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Saturday, January 23
Chapel Hill
2 PM
North Carolina
vs
North Carolina State
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Tar Heels Ready For Wolfpack Saturday
January 22, 2021 | Men's Basketball
GAME 15
• Carolina plays its first ACC opponent for a second time this season when it hosts NC State on Saturday, January 23, at 2 p.m. ESPN will televise the contest.
• The Tar Heels are 9-5 overall, 4-3 in the ACC. UNC defeated Wake Forest, 80-73, at home on January 20.
• NC State is 6-4, including 2-3 in league play. The Wolfpack has been idle due to Covid-19 safety protocols since a 105-73 loss at Florida State on January 13.
• NC State beat UNC, 79-76, in Raleigh on December 22. More on that game on page 2.
• Carolina and NC State have only two common opponents thus far this season. UNC defeated Miami in Coral Gables and lost at FSU; the Pack lost at home to the Canes and in Tallahassee.
• Following Saturday's game vs. NC State, the Tar Heels hit the road next Tuesday, January 26, to play at Pittsburgh. Next weekend is open at this point. UNC was originally scheduled to play host to Notre Dame on January 30, but that game shifted to January 2, as a result of Syracuse pausing its season. UNC could add a game next weekend or it could remain open, which would give the Tar Heels three consecutive road games (also February 2 at Clemson and February 6 at Duke).
• Caleb Love led UNC with 20 points and Armando Bacot scored 14 of his 18 in the second half to offset 13 Wake Forest three-pointers in Carolina's 80-73 win over the Demon Deacons on Wednesday.
• Love became the sixth different Tar Heel to lead the team in scoring in the last six games (Bacot at Georgia Tech, Day'Ron Sharpe vs. Notre Dame, Leaky Black at Miami, Garrison Brooks vs. Syracuse, RJ Davis at Florida State and Love vs. Wake Forest).
• Five different players have won Carolina's defensive player of the game award in the last five games (Sharpe vs. Notre Dame, Andrew Platek at Miami, Brooks vs. Syracuse, Anthony Harris at Florida State and Davis vs. Wake Forest).
• Carolina's seven ACC games have been decided by three, five, one, two, six, seven and seven points. This is the first time UNC has ever played seven consecutive ACC games decided by seven points or less. In 1978-79, UNC played seven consecutive games decided by seven points or less (six were ACC games; the other was a six-point win over Arkansas). Prior to this season, it never happened in seven straight UNC games in ACC play.Â
• Brooks led UNC in plus/minus vs. Wake Forest (+15). It was the first time in seven ACC games all five starters finished with a positive plus/minus.
• Wake Forest led UNC, 33-31, at the half (it could have been a five-point deficit, but Love hit a three with five seconds to play). That was the eighth time in 14 games UNC has trailed the half. With the win, UNC is 4-4 this season when it trails at halftime, including wins over Stanford, Kentucky, Notre Dame and Wake Forest.
• Carolina has been outscored by 22 points in the first half and has outscored its opponents by 76 in the second.Â
• Carolina set season highs against Wake Forest in points per possession for a game (.93 with 80 points on 86 possessions) and a half (1.14 in the second half with 49 points on 43 possessions).
SERIES VS. NC STATE
• The Tar Heels lead the series, 160-79, winning 32 of the last 37 and 49 of the last 61 games against the Wolfpack.
• Roy Williams is 37-5 as a head coach against NC State, including a 5-0 record at Kansas and a 32-5 mark at Carolina.Â
• UNC is 78-23 vs. the Pack in Chapel Hill, including 27-7 at the Smith Center.
• The Tar Heels have won two in a row and 15 of 17 at home against NC State.
DECEMBER 22 AT NC STATE
• Carolina rallied from a 17-point deficit in the first half but fell short, losing to the Pack, 79-76, three days before Christmas.
• It was the first time the teams played prior to January since 1979.
• Carolina cut State's 17-point lead to seven at the half and closed within a point at 63-62, before falling behind by 13. UNC rallied to cut the deficit to two with 10 seconds to play and had two three-point chances in the final seconds that could have tied the game.
• UNC missed its final seven field goal attempts over the last 2:19.
• The loss snapped the Tar Heels' seven-game win streak at NC State.
• Armando Bacot (16 points on 7 of 9 from the floor) led UNC in scoring and led all players on both teams with a plus-14.
• NC State led for 37:48; UNC scored first and led for 24 seconds.
