Tar Heels Host Orange For Final February Home Game

Thursday, February 13

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7 PM

North Carolina

Syracuse

Buy Tickets

Janelle Bailey
University of North Carolina Women's Basketball v Virginia
Carmichael Arena
Chapel Hill, NC
Thursday, January 30, 2020

Janelle Bailey and the Tar Heels host Syracyse on Thursday.

February 12, 2020 | Women's Basketball

Game Notes Buy Tickets

By: UNC Athletic Communications

North Carolina hosts Syracuse Thursday for an Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball battle at Carmichael Arena. Tipoff is 7 p.m.

For tickets, click here.

It's UNC's last home game this month, with the season's only stretch of three consecutive road games up next. The Tar Heels play at Boston College Sunday at noon, then at Wake and Notre Dame before hosting Duke on March 1 for a Senior Day game to close the regular season.

UNC vs. Syracuse
The Tar Heels and Orange are meeting for the 11th time in a rivalry that dates back to the 1998-99 season. After UNC won the first three meetings, Syracuse has won the past four and six of the past seven.
Last year, SU won 90-77 at the Carrier Dome on Jan. 13, 2019.
• In the last meeting at Carmichael, on Feb. 22, 2018, the Orange won 86-80. SU set an ACC record with 20 three-pointers to come from behind for the win on UNC's Senior Night.
• Carolina's last win in the series was at home during the 2015-16 season. The Tar Heels won 77-73 at Carmichael on Jan. 7, 2016.

Scouting the Orange
Syracuse is 12-11 on the season and 6-6 in conference play coming off a 59-51 homecourt win over No. 5 Louisville on Sunday.
• Junior guard Kiara Lewis leads the team in scoring with 17.5 points per game, a total that ranks fourth in the ACC. She's the only Orange player in double figures, with sophomore guard Emily Engstler at 9.6 and Digna Strautmane at 8.7. Engstler is the team's top rebounder with 9.8 per game, third in the ACC. Lewis leads the ACC in minutes per game, averaging 37.17.
• As a team, Syracuse leads the lead in blocks (5.96 per game) and ranks third in three-pointers (7.57 per game).

By the Numbers
• All five UNC starters are scoring in double figures, led by junior Janelle Bailey with 15.2 points per game.
• UNC leads the ACC in scoring (74.6 ppg) and in assist/turnover ratio (1.24), with 360 assists and a league-low 291 turnovers. The Tar Heels are second in turnover margin (+2.79), and third in assists (15.0) and three-point percentage (.342).
• Malu Tshitenge leads the league in offensive rebounds (4.33 per game) and Shayla Bennett leads in assist/turnover ratio (2.15, with 129 assists and 60 turnovers). Bailey is second in rebounding (9.92).
• UNC is the only team in the ACC with fewer than 300 turnovers this season. The Tar Heels come into Thursday's game with 291, 56 fewer than the next-lowest (NC State, 347). Six ACC teams are above 400 turnovers.

Notables
• All five UNC starters have led the scoring effort in at least two games this season.
• In this week's NCAA rankings, UNC is 14th in turnovers per game, 20th in assist-turnover ratio, 28th in scoring offense and 40th in scoring margin.
• UNC has not won this year with fewer than three players scoring in double figures. The Tar Heels are 0-3 overall, 0-2 in ACC play with two in double figures, and have had no games with just one in double figures.
• UNC is 1-7 when allowing 70 or more points (with an 86-72 victory against Clemson the only win). The Tar Heels have lost just once when scoring 70+ (83-77 at Alabama).
• Three Tar Heels (Bailey, Bennett, Taylor Koenen) played the entirety of the game at Duke, and Bennett also played all 40 minutes against Virginia Tech. That makes 15 occasions this season in which a Tar Heels has played the entire game.
• Following the loss to Virginia Tech, UNC is 0-6 when trailing at the end of the third quarter. All six of those losses have come in ACC play (Virginia Tech, FSU, Louisville, at NC State, Duke, Virginia Tech).
• UNC shot 50 percent from the field against Clemson, the first time the Tar Heels had hit or bettered that mark since a win over UNCW on Dec. 20 and just the third time all season. (The other was vs. Navy in the second game of the season.) Since then the Tar Heels have shot a season-low 27.1 percent against Duke and 32.3 percent, third-lowest of the season, against Virginia Tech.
• UNC has lost only twice when shooting better than 40 percent from the field. The Tar Heels hit 46.2 percent of their shots in the loss to Louisville and then shot 40.7 in the loss at NC State.