Tar Heels Will Host Notre Dame In 2019-20 Opener Wednesday

Wednesday, November 6

Chapel Hill

7 PM

North Carolina

Notre Dame

Armando Bacot and the Tar Heels will open the regular season on Wednesday.

Photo by: Andy Mead

November 5, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Watch Listen Live Stats Know Before You Go UNC Notes Notre Dame Notes Media Guide Know Your Opponent

GAME 1 NOTEBOOK
• Regular-season play begins on Wednesday, Nov. 6, for Carolina at home against Notre Dame. Game time is 7:01 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the ACC Network and streamed online.
• Carolina scrimmaged Villanova in the Smith Center on Oct. 27 and defeated Winston-Salem State, 96-61, in an exhibition game on Nov. 1.
• This is Carolina's first ACC game in a regular-season opener since playing Clemson to start the 1966-67 season. UNC is 54-12 in ACC openers, including 11-5 under Roy Williams.
• Carolina is 97-12 in season-opening games, including 15-1 under Williams. The Tar Heels have won 14 consecutive season openers since a loss to Santa Clara in Oakland to begin the 2004-05 national-title-winning season.
• Carolina has won 699 regular-season ACC games, the most in league history. Duke is second with 650 and NC State is third with 475.
• The UNC-Notre Dame game is the first of 20 regular-season ACC contests for each team this season. This is the first season in which the league's 15 teams will play 20 conference games after seven with an 18-game league schedule.
• The Irish are one of six ACC opponents the Tar Heels play twice this season, along with Duke, NC State, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest and Virginia.
• UNC travels to Charlottesville, Va., on Dec. 7 or 8 to play the 2019 NCAA champion Cavaliers. This will be the first time since the 1968-69 season Carolina will play two conference games before the end of December.
• Junior forward Garrison Brooks is Carolina's returning scorer and rebounder. The LaFayette, Ala., native started all 36 games last year and averaged 7.9 points and 5.6 rebounds.
• Brooks is the only returning player among Carolina's top eight scorers in 2018-19 who will play against Notre Dame. The top five either exhausted their college eligibility or left early as first-round NBA Draft picks. Brooks was the sixth-leading scorer. The seventh and eighth were Sterling Manley and Brandon Robinson, both of whom will not play against the Irish due to injuries.

UNC-NOTRE DAME SERIES
• Carolina leads the series, 24-7. UNC has won the last six games against Notre Dame. The Tar Heels beat the Irish eight in a row from 1958-72.
• UNC is 8-3 against Notre Dame since the Irish joined the ACC, including 1-1 in the ACC Tournament (2015 championship game and 2016 semifinal) and 1-0 in the NCAA Tournament (2016 East Regional final).
• The Tar Heels are 6-1 at home against the Irish. That includes a 5-1 record in Chapel Hill (all at the Smith Center) and 1-0 in Greensboro (the 2017 game was postponed a day and moved to Greensboro due to a water crisis in Chapel Hill, but the game is officially designated a UNC home game).
• Roy Williams is 9-3 against Notre Dame, all as UNC's head coach.

LAST TIME THEY MET
UNC 75, NOTRE DAME 69 (1/15/19, Chapel Hill)
• Carolina out-scored the Irish, 12-1, in a 5:35 span in the second half. Notre Dame led 58-57 before the Tar Heels went on the 12-1 run. Freshmen Coby White (5) and Nassir Little (5) accounted for 10 of the 12 Tar Heel points.
• Carolina shot 39.7 percent from the floor. It was the first time in the 2018-19 season UNC won when shooting under 40 percent from the floor.
• The teams combined for just three turnovers in the second half – two by the Tar Heels and one by the Irish.
• White led UNC in scoring with 17.
• Brandon Robinson set a career high with three three-point field goals, all in the first half.
• Notre Dame's John Mooney had 16 points, 19 rebounds and four blocks. The 19 rebounds tied the most by an opponent in the Smith Center and equaled the fourth most by any player in the Smith Center. He had 16 defensive boards, most against a Roy Williams-UNC team.

CAROLINA IN THE ACC
• Carolina has won the ACC regular-season title 32 times, including nine times under Roy Williams and three times in the last four seasons. The Tar Heels shared the title last year with eventual national champion Virginia. Duke is second with 19 titles and Virginia is third with nine.
• Carolina has won a record 699 regular-season games in ACC play. Duke is second with 650.
• The Tar Heels' average regular-season ACC finish under Roy Williams is 2.5, the best in the
ACC in the last 16 years.
• Williams is second among active coaches and third all-time in combined ACC regular-season
and ACC Tournament wins with 222. Only Mike Krzyzewski (491) and Dean Smith (422) are ahead of Williams. He passed Gary Williams (210) last season.
• Williams is third in winning percentage in ACC regular-season games at .726 (196-74). Vic
Bubas (.768) and Smith (.728) are the only coaches with a higher percentage.
• Among 84 ACC head coaches all-time, only five have a winning percentage of .700 or better, including Smith and Williams.

