Tar Heels To Host Orange On Tuesday Night

GAME 12
• Carolina will become the first men's basketball program to play 1,000 regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference games when the Tar Heels play host to Syracuse on Tuesday, January 12, at 9 p.m.
• The Tar Heels are 707-292 in 999 regular-season ACC games. The 707 wins are also the most in ACC history.
• Carolina is 7-4 overall this season, 2-2 in the ACC. The Tar Heels have won two straight – a 66-65 home win over Notre Dame and a 67-65 victory at Miami. Leaky Black hit the game-winner against the Irish with 9.1 seconds to play; Andrew Platek scored the winner against the Canes with 3.6 seconds left.
• Carolina and Syracuse were originally scheduled to play in Chapel Hill on January 2, but the game was postponed when the Orange had to pause for Covid-19 safety protocols. The matchup was rescheduled for January 12 after Clemson paused its program due to Covid. The Tigers were supposed to have played in Chapel Hill on January 9 and at Syracuse on the 12th, but both games were postponed.
• Carolina's four ACC games have been decided by three, five, one and two points. Six of UNC's 11 games this season have been decided by five or fewer points.
• This is the first time in the Roy Williams era the Tar Heels have played four consecutive games decided by five or fewer points.
• It is the first time UNC has played four straight games decided by five or fewer points since Jan. 21-30, 1988. The last time it occurred more than four games in a row was in 1982 – the Final Four games against Houston and Georgetown and the first four games in the 1982-83 season.
• Miami led, 53-43, with 12 minutes to play. It was Carolina's first second-half comeback from a double-digit deficit since beating Louisville after trailing by 13 in 2015 in Chapel Hill.
• The wins over Notre Dame and Miami marked the first time UNC won consecutive games by two or fewer points since the wins over Kentucky and Oregon in the 2017 NCAA regional final and national semifinal, respectively.
• It also marked the first time in the ACC era UNC won consecutive games when shooting under 35 percent from the floor.
• Syracuse is 7-2, 1-1 in the ACC. The Orange beat Georgetown, 74-69, on January 9.
• Syracuse has played just twice since December 19.

SERIES VS. SYRACUSE
• Carolina is 13-5 against the Orange, winning nine of the last 10 games in the series.
• UNC is 4-0 in Chapel Hill, all of which have been played in the Smith Center.
• Carolina is 9-2 since the Orange joined the ACC.
• UNC became the first program to win nine straight games against the Orange. The streak began in 2015 and ended last March in the ACC Tournament.
• Roy Williams is 10-5 against Syracuse, including 9-3 as head coach of the Tar Heels.

LAST SEASON VS. THE ORANGE
• Carolina and Syracuse split a pair of games in 2019-20 with the Tar Heels winning in the Carrier Dome, 92-79, on February 29, and the Orange trouncing the Tar Heels, 81-53, 12 days later in Greensboro in the second round of the ACC Tournament. That game proved to the final game of the ACC Tournament as the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship game were canceled due to the pandemic.
• Carolina's win at Syracuse was UNC's ninth consecutive triumph over the Orange; Syracuse's 28-point victory on March 11 was UNC's largest margin of defeat in an ACC Tournament game.
• Carolina made a season-high 11 three-pointers in its win at Syracuse, including nine in the second half, and had 25 assists on 33 field goals.
• Carolina's second half at Syracuse was its second-most efficient offensive half of the season (52 points on 39 possessions, 1.33 points per possession). The Tar Heels' 92 points on 82 possessions (1.12) were third best in a game all season.
• Garrison Brooks scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Cole Anthony made seven three-pointers and had 25 points and seven assists in the win.
• Carolina's 53 points in the 81-53 loss in Greensboro were the fewest by UNC in an ACC Tournament game since a 79-53 loss to Duke in the 2001 title game.
• The Orange ended the first half on a 19-2 run to lead, 43-22.
• Syracuse scored 27 points off 18 UNC turnovers. The 27 points were the most by an opponent all season.
• Syracuse out-scored the Tar Heels, 15-2, in fastbreak points.
• Carolina was 8 for 31 from the floor in the first half, a percentage of .258 that was the lowest in any half all season.
• Unlike the game in the Carrier Dome, Carolina was 2 for 16 from three-point range.
• Brooks led UNC with 18 points and Leaky Black scored a then-career-high 14 points.
• Carolina scored 22 points on 42 first-half possessions, a points per possession of .52 that was its second-lowest of the season.

