Tar Heels Head To PItt For Tuesday Showdown

Tuesday, January 26

Pittsburgh, Pa.

7 PM

North Carolina

Pittsburgh

Leaky Black

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

January 25, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Live Stats Watch UNC Notes Pitt Notes Weekly Guide

GAME 16
• Carolina returns to the road in ACC play when it travels to Pittsburgh for its ninth conference game of the season on Tuesday, January 26. Game time is 7 p.m. The ACC Network will televise the game.
• Carolina is 10-5 overall and 5-3 in the ACC after winning home games last week against Wake Forest (80-73) and NC State (86-76). Those wins were the first this season in which UNC scored 80-plus points in consecutive games.
• Pittsburgh is 8-3 overall and 4-2 in ACC play. The Panthers are 3-1 since New Year's, beating Syracuse twice and Duke and losing by a point at Wake Forest on January 23.
• The game features four of the top five offensive rebounders in the ACC. Carolina freshman Day'Ron Sharpe and Pitt's Justin Champagnie are tied for first (3.3 per game), Armando Bacot is third (3.1) and Pitt's Au'Diese Toney is fifth (2.8).
• Caleb Love was named the ACC Freshman of the Week for his play vs. Wake Forest and NC State. He averaged 17.5 points and 4.0 assists and directed an offense that scored 80 and 86 points, respectively, and shot 54.8, 56.8 and 51.6 percent from the floor over the last three halves.
• Love is the third Tar Heel to earn ACC Freshman of the Week honors this season (first time three Tar Heel recipients in a season since Harrison Barnes, Kendall Marshall and Reggie Bullock combined to win seven times in 2010-11).
• Carolina is averaging 80.5 points over its last four games (74.5 for the season).
• The Tar Heels have shot 50 percent from the floor in each of the last three halves. Those were the first halves in which UNC shot 50 percent since the first half at NC State on December 22.
• Over the last three games, the Tar Heels have scored 241 points on 258 possessions, a point per possession of .93. That included 75 points on 82 possessions at Florida State (.91), 80 points on 86 possessions vs. Wake Forest (.93) and 86 points on 90 possessions (.96) against NC State. Those are the only three games this season UNC has registered
a PPP of .90 or better.
• Freshmen (including red-shirt freshman Anthony Harris) have scored 53.9 percent of Carolina's points this season.
• Saturday's win over NC State marked the first time four freshmen scored in double figures since 2007 and set a record for most points in a UNC game by freshmen. Day'Ron Sharpe (16), Caleb Love (15), RJ Davis (10), Anthony Harris (10), Kerwin Walton (8) and Walker Kessler (2) combined for 61 points. That broke the previous record of 58 points on 11/28/2002 vs. Penn State (28 by Rashad McCants, 17 by Sean May, nine by Raymond Felton and eight by David Noel).
• Carolina's schedule for the rest of the week is to be determined at this point. UNC was originally scheduled to host Notre Dame on January 30, but that game shifted to January 2 as a result of Syracuse pausing its season. If a game is not added on the 30th, the Tar Heels will be playing their next three games on the road (Pitt, February 2 at Clemson and February 6 at Duke).
• Armando Bacot led UNC in scoring on January 23 with 17 points vs. NC State, becoming the sixth different Tar Heel to lead the team in scoring in the last six games (Day'Ron Sharpe vs. Notre Dame, Leaky Black at Miami, Garrison Brooks vs. Syracuse, RJ Davis at Florida State, Caleb Love vs. Wake Forest and Bacot vs. NC State). Bacot had last topped UNC in scoring at Georgia Tech on December 30.
• Six different players have won Carolina's defensive player of the game award in the last six games (Sharpe vs. Notre Dame, Andrew Platek at Miami, Brooks vs. Syracuse, Anthony Harris at Florida State, Davis vs. Wake Forest and Bacot vs. NC State).
• Carolina's 10-point win over NC State marked its largest margin, win or loss, in an ACC game this season. It was the largest margin since UNC defeated Kentucky by 12 points on December 19.
• Carolina's first seven ACC games marked the first time UNC ever played seven consecutive ACC games decided by seven or fewer points.
• Including Saturday when UNC led NC State by 10 at the break, Carolina has been outscored by 12 points this season in the first half and has outscored its opponents by 76 in the second.

SERIES VS. PITTSBURGH
• Carolina is 14-5 against Pittsburgh, including 7-4 since the Panthers joined the ACC prior to the 2013-14 season.
• Carolina is 5-2 at Pittsburgh – 1-0 at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse, 2-0 at the Civic Arena and 2-2 at the Petersen Center.
• Roy Williams is 7-4 against the Panthers as UNC's head coach and 8-4 overall.
• Pittsburgh has won two in a row. The Panthers have never beaten UNC three straight games.
• UNC's current two-game losing streak to Pittsburgh followed a six-game winning streak for the Tar Heels.
• Garrison Brooks has 56 points (fifth most by a Tar Heel) and 33 rebounds (the most by any Tar Heel) in his career against the Panthers.