RECAPPING THE WINSTON-SALEM STATE GAME
• Garrison Brooks led four Tar Heels in double-figure scoring with a game-high 18 points and added a game-high 11 rebounds as No. 9 North Carolina defeated Winston-Salem State, 96-61 (Nov. 1) in an exhibition game.
• The Tar Heels shot 57.6 percent from the floor in the second half and 50 percent for the game and scored 32 fast break points to overcome 23 turnovers.
• Carolina also out-rebounded the Rams, 56-33, with Brooks and freshman Armando Bacot combining for 21 boards.
• Graduate transfer Christian Keeling hit two three-pointers and scored all 14 of his points for UNC in the second half.
• Freshman Cole Anthony had 11 points and seven assists and Bacot added 10 points.
• Senior guard Brandon Robinson injured his right ankle on a fall in the first half and did not return.
• Sophomore Leaky Black also had seven assists against just one turnover and made a pair of threes.
• Carolina led 45-24 at halftime after holding the Rams to 27.8 percent shooting from the floor (10 of 36). The Rams finished the game shooting 32.9 percent from the floor, including 8 of 30 from three-point range, and had 22 turnovers.

RECAPPING THE VILLANOVA SCRIMMAGE
• Carolina and Villanova scrimmaged for more than 50 minutes on Oct. 27 at the Smith Center.
• The teams scrimmaged a year ago at Villanova.
• Villanova won the first two segments (44-36 in a 20-minute half and 8-7 in a six-minute segment with just non-starters), while the Tar Heels won the final two periods (43-36 in a 20-minute half and 18-12 in an eight-minute period that featured zone defenses by both teams).
• Over the full 54 minutes, Carolina shot 50.6 percent from the floor and made 9 of 25 three-pointers, out-rebounded the Wildcats, 49-47, and held Villanova to 39.1 percent from the floor and 39.2 percent (20 of 51) from three-point range. Both teams turned the ball over 17 times.
• Villanova's Justin Moore made 9 of 12 three-pointers and led all scorers with 39 points. Moore scored 18 in the first period, 15 in the second and six in the zone segment.
• Cole Anthony led UNC with 28 points. He was one of four Tar Heels to score in double figures with Armando Bacot (18), Garrison Brooks (14) and Leaky Black (12).
• The Tar Heels shot 36 percent from the floor and 1 of 10 from three in the period they lost by eight points, and 66.7 percent from the floor and 5 of 8 from three in the period they won, 43-36.
• Anthony (12) and Black (10) both made a pair of threes and combined for 22 points, and Brooks had eight points and eight rebounds in the second 20-minute segment.
• Brooks (11) and Bacot (9) combined for 20 rebounds over the full scrimmage.

NEWCOMERS
• Carolina's 18-man roster includes eight players who didn't play for the Tar Heels a season ago:
– graduate transfers Christian Keeling, a 1,666-point career scorer from Charleston Southern, and Justin Pierce, 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds the last two seasons at William & Mary;
– freshmen Cole Anthony, Armando Bacot, Jeremiah Francis and Anthony Harris;
– Ryan McAdoo, who played in 2017-18 at Florida Gulf Coast and sat out last season as a transfer;
– and senior Robbie O'Han, who played the past three seasons on the Tar Heel junior varsity

THE DEPARTED
• Carolina is without six players who played last season, including first-round NBA Draft picks Cameron Johnson (playing with Phoenix), Coby White (Chicago) and Nassir Little (Portland), Luke Maye (G-League with Wisconsin Bucks), Kenny Williams (G-League with Austin Spurs) and Seventh Woods (transferred to South Carolina).
• Including senior guard Brandon Robinson and junior forward Sterling Manley, who are injured and will not play, the Tar Heels will tip off against Notre Dame minus 85.2 percent of their scoring (2,632 points), 79.3 percent of their rebounding (1,156), 86.6 percent of their assists (587) and 95.5 percent of their three-point fields goals (298).
• Johnson was a first-team All-ACC selection in 2019 after making the second-most threes (96) in a season in UNC history; he was the only player in the top 10 in the ACC in field goal, three-point and free throw percentage;
• Maye finished 10th all-time at Carolina in rebounding, was first-team All-ACC in 2018 and second-team in 2019 and was the NCAA South Regional MVP in 2017; he is the only Tar Heel to ever score 30 points both at Duke and NC State;
• Williams scored 915 career points, scored in double figures 49 times and was Carolina's defensive player of the game 19 times;
• White earned second-team All-ACC honors as a freshman and scored the fifth-most points ever by a Tar Heel freshman;
• Little scored 19 and 20 points in his first two NCAA Tournament games and was UNC's fourth-leading scorer last season;
• Woods played in 94 games over three seasons; he scored 14 points in the win over Gonzaga last season