NOTABLE
• KenPom ranks Carolina as the 329th-most experienced team in the nation (out of 342 teams). Six of UNC's 10 rotation players are freshmen. Those freshmen have played 50.7 percent of all minutes played (1,116 of 2,200).
• The only teams in the Power 5 less experienced than UNC are LSU, Louisville, Duke, Kentucky and Auburn.
• Carolina freshmen have made a combined 25 starts, third most in the country as of January 10 (courtesy Kansas State SID Tom Gilbert). Only Kentucky (34) and K-State (29) have more freshmen starts.
• This is the eighth time in Williams' 18 seasons at UNC a freshman has started at the point for at least a majority of the season: Bobby Frasor in 2005-06, Ty Lawson in 2006-07, Kendall Marshall in 2010-11, Marcus Paige in 2012-13, Nate Britt in 2013-14, Coby White in 2018-19, Cole Anthony in 2019-20 and Caleb Love in 2020-21.
• Armando Bacot leads UNC in scoring at 11.0 points per game. The last time a Tar Heel led the team in scoring with less than 12 points a game was 1946-47 (Jim Hamilton 11.4 ppg).
• Six different Tar Heels have led UNC in scoring in the first 11 games. Bacot has led a team-high four times. Garrison Brooks and Caleb Love have each led twice, and Leaky Black, RJ Davis and Day'Ron Sharpe have led one time apiece.
• Black's 16 points at Miami were a career high and marked the first time in his career he led UNC in scoring.
• Sharpe leads Carolina in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (10.0 rpg) in Carolina's four ACC games.
• Carolina has scored 80 points (at Iowa) one time this season. In 18 seasons under Roy Williams UNC has scored 80 or more points 346 times in 630 games (54.9 percent).
• Williams is nine wins shy of 900 and 12 from surpassing Bob Knight for the third-most wins by a Division I head coach.
• Carolina has led at the half five times in the first 11 games (4-1 when it leads; 3-3 when it trails at the half, including wins over Stanford, Kentucky and Notre Dame).
• The opponents have outscored UNC by a combined 16 points in the first half, but the Tar Heels have outscored the opponents by 64 points in the second half.
• The Tar Heels are averaging 44.9 rebounds per game, including 16.0 offensive. UNC leads the nation in offensive rebounds, is second in total rebounds and fourth in rebound margin (12.8).
• The school record for offensive rebounds per game is 15.8 in 2016-17.
• Three Tar Heels rank in the top seven in the ACC in rebounding – Sharpe (third), Brooks (sixth) and Bacot (seventh).
• Sharpe leads the ACC in offensive rebounds with 3.8 per game and is third in total rebounds per game (8.3). Bacot (3.1) and Brooks (3.0) rank third and fourth, respectively, in the league in offensive rebounds.
• 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).
• Kentucky is the only team to outrebound the Tar Heels this season (42-38). UNC's rebound margin of +12.8 per game is on pace to top the previous school record of +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.
• Carolina is averaging 17.8 second-chance points per game with a season-high 30 vs. Charleston, low of seven at Georgia Tech and 20 or more three times. The 17.8 points are the most second-chance points UNC has averaged in the last 10 seasons (17.6 in 2016-17 was the second most in the last decade).

UNC's SECOND-CHANCE POINTS
LAST 10 SEASONS
2020-21 17.8
2019-20 13.3
2018-19 15.3
2017-18 15.1
2016-17 17.6
2015-16 14.4
2014-15 14.2
2013-14 13.7
2012-13 13.8
2011-12 15.3

• UNC is averaging 5.1 three-pointers per game, but has made 25 (8.3) over the last three games – eight at Georgia Tech (first time five players made a three) and against Notre Dame and a season-high nine at Miami.
• Carolina has been out-scored by a combined 81 points from the three-point line in its four losses this season. Texas, Iowa, NC State and Georgia Tech combined to make 44 threes (11.0 per game), while the Tar Heels made 17 in those games (eight at Tech).
• Carolina has 60 assists and 65 turnovers in its four ACC games. Kerwin Walton has the best assist-turnover ratio with 12 assists and five turnovers with Leaky Black next with 12 assists and seven turnovers.
• Carolina's four big men have a combined 11 assists and 26 turnovers in conference play.

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Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

RJ Davis

Caleb Love

Andrew Platek

Day'Ron Sharpe

Kerwin Walton

Coby White

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University of North Carolina Athletics