LAST SEASON VS. PITTSBURGH
• The teams played twice in 10 days and, for the only time in series history, the Panthers won both games.
• Armando Bacot averaged 13.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals in the two games. He was 11 for 23 from the floor.
• Garrison Brooks averaged 18.5 points and 11.5 rebounds and was 16 for 27 from the floor in the two games.

Jan. 8, 2020 – Pittsburgh 73, @UNC 65
• The loss ended a six-game UNC win streak against Pittsburgh and was UNC's first loss in eight games vs. the Panthers in Chapel Hill.
• Carolina led by 14 points (32-18) with 3:08 to play in the first half.
• Brooks and Bacot were a combined 15 of 23 from the floor (.652), while the rest of the team was 10 for 38 (.263).
• UNC led 37-28 at the half, its largest halftime lead in a loss at the Smith Center since Jan. 8, 1997.
• Brooks posted a double-double (21 points and 10 rebounds), Armando Bacot had 15 points and four assists and Leaky Black tied his then-career high with nine points.

Jan. 18, 2020 – @Pittsburgh 66, UNC 52
• Carolina trailed 47-27 at the half. It was the second time in four games UNC trailed by 20 points at the half (Georgia Tech).
• Pittsburgh scored 23 points off 16 UNC turnovers.
• The Tar Heels shot under 40 percent in both halves (.333 and .306).
• Carolina scored 52 points on 85 possessions.
• Pittsburgh shot 37.7 percent from the floor and just 22.7 percent from the floor in the second half (5 of 22). It was the first time Carolina held the opponents to under 25 percent from the floor in a half in a loss since Iowa in 2014.
• Pittsburgh made one field goal in the last 15:10.
• Brooks led UNC with 16 points and a then-career-high 13 rebounds (fifth straight double-double).
• Bacot had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
• Bacot and Brooks made 12 of their 27 field goal attempts. The rest of the team was 7 for 33 from the floor.
• The 14-point loss was UNC's largest in five losses all-time vs. Pitt (previous was 13 in 2015).

NOTABLE
• KenPom ranks Carolina as the 324th-most experienced team in the nation (out of 342 teams). Seven of UNC's 11 rotation players are freshmen. Those freshmen have played 51.0 percent of all minutes played (1,529 of 3,000).
• Freshmen have made 33 starts this season, including 13 by Caleb Love and 10 by RJ Davis. That's the fourth most in the country behind Kentucky, Kansas State and Washington State.
• Freshman Kerwin Walton has started the last seven games.
• Carolina has started the same lineup in each of the last four games (Love, Walton, Black, Brooks and Bacot).
• UNC has used five different starting lineups this season.
• Freshmen are second (Love), tied for fourth (Davis) and tied for fourth (Sharpe) in scoring for the Tar Heels. This is the first time three freshmen are among UNC's top five scorers since 2006-07 when Brandan Wright, Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson were second, third and fourth, respectively.
• 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.

• In its seven ACC games, UNC has scored 598 points and allowed 587.
• Armando Bacot leads UNC in scoring at 12.0 points per game. The last time a Tar Heel led the team in scoring with less than 12 points a game was 1947-48 (Bob Paxton 12.2 ppg).
• Six different Tar Heels have led UNC in scoring in the first 15 games. Bacot has led a team-high five times. Garrison Brooks and Caleb Love have led twice, RJ Davis twice and Leaky Black and Day'Ron Sharpe have each led one game.
• Carolina has attempted a combined 20 three-pointers in the last two games (nine vs. Wake Forest and 11 vs. NC State). UNC had averaged more than 22 attempts per game over its previous five games.
• Carolina has scored 80 or more points four times this season, including three of the last four games. In 18 seasons under Roy Williams UNC has scored 80 or more points 349 times in 634 games (55 percent).
• Carolina is 310-39 under Williams when it scores at least 80 points.
• Williams has 895 wins in 33 seasons as a head coach. He is five wins shy of 900 and eight from surpassing Bob Knight for the third-most wins by a Division I head coach.
• Carolina has led at the half six times in the first 15 games (UNC is 5-1 when it leads and 4-4 when it trails at the half, including comeback wins over Stanford, Kentucky, Notre Dame and Wake Forest).
• Carolina leads the nation in offensive rebounds per game (15.8) and total rebounds per game (43.5), is second in offensive rebound percentage (.407) and third in rebound margin (+11.5). Grand Canyon (12.2) and Utah State (11.6) are the only schools with a larger rebound margin.
• 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).
• Kentucky (by four) and Florida State (by one) are the only teams to outrebound the Tar Heels this season. UNC's rebound margin of +11.5 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 17.3 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 17.3 points are the second-most second-chance points UNC has averaged in the last 10 seasons (17.6 in 2016-17).
• 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 15 games this season, UNC has 222 assists and 225 turnovers.
• In the last eight games, all in ACC play, the Tar Heels have 133 assists and 115 turnovers.
• Carolina had more assists than turnovers in only three of its first nine games this season, but has more assists than turnovers in each of the last four (+23) and five of the last six games.
• Four Tar Heels have more assists than turnovers (Leaky Black 41/20, Kerwin Walton 30/18, RJ Davis 33/29 and Anthony Harris 4/1).
• The Tar Heels are 6-2 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.