LAST TIME AT HOME VS. THE PACK
UNC 85, NC STATE 79
• Carolina beat NC State, 85-79, in the Smith Center on 2/25/20.
• The win snapped UNC's seven-game losing streak, second longest in school history.
• It was Carolina's first win since beating NC State in Raleigh on Jan. 27.
• Carolina fell behind 10-0 and 13-2. It was UNC's largest comeback win of the season.
• Garrison Brooks scored a game-high 30 points and had a game-high-tying nine rebounds.
• Christian Keeling added 16 points for the Tar Heels.
NOTABLE
• KenPom ranks Carolina as the 326th-most experienced team in the nation (out of 342 teams). Six of UNC's 10 rotation players are freshmen. Those freshmen have played 50.2 percent of all minutes played (1,406 of 2,800).
• Freshmen have made 31 starts this season, including 12 by Caleb Love and 10 by RJ Davis. That's the third most in the country behind Kentucky and Kansas State.
• Freshman Kerwin Walton has started the last six games.
• Carolina has started the same lineup in each of the last three games (Love, Walton, Black, Brooks and Bacot).
• UNC has used five different starting lineups this season.
• 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.
• Carolina is 5-0 at home this season, with non-conference wins over Charleston and NC Central and league victories over Notre Dame, Syracuse and Wake Forest.
• In its seven ACC games, UNC has scored 512 points and allowed 511.
• Armando Bacot leads UNC in scoring at 11.6 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 14 games. Bacot has led a team-high four times. Garrison Brooks and Caleb Love have led twice, RJ Davis twice and Leaky Black and Day'Ron Sharpe have each led one game.
• Black's 16 points at Miami on January 5 were a career high and marked the first time in his career he led UNC in scoring.
• Davis led UNC at Florida State with 16 points, the same amount he scored on Nov. 30 in Asheville against UNLV when he was Carolina's top scorer.
• Love scored a season-high 20 points in the win over Wake Forest.
• Bacot leads Carolina in scoring (11.9 ppg) and in Carolina's seven ACC games. He is the only Tar Heel to average in double figures in league play. Four other Tar Heels are averaging 9.3 points or better and another is averaging 8.9 in ACC play.
• Carolina has scored 80 or more points three times this season (81 vs. Syracuse and 80 at Iowa and vs. Wake Forest). In 18 seasons under Roy Williams UNC has scored 80 or more points 348 times in 633 games (55 percent).
• Carolina is 309-39 under Williams when it scores at least 80 points.
• Williams has 894 wins in 33 seasons as a head coach. He is six wins shy of 900 and nine from surpassing Bob Knight for the third-most wins by a Division I head coach.
• Carolina has led at the half just five times in the first 14 games (UNC is 4-1 when it leads and 4-4 when it trails at the half, including comeback wins over Stanford, Kentucky, Notre Dame and Wake Forest).
• Carolina is second in the nation in offensive rebounds per game (15.9), third in offensive rebound percentage (.409) and total rebounds per game (43.5) and fourth in rebound margin (+11.4).
• The school record for offensive rebounds per game is 15.8 in 2016-17.
• 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).Â
• Kentucky (by four) and Florida State (by one) are the only teams to outrebound the Tar Heels this season. UNC's rebound margin of +11.4 per game is on pace for the second highest in school history (the 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.
• Carolina is averaging 17.9 second-chance points per game with a season-high 30 vs. Charleston, low of seven at Georgia Tech and 20 or more four times. The 17.9 points are the most second-chance points UNC has averaged in the last 10 seasons (17.6 in 2016-17 was the previous high in the last decade).
UNC's SECOND-CHANCE POINTSÂ
LAST 10 SEASONS
2020-21 17.9
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
• Carolina has never committed more turnovers than it had assists in 17 previous seasons under Roy Williams. The closest margin was in 2009-10, when UNC had 552 assists and 512 turnovers. Through 14 games this season, UNC has 204 assists and 212 turnovers. However, in the last seven games, all in ACC play, the Tar Heels have 115 assists and 102 turnovers.
• Carolina had more assists than turnovers in three of its first nine games this season, but has done that in four of the last five games, including 18 assists and 12 turnovers against Wake Forest.
• Three Tar Heels have more assists than turnovers (Leaky Black 39/20, Kerwin Walton 26/17 and RJ Davis 30/27).
• The Tar Heels are 5-2 this season when they have more assists than turnovers.
