Tar Heels To Face Kentucky Saturday In Cleveland

Saturday, December 19

Cleveland, Ohio

2 PM

North Carolina

Kentucky

Day'Ron Sharpe

Photo by: Peyton Williams

December 17, 2020 | Men's Basketball

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GAME 7
• Carolina concludes the non-conference portion of its regular-season schedule when it plays Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic in Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday, December 19.
• Tip time is 2 p.m. The Tar Heels were originally slated to play Ohio State in this year's Classic, but the matchups changed due to Covid testing protocols this week.
• Carolina is 4-2 after a 73-67 home win over NC Central on December 12. The Eagles replaced Elon on the schedule after Elon paused its season due to Covid-19.
• Armando Bacot had 19 points (most by a Tar Heel in the first six games) and 11 rebounds to lead UNC. He scored 15 of UNC's 30 points in the first half to help the Tar Heels overcome an early 11-point deficit to take a 30-28 lead.
• The Tar Heels led 73-58 with 87 seconds to play, but the Eagles scored the next nine points to close the final margin to six (more notes from this game on page 8).
• Kentucky has lost four in a row and is 1-4.
• UNC is ranked No. 22 in the Associated Press poll, while Kentucky is unranked.
• Carolina and Kentucky are one-two all-time in appearances in the AP poll. UNC is first with 927; the Wildcats are second with 920. Duke is next with 837.
• This is the first time the teams have played when one team was unranked in the AP poll since the Tar Heels were unranked on 12/4/10.
• This is the first time in 21 games when the teams have played when neither team is ranked in the AP top 20.
• Both Carolina and Kentucky field relatively inexperienced squads. The Tar Heels play six freshmen among their first 10 players, with two freshmen in the starting lineup and three rookies among their top five scorers. Five of Kentucky's top seven scorers are freshmen and the other two are first-year transfers.
• Carolina is averaging 4.0 three-pointers per game and is shooting 27.0 percent from three-point range; the Wildcats are making 4.4 threes per game and shooting 24.4 percent from beyond the arc.
• Carolina is averaging 4.0 turnovers more than assists; the Wildcats are averaging 4.6 more turnovers than assists.
• Through December 16, both teams had an effective field goal percentage of 46.9, tied for 224th in the NCAA.
• Defensively, UNC is holding its opponents to 67.2 points and 40.1 percent shooting from the floor; Kentucky's opponents are averaging 65.8 points and shooting 40.5 percent from the floor.

TAR HEELS IN THE CBS SPORTS CLASSIC
• This is the seventh season in which Carolina has played in the CBS Sports Classic with Kentucky, Ohio State and UCLA.
• The Tar Heels are 4-2 in the Classic.
• Carolina is 0-2 against Kentucky in the Classic.
• Cleveland is hosting the CBS Sports Classic for the first time.
• UNC will be playing in Cleveland for the first time since the third game of the Roy Williams era on 11/29/03, when the Tar Heels won at Cleveland State.
• Carolina will be playing in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers, for the first time.

SERIES VS. KENTUCKY
• Carolina is 24-16 all-time against Kentucky.
• Carolina is the only D-I program in the country that has 10 or more wins and a winning record against Kentucky.
• Carolina is 12-6 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 Chicago, Newark and Las Vegas.
• Roy Williams is 8-7 against Kentucky at North Carolina and 9-10 overall.
• This is the 18th time the Tar Heels enter the game as the higher-ranked team in the AP poll. UNC is 11-6 against UK in those games.
• Carolina is 0-2 against Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic. The Wildcats beat UNC, 103-100, 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.
• On 12/22/18 in Chicago, Carolina committed 18 turnovers that led to 23 points in an 80-72 Kentucky victory.
• Cameron Johnson led UNC in scoring (17). Garrison Brooks had seven points, eight rebounds and two assists. He is the only healthy active Tar Heel on the roster who scored in that game (Sterling Manley had two points and three rebounds, but is rehabbing a knee injury that caused him to miss all of last season and has yet to be medically cleared to practice this season).
• Kentucky point guard Ashton Hagans had eight steals, which equaled the second-most by an opponent vs. UNC.

