Tar Heels Host Clemson Looking For Third Straight Win

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 Clemson on Saturday, January 9, at 7 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 to go.
• 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 the Final Four games against Houston and Georgetown in 1982 and the first four games in 1982-83.
• 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.
• Clemson is 9-1 overall, 3-1 in the ACC. The Tigers are coming off a 74-70 overtime win at home over NC State.
• Carolina's 67-65 win at Miami on January 5 came three days after the Tigers beat Miami, 66-65, in Coral Gables.
• Carolina and Clemson are ranked 14th and first, respectively, in the country in defensive efficiency (KenPom).

SERIES VS. CLEMSON
• Carolina leads the series, 133-22, including 59-1 in Chapel Hill and 28-1 in the Smith Center.
• The Tigers have won two of the last three, but Roy Williams is 21-4 against Clemson as head coach of the Tar Heels.
• UNC is unranked, while the Tigers are No. 19 in the AP poll. This is the fourth time in series history the Tigers are ranked higher in the AP poll when these teams meet:

1/9/2021– unranked UNC vs. No. 19 Clemson
1/26/1997– No. 19 UNC beat No. 2 Clemson, 61-48, in the Smith Center
2/24/1990– No. 23 Clemson beat unranked UNC, 69-61, at Littlejohn Coliseum
1/26/1980– No. 13 UNC beat No. 12 Clemson, 73-70, at Carmichael Auditorium

LAST SEASON VS. THE TIGERS
• Clemson beat UNC, 79-76, in overtime in the Smith Center on 1/11/2020.
• It was UNC's first loss in 60 games to Clemson in Chapel Hill. The 59-0 record was the longest unbeaten streak at home against an opponent in NCAA history.
• UNC led Clemson led, 39-29, at the half and 68-58 with 1:56 to play, but the Tigers tied the game at 70 on a 3FG by Aamir Simms with three seconds left. The Tar Heels committed three turnovers in the last minute and a half, and the Tigers made their last four field goal attempts to send the game to overtime.
• Tar Heel senior guard Brandon Robinson made five threes and scored a career-high 27 points.
• Garrison Brooks posted his fourth consecutive double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
• Armando Bacot had 21 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the floor.
• Leaky Black made his first career start at the point and had five assists.
• Andrew Platek made his first career start. He had eight points and had career highs in rebounds (eight) and assists (six).

NOTABLE
• KenPom ranks Carolina as the 325th-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).
• 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.
• 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 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 is second nationally in offensive rebounds, third in total rebounds and fifth 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 (fourth), Brooks (sixth) and Bacot (seventh).
• Sharpe leads the ACC in offensive rebounds with 3.8 per game and is fourth 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.
• 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.

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

RJ Davis

Caleb Love

Andrew Platek

Brandon Robinson

Day'Ron Sharpe

Kerwin Walton

Coby White

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