• In 18 seasons under Roy Williams, the Tar Heels have won 81.5 percent of its games when they have fewer turnovers than their opponents.
• Carolina plays its first ACC opponent for a second time this season when it hosts NC State on Saturday, January 23, at 2 p.m. ESPN will televise the contest.
• The Tar Heels are 9-5 overall, 4-3 in the ACC. UNC defeated Wake Forest, 80-73, at home on January 20.
• NC State is 6-4, including 2-3 in league play. The Wolfpack has been idle due to Covid-19 safety protocols since a 105-73 loss at Florida State on January 13.
• NC State beat UNC, 79-76, in Raleigh on December 22. More on that game on page 2.
• Carolina and NC State have only two common opponents thus far this season. UNC defeated Miami in Coral Gables and lost at FSU; the Pack lost at home to the Canes and in Tallahassee.
• Following Saturday's game vs. NC State, the Tar Heels hit the road next Tuesday, January 26, to play at Pittsburgh. Next weekend is open at this point. UNC was originally scheduled to play host to Notre Dame on January 30, but that game shifted to January 2, as a result of Syracuse pausing its season. UNC could add a game next weekend or it could remain open, which would give the Tar Heels three consecutive road games (also February 2 at Clemson and February 6 at Duke).
• Caleb Love led UNC with 20 points and Armando Bacot scored 14 of his 18 in the second half to offset 13 Wake Forest three-pointers in Carolina's 80-73 win over the Demon Deacons on Wednesday.
• Love became the sixth different Tar Heel to lead the team in scoring in the last six games (Bacot at Georgia Tech, Day'Ron Sharpe vs. Notre Dame, Leaky Black at Miami, Garrison Brooks vs. Syracuse, RJ Davis at Florida State and Love vs. Wake Forest).
• Five different players have won Carolina's defensive player of the game award in the last five games (Sharpe vs. Notre Dame, Andrew Platek at Miami, Brooks vs. Syracuse, Anthony Harris at Florida State and Davis vs. Wake Forest).
• Carolina's seven ACC games have been decided by three, five, one, two, six, seven and seven points. This is the first time UNC has ever played seven consecutive ACC games decided by seven points or less. In 1978-79, UNC played seven consecutive games decided by seven points or less (six were ACC games; the other was a six-point win over Arkansas). Prior to this season, it never happened in seven straight UNC games in ACC play.Â
• Brooks led UNC in plus/minus vs. Wake Forest (+15). It was the first time in seven ACC games all five starters finished with a positive plus/minus.
• Wake Forest led UNC, 33-31, at the half (it could have been a five-point deficit, but Love hit a three with five seconds to play). That was the eighth time in 14 games UNC has trailed the half. With the win, UNC is 4-4 this season when it trails at halftime, including wins over Stanford, Kentucky, Notre Dame and Wake Forest.
• Carolina has been outscored by 22 points in the first half and has outscored its opponents by 76 in the second.Â
• Carolina set season highs against Wake Forest in points per possession for a game (.93 with 80 points on 86 possessions) and a half (1.14 in the second half with 49 points on 43 possessions).
SERIES VS. NC STATE
• The Tar Heels lead the series, 160-79, winning 32 of the last 37 and 49 of the last 61 games against the Wolfpack.
• Roy Williams is 37-5 as a head coach against NC State, including a 5-0 record at Kansas and a 32-5 mark at Carolina.Â
• UNC is 78-23 vs. the Pack in Chapel Hill, including 27-7 at the Smith Center.
• The Tar Heels have won two in a row and 15 of 17 at home against NC State.
DECEMBER 22 AT NC STATE
• Carolina rallied from a 17-point deficit in the first half but fell short, losing to the Pack, 79-76, three days before Christmas.
• It was the first time the teams played prior to January since 1979.
• Carolina cut State's 17-point lead to seven at the half and closed within a point at 63-62, before falling behind by 13. UNC rallied to cut the deficit to two with 10 seconds to play and had two three-point chances in the final seconds that could have tied the game.
• UNC missed its final seven field goal attempts over the last 2:19.
• The loss snapped the Tar Heels' seven-game win streak at NC State.
• Armando Bacot (16 points on 7 of 9 from the floor) led UNC in scoring and led all players on both teams with a plus-14.
• NC State led for 37:48; UNC scored first and led for 24 seconds.
LAST TIME AT HOME VS. THE PACK
UNC 85, NC STATE 79
• Carolina beat NC State, 85-79, in the Smith Center on 2/25/20.
