both, but in different seasons.
• Maye was named to CoSIDA's Academic All-District team (for District 3, which includes North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia). He is the only ACC player to earn Academic All-District honors this season.
• Berry is one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation's top point guard. UNC is the only school with three Cousy Award winners – Raymond Felton (2005), Ty Lawson (2009) and Kendall Marshall (2012).
• Berry is joined on the Cousy list by Villanova's Jalen Brunson, West Virginia's Jevon Carter, Kansas's Devonte' Graham and Oklahoma's Trae Young.
• Maye is one of 10 finalists for the Karl Malone Award as the nation's top power forward.
• Maye is one of 15 finalists for the John R. Wooden Award (national player of the year). Maye and Duke's Marvin Bagley III are the only ACC players on the list.
• Maye was the only player to win ACC Player of the Week honors three times this season.

CAROLINA IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT
• Carolina has won 18 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championships and played in the championship game a record 34 times.
• The Tar Heels have an 97-45 record in ACC Tournament history. UNC has the second-most wins and second-most titles (UNC and Duke have combined to win 38 of the 64 championships).
• Joel Berry II was the Most Valuable Player of the 2016 ACC Tournament in Washington, D.C., after UNC beat Pitt, Notre Dame and Virginia for the Tar Heels' 18th title. The sophomore scored 19 points against Virginia in the championship game, averaged 17 points and was 7 for 10 from three-point range in the three wins.
• Roy Williams is 22-11 with three titles and seven appearances in the championship game in 14 seasons. Williams has led UNC to the finals seven times against seven different opponents.
• Dean Smith was the first coach to win 13 ACC Tournaments. Smith's teams were 58-23 and played in the championship game 21 times.
• The Tar Heels have earned the No. 1 seed 26 times. Duke is second with 17 No. 1 seeds; NC State is third with six.
• This is the third time in ACC Tournament history the Tar Heels are seeded lower than fifth – sixth in 2018, seventh in 2002 and 2003, and 10th in 2010.
• Carolina went 1-1 in Brooklyn last year.
• Carolina is the only school that has won three consecutive ACC outright regular-season titles and ACC Tournament championships. UNC accomplished that feat in 1967-68-69.
• Roy Williams is one of seven coaches to win the Tournament at least three times.
• A Tar Heel has won the Most Valuable Player award 19 times – 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), Tyler Hansbrough (2008) and Joel Berry II (2016).
• Tyler Hansbrough is the only Tar Heel to earn first-team All-Tournament honors three times.

SERIES INFO VS. SYRACUSE
• The Tar Heels will play No. 11 seed Syracuse, which beat No. 14 seed Wake Forest on Tuesday night.
• UNC won at Syracuse, 78-74, on Feb. 21st.
• Carolina is 10-4 all-time against Syracuse, including 6-1 since the Orange joined the ACC. The Tar Heels have won the last six games.
• UNC and Syracuse have never played in the ACC Tournament.
• Syracuse beat the Tar Heels in 1987 in the Meadowlands in New Jersey and on 11/20/2009 in Madison Square Garden in the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament.

TWENTY WINS AGAIN
• Carolina has won at least 20 games for the 60th time in school history and the 14th time in 15 seasons under Roy Williams.
• Williams' teams have won 20 or more games in 28 of his 30 seasons as a head coach and 19 or more in all 30.
• This is the 14th consecutive season UNC has won at least 20 games.