NOTABLE
• Carolina begins a three-game swing away from home (Kentucky in Cleveland, at NC State on Dec. 22 and at Georgia Tech on Dec. 30). UNC is scheduled to play at home just twice in the first nine games for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The Tar Heels played six consecutive neutral site or away games in November-December that season.
• Carolina's top three scorers through six games are senior Garrison Brooks (11.8 ppg), freshman RJ Davis (11.2) and freshman Caleb Love (11.2). This would be the third consecutive season two freshman are among the top five scorers (fifth time in the Roy Williams era with 2006, 2007, 2019 and 2020). It would be the second time under Williams that two freshman are in the top three in scoring (Brandan Wright and Wayne Ellington in 2007; in that season freshman Ty Lawson was also fourth).
• The last time a Tar Heel led the team in scoring with less than 12 points a game was 1946-47, when Jim Hamilton averaged 11.4 points.
• Carolina has started a freshman point guard to begin each of the last three seasons (Coby White in 2018-19, Cole Anthony in 2019-20 and Caleb Love in 2020-21).
• The opponents have out-scored UNC by a combined 12 points in the first half, but the Tar Heels have outscored the opponents by 53 points in the second half (8.8 per game).
• Carolina has fallen behind by double digits in the first half in four of its first six games and rallied back to take the lead in all four, beating UNLV and NC Central but eventually losing to Texas and Iowa.
• UNLV led 13-0, but the Tar Heels took their first lead with 3:24 to play in the half and led by seven at the break. UNC trailed both the Longhorns and Hawkeyes by 16 in the first half. Against Texas, Carolina went ahead for the first time with 2:35 remaining in the game. At Iowa, the Tar Heels grabbed one-point leads with 9:52 and 9:30 to play in the game. Iowa went on a 16-2 run after UNC took its first lead to pull away. NC Central led 19-8 before the Tar Heels closed the half on a 22-9 run to lead by two at intermission.
• The Tar Heels are averaging 46.7 rebounds, including 16.2 offensive rebounds per game.
• This is the seventh consecutive season UNC is averaging at least 40 rebounds per game (the 14th time in Roy Williams' 18 seasons as UNC's head coach).
• UNC has a rebound margin of plus 15.5 per game. The school record is +12.3 in 2016-17.
• Carolina has finished first, first, first and second in the nation in rebounds per game in the last four seasons and in the top 10 nationally in rebound margin in each of the last six seasons.
• Sophomore Armando Bacot and freshman Day'
Ron Sharpe lead UNC in rebounds per 40 minutes at 15.5 and 14.6, respectively.
• Carolina is third nationally in offensive rebound percentage, grabbing 42.5 percent of its own missed shots. New Mexico and Connecticut are the only schools with have a higher offensive rebound percentage than UNC.
• UNC has 75 assists and 99 turnovers. The 99 turnovers are the most by UNC in the first six games since 2009-10, when the Tar Heels committed 113.
• Among the eight Tar Heels averaging 10 or more minutes, freshman guard Kerwin Walton leads the team in assist/error at 2.25 to 1. He had three assists in 12 minutes at Iowa.
• Carolina has a 20.7-11.5 edge in average second-chance points per game, but the opponents are out-scoring UNC 17.0-15.5 in points off turnovers.

PRESEASON HONORS
• Senior forward Garrison Brooks and freshman guard Caleb Love are two of 50 players on the Naismith Trophy's preseason list (National Player of the Year). Brooks is also on the preseason list for the John R. Wooden Award and the NABC Player of the Year award.
• Brooks was selected by the media as the ACC's Preseason Player of the Year. He was the ACC's Most Improved Player and earned second-team All-ACC honors in 2019-20.
• Brooks is a first-team preseason All-America by Jay Bilas, second-team by The Athletic and Dick Vitale and third-team by CBS. ESPN named him the fifth-best player in the country.
• Sophomore Armando Bacot and freshman Walker Kessler are on the Basketball Hall of Fame's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award list as the top center in the country.
• Brooks is a candidate for the Karl Malone Award (best power forward).
• Love was listed by The Athletic among the top 20 guards in the country and Lindy's named the St. Louis native one of the best freshman shooters and playmakers in the ACC and a third-team preseason All-ACC selection.
• Lindy's named Freshman guard RJ Davis the best freshman shooter in the ACC, one of the best rookie playmakers and a third-team preseason All-ACC selection.
• Freshman Puff Johnson was on Lindy's list of the best freshman shooters in the nation.

1,000 FOR BROOKS, 78TH TAR HEEL
• Garrison Brooks scored his 1,000th career point in the win over UNLV on November 30. He is the 78th player to score 1,000 points as a Tar Heel and the first to do so since Luke Maye, who reached that figure in 2018-19.
• The LaFayette, Ala., native has 1,062 points, 72nd most by a Tar Heel. Ahead of him are Hook Dillon (1,063), Bill Bunting (1,069) and Jerry Stackhouse (1,080). Next up among four-year players is Dante Calabria (1,098).
• Brooks scored 167 points in 37 games as a freshman, 285 in 36 as a sophomore and 539 in 32 games in 2019-20.
• He led the ACC in scoring in conference play last season with 18.8 points per game.
• Carolina holds the NCAA record with 78 1,000-point scorers. Louisville is second with 69.