POLLING
• Carolina begins the season No. 9 in the Associated Press poll and No. 11 in the coaches poll.
• This is the 101st consecutive week the Tar Heels have been ranked in the AP poll.
• This is the 14th straight season UNC is ranked in the AP Top 25 in the preseason. Last season, the Tar Heels opened the year ranked No. 8 and ended at No. 3.
• UNC has finished the season in the top 10 in each of the last four seasons (3 in 2015-16, 5 in 2016-17, 10 in 2017-18 and 3 in 2018-19).
• This is Carolina's 917th appearance in the AP poll, the most rankings of any school in the country.
• It's the 57th time in 72 seasons the AP ranke the Tar Heels in the top 10 at some point in the season.
• Carolina has been ranked in the Top 10 of the AP poll 682 times, most in ACC history and second-most all-time behind Kentucky (699). Carolina has been ranked in the Top 5 433 times, also second-most behind only Kentucky (461).
• Carolina has finished in the Top 10 of the AP poll 38 times, including 27 of the last 39 years.

SCHEDULE NOTES
• The Tar Heels are slated to play five other teams that are ranked in the preseason AP poll and could play another in the Bahamas.
• No. 4 Duke, No. 5 Louisville, No. 8 Gonzaga, No. 11 Virginia and No. 18 Ohio State are all on the UNC schedule; No. 12 Seton Hall and No. 15 Oregon are possible opponents in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Both the Pirates and Ducks are on the opposite side of the bracket and could face the Tar Heels on the third day of the tournament.
• Ken Pomeroy's strength of schedule has ranked Carolina in the top eight in the country in each of the last five seasons and in the top 10 in 11 of Roy Williams' first 16 seasons as head coach (No. 8 in 2018-19, No. 1 in 2017-18, No. 6 in 2015-16 and 2016-17 and No. 1 in 2014-15).

M*A*S*H UNIT
• Senior guard Brandon Robinson, who started and scored eight points, sprained his right ankle against WSSU and will not play against Notre Dame. There is no established timeline for his return.
• Freshmen guards Jeremiah Francis (knee) and Anthony Harris (knee) and junior forward Sterling Manley (knee) have missed extensive time in the preseason due to injuries and did not dress out against WSSU. Francis and Harris suffered knee injuries in high school and are still working their way back to action.
• Manley has not practiced this season. He missed 16 games last season due to soreness in his left knee.
• Sophomore guard Leaky Black (ankle) and junior guard Andrew Platek (ankle) missed some time in the preseason due to injury but played against the Rams.
• Junior guard K.J. Smith has not practiced the last three weeks due to an ankle sprain; he dressed against WSSU but did not play.

AT HOME IN THE SMITH CENTER
• This is the 35th season the Tar Heels are playing in the Dean E. Smith Center, which UNC has called home since its first game there on Jan. 18, 1986.
• Carolina is 419-73 (.852) in the Smith Center, including 214-57 (.790) in ACC games.
• The Tar Heels are 224-32 in the Smith Center under Roy Williams.
• Carolina has gone undefeated five times in its previous 35 seasons in the Smith Center: 15-0 in 2004-05, 2010-11 and 2016-17, 13-0 in 1986-87 and 12-0 in 1992-93. UNC won the national championship in three of those seasons.

HALL OF FAMER BOBBY JONES
• 1974 All-America and eight-time NBA All-Defensive team honoree Bobby Jones became the 11th Tar Heel player or coach inducted in the Naismith Hall of Fame.
• Jones was inducted in September 2019. He is the second Tar Heel to enter the Naismith Hall of Fame in as many years (with Charlie Scott in 2018) and the seventh in the last two decades.
• Jones joins Tar Heels Scott, Michael Jordan, Roy Williams, James Worthy, Larry Brown, Bob McAdoo, Billy Cunningham, Dean Smith, Frank McGuire and Ben Carnevale to earn basketball's highest honor.