TRENDING
• Joel Berry II (17.8) and Luke Maye (17.7) lead Carolina in scoring. The last time two Tar Heels averaged 17 points or more in the same season was 1983-84, when Michael Jordan (19.6) and Sam Perkins (17.6) were UNC's top scoring duo.
• Berry and Maye rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in scoring in the ACC. This is the first time UNC has two of the top five scorers in the ACC since 2012 when Harrison Barnes (17.1 ppg) was third and ACC Player of the Year Tyler Zeller (16.3) was fifth.
• Maye (17.7 points/10.1 rebounds) is on pace to become the sixth Tar Heel to average a double-double in the last 40 years with Brice Johnson (2016), John Henson (2011), Tyler Hansbrough (2008), Sean May (2005) and Antawn Jamison (1998).
• Maye is the first Tar Heel to have two 30-point/15-rebound games in the same season since Mitch Kupchak in 1976. Maye, Kupchak, Lennie Rosenbluth and Billy Cunningham are the only players to accomplish that multiple times in the same season.
• Maye leads UNC in blocked shots with 37. At 6-8, Maye would the shortest Tar Heel to lead the team in blocks since Danny Green (6-5) in 2006.
• Luke Maye has 15 double-doubles this year (and 16 in his career, including against Butler in the 2017 NCAA Sweet 16). He has the fifth-most double-doubles in a season in the Roy Williams era.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES IN A SEASON (under Roy Williams)
23 by Brice Johnson, 2015-16
19 by Tyler Hansbrough, 2007-08
18 by John Henson, 2010-11 and 2011-12
18 by Sean May, 2004-05
15 by Luke Maye, 2017-18

MULTIPLE 30-POINT/15-REBOUND GAMES
(Season)
Billy Cunningham – 6 times in 1963-64
Billy Cunningham – 5 times in 1964-65
Luke Maye – 2 times in 2017-18
Mitch Kupchak – 2 times in 1975-76
Billy Cunningham – 2 times in 1962-63
Lennie Rosenbluth – 2 times in 1955-56
Lennie Rosenbluth – 2 times in 1954-55

• Berry is second all-time at UNC in three-pointers with 252. Berry has made 79 threes in 30 games this year (he was injured and did not play in the first game), equaling the second-highest per game rate in school history. He is tied for third in the ACC in threes at 2.63 per game.

SINGLE-SEASON 3FG PER GAME
2.71 – Shammond Williams, 1996-97
2.63 – Joel Berry II, 2017-18 (79 in 30 games)
2.63 – Justin Jackson, 2016-17
2.62 – P.J. Hairston, 2012-13
2.58 – Hubert Davis, 1991-92

• Berry has attempted 678 three-pointers in his career, second most by a Tar Heel (Paige 798).
• Berry is shooting 87.6 percent from the free throw line this year. He only Tar Heel to have two of the eighth-highest free throw percentages in UNC history.

SINGLE-SEASON FREE THROW PERCENTAGE
.911 – Shammond Williams, 1997-98 (133 of 146)
.878 – Jeff Lebo, 1987-88
.877 – Marcus Paige, 2013-14
.876 – Joel Berry II, 2017-18 (92 of 105)
.876 – Steve Hale, 1984-85
.871 – Darrell Elston, 1973-74
.868 – York Larese, 1959-60
.867 – Joel Berry II, 2015-16

• Berry has played in 57 ACC wins (50 regular season and seven ACC Tournament). That ties Quentin Thomas for the seventh most in UNC history.

MOST ACC REGULAR SEASON & TOURNAMENT WINS
59 Nate Britt
59 Isaiah Hicks
58 Brice Johnson
58 Marcus Paige
58 Danny Green
58 Tyler Hansbrough
57 Joel Berry II
57 Quentin Thomas

200 ACC WINS FOR ROY
• Carolina's win over Notre Dame on 2/12 was the 200th ACC win for head coach Roy Williams (regular season and Tournament). He is just the fourth coach to win 200 ACC games and the third with Tar Heel ties in the top five.

MOST WINS BY A HEAD COACH (ACC Regular-Season & ACC Tournament Games)
473 Mike Krzyzewski Duke
422 Dean Smith North Carolina
210 Gary Williams Maryland
202 Roy Williams North Carolina
160 Frank McGuire UNC, South Carolina

• The Tar Heels lead the country in rebounds per game (42.7) and rebound margin (10.7), are tied for fifth in assists (18.1) and are sixth in offensive rebounds (14.0).
• The 2017 Tar Heels became the third team to lead the nation in rebound margin and win the national title (with Michigan State 2000 and UConn 2004).