Most 1,000-POINT SCORERS
North Carolina 78
Louisville 69
Villanova 68
Duke 67
Notre Dame 64

FOUR-YEAR STARTERS
• Garrison Brooks should become the 20th Tar Heel to start for at least a large portion of four different seasons, the first since Kennedy Meeks (2013-17) and the fourth to do so in the Roy Williams era (with Tyler Hansbrough from 2005-09, Marcus Paige from 2012-16 and Meeks).
• Only 13 Tar Heels have started for most of four seasons since freshmen became eligible to play in 1972-73 (Walter Davis, Phil Ford, Mike O'Koren, Sam Perkins, Brad Daugherty, Kenny Smith, Jeff Lebo, Ademola Okulaja, Jason Capel, Kris Lang, Hansbrough, Paige and Meeks).

FAMILY TIES
• Five Tar Heels on the active roster this season have brothers or fathers who played at UNC, including senior Walker Miller (brother of Wes Miller), senior K.J. Smith (son of Kenny Smith), junior Ryan McAdoo (son of Bob McAdoo), freshman Puff Johnson (brother of Cameron Johnson) and freshman Creighton Lebo (son of Jeff Lebo).

ROY'S 48TH SEASON IN COACHING
• The 2020-21 season is Roy Williams' 18th as head coach of the Tar Heels, 33rd as a collegiate head coach (15 years at Kansas), 43rd in college coaching (10 years as an assistant to Dean Smith at UNC) and 48th in coaching (five years at Owen High School in Asheville).
• Williams has an all-time head coaching record in college of 889-255, including 471-154 at Carolina.
• He has the fourth-most wins by a Division I head coach behind Mike Krzyzewski (1,160), Jim Boeheim (969) and Bob Knight (902). He needs 11 wins for 900 and 14 to pass Knight.
• Williams is the only coach to win 400 games at two schools (470 at UNC, 418 at Kansas).

AP POLL
• Carolina fell to No. 22 in the December 14 Associated Press poll.
• UNC is ranked for the 927th time in the AP poll, which is more than any other school in college basketball history (Kentucky is second with 920).
• The Tar Heels have now been ranked at some point in 64 of 73 seasons in the AP poll.

2020 SIGNEES
• D'Marco Dunn, a 6-5 guard from Tucson, Ariz., and Dontrez Styles, a 6-7 wing from Kinston, N.C., signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Tar Heels.
• Dunn moved in 2019 to Fayetteville, N.C., where he plays at Westover High School for Coach George Stackhouse. He led Westover to a 30-0 record and conference title. Westover was named co-state champions by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association after the playoffs were canceled due to the pandemic.
• Dunn was an all-state selection in 2020 and was named PAC 9 Conference, Cumberland County and District Player of the Year. He previously attended Marana High School in Tucson for two years before moving to Fayetteville.
• Styles played for Coach Perry Tyndall at Kinston High School. He averaged 19.7 points and 11 rebounds as a junior when he led Kinston to a 26-4 record.
• A four-time honor roll student, Styles was the 2019-20 Eastern Conference Player of the Year, a three-time all-conference selection, all-state honoree and an all-tournament pick at the John Wall Holiday Invitational.

2020-21 NBA TAR HEELS
Cole Anthony, Orlando; Harrison Barnes, Sacramento; Tony Bradley, Philadelphia; Reggie Bullock, New York; Ed Davis, Minnesota; Wayne Ellington, Detroit; Danny Green, Philadelphia; John Henson, Detroit; Justin Jackson, Oklahoma City; Cameron Johnson, Phoenix; Nassir Little, Portland; Theo Pinson, New York; Coby White, Chicago.

JAMISON TO JOIN COLLEGE BASKETBALL HALL
• Antawn Jamison will become the 12th Tar Heel player or coach enshrined in the NABC College Basketball Hall of Fame. He will join coaches Ben Carnevale, Frank McGuire, Dean Smith, Larry Brown (who played at UNC) and Roy Williams, and players Billy Cunningham, Bob McAdoo, James Worthy, Phil Ford, Charlie Scott and Sam Perkins.
• The Class of 2021 includes Jamison, the late Len Bias of Maryland, UCLA's David Greenwood, Bradley's Hersey Hawkins, Ohio State's Jim Jackson, Kansas's Paul Pierce (coached by Roy Williams) and coaches Rick Byrd and Tom Penders.
• Jamison was the 1998 National Player of the Year and first player in ACC history to earn first-team All-ACC honors as a freshman, sophomore and junior.
• Jamison was just the second Tar Heel and third player in ACC history to be named ACC Player of the Year, ACC Tournament MVP, NCAA Regional MVP and National Player of the Year in the same season (1997-98).