Tar Heels Set For Sunday Night Matchup With Wolfpack

On the heels of an overtime win over Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Thursday night, UNC makes the short trip to Raleigh Sunday evening for the second matchup with NC State in the past two-and-a-half weeks. Tipoff at the Wolfpack's Reynolds Coliseum is 6 p.m. and the game will be televised on the ACC Network.

The Tar Heels come into the game 14-5 overall and 5-3 in ACC play. NC State is 18-1 overall (7-1 ACC) following an 88-44 win at Pitt on Thursday.

The two met Jan. 9 in Chapel Hill, with Carolina winning 66-60.

UNC plays its next six games in the Triangle: at NC State Sunday, at home on Jan. 30 (Virginia) and Feb. 2 (Clemson), at Duke on Feb. 6 and then two more home games against Virginia Tech and Syracuse.

UNC vs. NC State
Sunday's game is the 111th meeting in a series that dates back to the 1974-75 season, Carolina's first as a varsity program under the umbrella of the UNC Department of Athletics. NC State leads the series 58-52.
The Tar Heels won eight in a row from 2011-12 to 2014-15, but since then the Wolfpack has taken seven of the 10 matchups.
• UNC won this season's first meeting, 66-60 in Chapel Hill on Jan. 9.
• The Tar Heels won the last time the teams played in Raleigh, 64-51 on Feb. 3, 2019.

Scouting the Wolfpack
NC State is 18-1 overall (7-1 ACC) following an 88-44 win at Pitt on Thursday. The team is led in scoring by sophomore center Elissa Cunane, who is averaging 16.7 points per game and is one of three Wolfpack players scoring in double figures, along with Aislinn Konig (10.5 ppg) and Kayla Jones (10.1).

By the Numbers
• All five UNC starters are scoring in double figures, averaging between 15.2 and 11.1 ppg.
• UNC leads the ACC in scoring (75.5 ppg) and assist/turnover ratio (1.27). The Tar Heels rank second in turnover margin (+3.16) and third in scoring margin (+15.32), free throw percentage (.735), three-point percentage (.351) and assists (15.0).
• UNC ranks in the top 10 in the ACC in every statistical category, with a 10th-place ranking in blocks the only dip into double digits. Louisville is the only other team in the top 10 in every stat.
• Freshman Malu Tshitenge leads the league in offensive rebounding (4.37 per game) and senior Shayla Bennett leads in assist/turnover ratio (2.13).

Notables
• In ACC games only, UNC leads the conference in defensive rebounding percentage at .749. (UNC has 212 defensive rebounds compared with opponents' 71 offensive rebounds in eight ACC games.)
• All five UNC starters have led the scoring effort in at least two games this season.
• UNC has trailed at halftime in each of the past six games and has come back to win three, including the overtime victory on Thursday at Georgia Tech, when Carolina trailed 26-25 at halftime. The Tar Heels trailed by 10 vs. NC State (38-28) and one vs. Miami (38-37) before rebounding to win each of those.
Carolina couldn't complete the comeback at Va Tech (36-32) and FSU (40-33), as well as at home against Louisville, when UNC was down 45-29 at the break and lost by seven. UNC is 3-4 this season when trailing at the half, with Yale (30-28) the other loss.
• The Louisville game marked the first time this season UNC has lost when shooting better than 40 percent from the field. The Tar Heels hit 46.2 percent of their shots in the loss to the Cardinals.
• The NC State game marked the largest UNC deficit in a win this season. The Tar Heels trailed by 14 in the second quarter.
• Taylor Koenen is just the fifth player in program history to total 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 300 assists. (The four players who previously reached those marks – Tonya Sampson, Erlana Larkins, Rashanda McCants and La'Tangela Atkinson – all went on to play professionally in the WNBA or ABL.)
• Against Miami, Shayla Bennett had seven assists and no turnovers.
• Leah Church has hit her last five three-point attempts – her last two in the FSU game (she was 3-4 overall), both of her shots against Miami and the only one vs. Louisville. For the season, she's shooting .435 (20-46), with every shot coming from long range.
• Janelle Bailey's 28 points vs. Miami marked the most by a Tar Heel this season.
• Taylor Koenen has played the entirety of three of the past four games: 40 minutes against FSU and Louisville, and 45 against Georgia Tech. Bailey and Bennett also played all 45 minutes against the Yellow Jackets.
• The Tar Heels have not won this season when the opponent has scored 70 points and have only lost once when scoring 70+ (83-77 at Alabama).
• UNC signee Deja Kelly was one of 24 high school players named to the 2020 McDonald's All-American Game roster, announced this week. She's the first Tar Heel picked for the prestigious event since Janelle Bailey in 2017.

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Players Mentioned

Janelle Bailey

Shayla Bennett

Leah Church

Taylor Koenen

Malu Tshitenge