REBOUNDS PER GAME
42.7 – North Carolina
42.0 – Duke
41.7 – Bethune-Cookman
41.4 – UC Irvine
41.3 – Texas A&M

REBOUND MARGIN
10.7 – North Carolina
10.4 – Michigan State
10.1 – Wichita State
9.4 – Duke
9.2 – Gonzaga

HIGHEST REBOUND MARGINS IN UNC HISTORY
2016-17 12.3
2007-08 11.0
1956-57 10.8
2017-18 10.7
2011-12 10.4

ASSISTS PER GAME
19.3 – Michigan State
18.9 – TCU
18.9 – Wichita State
18.2 – Iowa
18.1 – North Carolina

• Carolina has had a plus-10 or more rebound margin four previous times – three of those four seasons have come in the Roy Williams era (2007-08, 2011-12 and 2016-17 and the undefeated season in 1956-57).
• 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.
• Carolina is second in the country in rebounding its own missed shots. The Tar Heels grab 38.7 percent of their own missed shots.
• Carolina has finished first, third and fifth in the country in offensive rebounding percentage in the previous three seasons.

OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING PERCENTAGE
.394 – Duke
.387 – North Carolina
.386 – Cincinnati
.370 – West Virginia
.362 – Kentucky

• Three Tar Heels have scored 30 or more points this season – Luke Maye (33 at NC State, 32 vs. NC State and 31 vs. Boston College), Cameron Johnson (32 at Clemson) and Joel Berry II (31 vs,. Miami).
• UNC is 18-3 when Kenny Williams scores in double figures and 7-3 when he makes three or more three-pointers.
• Williams leads the team in defensive player of the game awards (9), steals (33) and charges drawn (29).
• UNC is 15-2 this season when Theo Pinson has five or more assists.
• UNC is 19-4 when Pinson has more assists than turnovers (including at Clemson when he played less than two minutes) and 2-5 when he has more turnovers.
• Carolina is making 8.4 three-pointers per game, the highest per game average in school history. The previous high under Roy Williams was 7.6 in 2012-13 when UNC started four perimeter players over the final 13 games.

MOST THREE-POINT FIELD GOALS MADE PER GAME
8.4 in 2017-18
8.3 in 2002-03
7.8 in 1994-95
7.6 in 2012-13
7.6 in 2001-02

• Carolina has scored 30.4 percent of its points on three-point field goals. That is the highest percentage in Roy Williams' 15 seasons as UNC's head coach.

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

• Carolina is attempting 34.6 percent of its field goals from three-point range. That is the highest percentage in the Roy Williams era. The previous high was 31.7 percent in 2005-06.
• This is the fifth time in the last 15 seasons UNC attempted at least 30 percent of its field goals from three-point distance. UNC attempted 39.9 percent from beyond the arc under head coach Matt Doherty in 2002-03.
• The opponents have made 10 or more three-pointers in 19 of 31 games, including 11 of 18 in ACC play. UNC is 13-6 when the opponents make 10 or more threes.
• Carolina's opponents are scoring 40.7 percent of their points on three-pointers, the second-highest percentage against any team in the country (Liberty's opponents score 41.1 percent of their points from three-point range).
• The opponents are making 10.0 three-pointers per game, the highest in a season against the Tar Heels.

OPPONENTS' THREE-POINTERS PER GAME
10.0 – 2017-18
9.6 – 1995-96
8.8 – 1994-95
8.0 – 2016-17
7.9 – 1996-97

• Carolina's opponents are shooting 38.6 percent from three-point range, the third-highest percentage in a season by the opponents (39.6 in 1982-83 with the line at 17 feet, 7 inches; 38.7 in 1992-92 at 19'9"; and 38.6 with the current distance at 20'9").
• Three of Carolina's starters are shooting better than 80 percent from the free throw line this season – Joel Berry II (.876), Cameron Johnson (.872) and Theo Pinson (.815).
• This is the first time three UNC starters are shooting 80 percent from the line since 2007-08, when Ty Lawson (.835), Wayne Ellington (.826) and Tyler Hansbrough (.806) accomplished that.
• Carolina is 19-2 this year when it leads at the half (home loss to NC State and at Duke) and 3-7 when trailing at the break.
• Carolina is 11-2 when it shoots 50 percent or better from the floor and 10-1 when holding the opponents under 40 percent.