Tar Heels Head To Iowa For ACC-Big Ten Challenge

GAME 5
• No. 16 UNC travels to third-ranked Iowa for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on December 8.
• The Tar Heels are 3-1, while the Hawkeyes are 3-0.
• Carolina is coming off a 69-67 loss to Texas in the championship game of the Maui Invitational, which was played in Asheville, N.C., November 30-December 2 due to the pandemic.
• It was Carolina's seventh time in the finals of the Maui Invitational in eight appearances in the tournament.
• The Tar Heels opened the season at home with a 79-60 win over the College of Charleston and advanced to the title game in the Maui Invitational with wins over UNLV and Stanford.
• Texas beat the Tar Heels on a game-winning shot by Matt Coleman III with 0.1 seconds to play. It was the fifth time in UNC's last 17 games an opponent hit a game-winning shot with less than three seconds to play (0.4 seconds in the second overtime at Virginia Tech on 1/22/20; 0.0 on the clock in OT by Duke on 2/8/20; 0.8 seconds by Virginia on 2/15/20; 2.4 seconds at Notre Dame on 2/17/20; and 0.1 seconds by Texas).

CAROLINA VS. IOWA SERIES
• This is the fifth game between UNC and Iowa. The Hawkeyes have won three of the first four, including the most recent game, a 60-55 Iowa win in Chapel Hill on 12/3/14. That game also was part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
• The 60 points are the second fewest scored by an opponent in a home loss in the Roy Williams era.
• Carolina shot 27.9 percent from the floor, its second-lowest field goal percentage in a game at the Smith Center.
• Sophomore Kennedy Meeks led Carolina with 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
• UNC is 0-1 in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes beat the Tar Heels, 87-74, on 12/9/89.
• Carolina's win over Iowa came in the finals of the 2004 Maui Invitational. Tournament MVP Raymond Felton was one of five Tar Heels to score in double figures and added nine assists and four steals.
• KenPom ranks Iowa No. 3 in the nation in offensive efficiency, while the Tar Heels are No. 14 defensively.
• Iowa is one of only 10 schools that has played UNC multiple times and has a winning record in the series. However, it is the second consecutive game in which UNC has played such an opponent (Texas).

ACC-BIG TEN CHALLENGE
• Carolina is 10-11 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, including 0-1 vs. Iowa (12/3/14 in Chapel Hill).
• The Tar Heels are 3-6 on the road.
• UNC has lost two straight – at Michigan and home to Ohio State.
• Carolina is 10-7 under Roy Williams.
• Third-ranked Iowa is the highest-ranked opponent for UNC in the Challenge since Carolina beat No. 2 Maryland on 12/1/15.
• No. 3 Iowa is the 18th ranked opponent to play UNC in the 22 year-history of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
• Iowa is the 11th opponent ranked in the top 10 and the sixth top-three opponent UNC has faced in the Challenge.

EARLY TRENDS
• Carolina has yet to score 80 points in a game, but is allowing only 60.8 points per contest with a high of 69 by Texas.
• Carolina's top three scorers through four games are senior Garrison Brooks (12.3 ppg), freshman RJ Davis (12.3) and freshman Caleb Love (11.3). 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 (Brandon Wright and Wayne Ellington in 2007; in that season freshman Ty Lawson was also fourth).
• 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 Tar Heel defense has held the opposition to a combined 31.7 percent shooting from the floor in the second half. The opponents have made 40 of 126 field goal attempts in the second half (11 of 29 by Charleston, 6 of 36 by UNLV, 10 of 30 by Stanford and 13 of 31 by Texas).
• UNC has been outscored by the opponents by two points in the first half, but the Tar Heels have outscored the opponents by 50 points in the second half (12.5 per game).
• The Tar Heels are averaging 49.0 rebounds, including 17.8 offensive rebounds per game.
• The 49.0 rebounds per game are on pace to be the second highest average in UNC history (record is 49.9 in 1960-61).
• UNC has a rebound margin of plus 18.0 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 the top 10 nationally in rebound margin in each of the last six seasons.
• Carolina is fifth nationally in offensive rebound percentage, grabbing 44.7 percent of its own missed shots.
• UNC has 40 assists and 63 turnovers. Freshman guard Kerwin Walton (5/2) is the only player with more assists than turnovers. Day'Ron Sharpe (8/8) and Leaky Black (6/6) are even.
• UNC is averaging 5.8 blocked shots. Last year the Tar Heels swatted away 3.5 shots per game. Sharpe leads UNC with seven blocks.

ELON GAME POSTPONED
• Carolina's second non-conference home game was originally scheduled for December 12 against Elon, but the Phoenix announced on December 1 they were pausing all in-season activities due to a positive Covid-19 test within its Tier 1 personnel group, which includes student-athletes, coaches, and support staff.
• No decision has yet been made on a makeup date or other change in the UNC schedule due to this pause in Elon's program.

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.
• 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 888-254, including 470-153 at Carolina.
• He has the fourth-most wins by a Division I head coach behind Mike Krzyzewski (1,158), Jim Boeheim (967) and Bob Knight (902). He needs 12 wins for 900 and 15 to pass Knight.
• Williams is the only coach to win 400 games at two schools (470 at UNC, 418 at Kansas).

AP POLL
• Carolina is ranked No. 16 in the Associated Press poll. UNC was 16th in the preseason poll and 14th last week.
• This is the 15th consecutive season in which UNC was ranked in the top 25 in the preseason poll. The Tar Heels have appeared in the preseason AP rankings in 50 of the last 55 seasons since 1966.
• The November 30 ranking is the 926th time Carolina is ranked in an 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, Detroit; 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).

WELCOME HOME, COACH HAASE
• Stanford, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Jerod Haase, is currently calling Chapel Hill and the Smith Center as its home base, due to pandemic-related local restrictions in the Bay Area.
• The Tar Heels played the Cardinal in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational in Asheville on December 1. Stanford bused to Chapel Hill following the tournament.
• Haase played for Roy Williams at Kansas and was on Williams' staff at KU and UNC. Haase was an assistant coach or director of operations at Carolina from 2003-12.

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

RJ Davis

Cameron Johnson

Puff Johnson

Walker Kessler

Creighton Lebo

Nassir Little

Caleb Love

Luke Maye

Ryan McAdoo

Walker Miller

Day'Ron Sharpe

K.J. Smith

Kerwin Walton

Coby White

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