• The win snapped UNC's seven-game losing streak, second longest in school history.
• It was Carolina's first win since beating NC State in Raleigh on Jan. 27.
• Carolina fell behind 10-0 and 13-2. It was UNC's largest comeback win of the season.
• Garrison Brooks scored a game-high 30 points and had a game-high-tying nine rebounds.
• Christian Keeling added 16 points for the Tar Heels.
NOTABLE
• KenPom ranks Carolina as the 326th-most experienced team in the nation (out of 342 teams). Six of UNC's 10 rotation players are freshmen. Those freshmen have played 50.2 percent of all minutes played (1,406 of 2,800).
• Freshmen have made 31 starts this season, including 12 by Caleb Love and 10 by RJ Davis. That's the third most in the country behind Kentucky and Kansas State.
• Freshman Kerwin Walton has started the last six games.
• Carolina has started the same lineup in each of the last three games (Love, Walton, Black, Brooks and Bacot).
• UNC has used five different starting lineups this season.
• 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.
• Carolina is 5-0 at home this season, with non-conference wins over Charleston and NC Central and league victories over Notre Dame, Syracuse and Wake Forest.
• In its seven ACC games, UNC has scored 512 points and allowed 511.
• Armando Bacot leads UNC in scoring at 11.6 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 14 games. Bacot has led a team-high four times. Garrison Brooks and Caleb Love have led twice, RJ Davis twice and Leaky Black and Day'Ron Sharpe have each led one game.
• Black's 16 points at Miami on January 5 were a career high and marked the first time in his career he led UNC in scoring.
• Davis led UNC at Florida State with 16 points, the same amount he scored on Nov. 30 in Asheville against UNLV when he was Carolina's top scorer.
• Love scored a season-high 20 points in the win over Wake Forest.
• Bacot leads Carolina in scoring (11.9 ppg) and in Carolina's seven ACC games. He is the only Tar Heel to average in double figures in league play. Four other Tar Heels are averaging 9.3 points or better and another is averaging 8.9 in ACC play.
• Carolina has scored 80 or more points three times this season (81 vs. Syracuse and 80 at Iowa and vs. Wake Forest). In 18 seasons under Roy Williams UNC has scored 80 or more points 348 times in 633 games (55 percent).
• Carolina is 309-39 under Williams when it scores at least 80 points.
• Williams has 894 wins in 33 seasons as a head coach. He is six wins shy of 900 and nine from surpassing Bob Knight for the third-most wins by a Division I head coach.
• Carolina has led at the half just five times in the first 14 games (UNC is 4-1 when it leads and 4-4 when it trails at the half, including comeback wins over Stanford, Kentucky, Notre Dame and Wake Forest).
• Carolina is second in the nation in offensive rebounds per game (15.9), third in offensive rebound percentage (.409) and total rebounds per game (43.5) and fourth in rebound margin (+11.4).
• The school record for offensive rebounds per game is 15.8 in 2016-17.
• 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).Â
• Kentucky (by four) and Florida State (by one) are the only teams to outrebound the Tar Heels this season. UNC's rebound margin of +11.4 per game is on pace for the second highest in school history (the 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.
• Carolina is averaging 17.9 second-chance points per game with a season-high 30 vs. Charleston, low of seven at Georgia Tech and 20 or more four times. The 17.9 points are the most second-chance points UNC has averaged in the last 10 seasons (17.6 in 2016-17 was the previous high in the last decade).
UNC's SECOND-CHANCE POINTSÂ
LAST 10 SEASONS
2020-21 17.9
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
• Carolina has never committed more turnovers than it had assists in 17 previous seasons under Roy Williams. The closest margin was in 2009-10, when UNC had 552 assists and 512 turnovers. Through 14 games this season, UNC has 204 assists and 212 turnovers. However, in the last seven games, all in ACC play, the Tar Heels have 115 assists and 102 turnovers.
• Carolina had more assists than turnovers in three of its first nine games this season, but has done that in four of the last five games, including 18 assists and 12 turnovers against Wake Forest.
• Three Tar Heels have more assists than turnovers (Leaky Black 39/20, Kerwin Walton 26/17 and RJ Davis 30/27).
• The Tar Heels are 5-2 this season when they have more assists than turnovers.
• In 18 seasons under Roy Williams, the Tar Heels have won 81.5 percent of its games when they have fewer turnovers than their opponents.
Players Mentioned
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