Tar Heels Look To Rebound Vs. Vols

GAME 5
• Eighteenth-ranked Carolina plays No. 17 Tennessee Sunday at 3:30 p.m. (ESPN) on day two of the Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
• Carolina is 3-1, while the Volunteers are 2-1 after a 71-53 loss to Villanova.
• The Tar Heels dropped their first game of the season on Saturday, 93-84, to Purdue. Sasha Stefanovic, Jaden Ivy and Trevien Williams combined for 65 points for the Boilermakers, who shot 64.3 percent from the floor en route to 52 points in the second half.
• Carolina got a season-high 26 points from Dawson Garcia and 18 points and four assists from both RJ Davis and Caleb Love. Those three scored 62 of UNC's 83 points, made 23 of the team's 31 field goals and combined for nine of the 12 three-pointers.
• It was the most three-pointers in a loss by UNC since they made 13 in a loss to Miami at home in 2018.
• Carolina had won the last 12 times it scored 80 or more points.
• Carolina has scored 83, 94, 94 and 84 points in its first four games. This is the first time since 2017-18 UNC has scored that many to start the season since scoring 86 or more in the first five games in 2017-18.
• Carolina is shooting 50.6 percent from the floor this season.
• The Tar Heels are also making 39.6 percent from three-point range. UNC is averaging 9.0 threes per game (school record for a season is 8.7 in 2018-19).
• Leaky Black (plus 53) leads the Tar Heels in plus/minus through four games. Black was unable to play in the Purdue game due to a non-Covid-related illness. No Tar Heel had a positive plus/minus against the Boilermakers.
• Five Tar Heels are averaging double figures in scoring and six are averaging at least 9.0 points per game. Only one time in school history (1988-89) did six players average double figures; the most recent of six seasons in which five did that was 2017-18.
• Dawson Garcia became the fifth Tar Heel to score 20 points in a game this season. This is the first time in UNC history five different players scored 20 or more points in the first four games.
• Caleb Love has two 22-point games (he scored 20 twice in 29 contests as a freshman) and leads the team at 18.8 points per game.
• Armando Bacot scored 22 vs. Brown and 24 at Charleston, Brady Manek had 20 vs. Loyola Maryland and RJ Davis had 26 against Brown.
• Manek had 17 points and nine rebounds at Charleston, which helped him to reach two milestones. The graduate transfer from Oklahoma passed the 1,500-point plateau and grabbed his 700th rebound.

VS. TENNESSEE
• The Tar Heels are 10-1 against the Vols, including five straight wins.
• In the most recent meeting, Carolina beat Tennessee, 78-73, in Knoxville on 12/17/2017.
• Carolina overcame a nine-point second half deficit and out-scored the 20th-ranked Volunteers 16-7 over the final five minutes for the win.
• Joel Berry II led four Tar Heels in double figures with 21 points. Kenny Williams hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 32.7 seconds to play.
• The Tar Heels led for only 89 seconds, including the final 32.7 seconds.
• The Tar Heels are 5-0 against UT in tournament games, including 2-0 in the Southern Conference and 1-0 in the NCAA Tournament (2000 in Austin, Texas), Maui Invitational (2004) and Preseason NIT (2006 in New York).
• The 2000 NCAA Sweet 16 game was the only other time prior to today's game the Vols were ranked higher than UNC when the teams played.

2013: LAST TIME AT MOHEGAN SUN
• Carolina (above right) won the Hall of Fame Tipoff in November 2013, defeating Richmond, 82-72 and third-ranked Louisville, 93-84.
• Sophomore guard Marcus Paige (right) was the Tournament's Most Valuable Player. He set career highs with six threes and 26 points vs. the Spiders, then set another career high the following day with 32 points vs. the Cardinals.
• Paige went on to earn second-team All-America and first-team All-ACC honors that season.
• Brice Johnson also established career highs vs. Richmond with 24 points and 12 rebounds.
• Freshman Kennedy Meeks had 13 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in the championship game.

HUBERT
• Hubert Davis is 3-1 as Carolina's head coach. Davis was named Carolina's 20th head coach, and first Black head coach, on April 5, 2021.
• Davis is the fourth Tar Heel head coach who also played at UNC, joining Reynolds Cuthbertson, Monk McDonald and Matt Doherty.
• Davis played for Dean Smith from 1988-92, was selected by the New York Knicks in the first round of the NBA Draft and played a dozen seasons in the NBA. He was a college basketball analyst at ESPN for seven years and an assistant coach on Roy Williams' Tar Heel staff from 2012-21.

TEAM CAPTAINS
Junior forward/center Armando Bacot and sophomore guards RJ Davis and Caleb Love were selected team captains.
• Davis and Love are UNC's first sophomore captains since Marcus Paige in 2013-14.
• The players were selected captains by a vote of their teammates.

ROSTER CHANGES
• The Tar Heels welcome seven new players to the roster, including three transfers, two freshmen and two former junior varsity players.
• Graduate student Brady Manek made 235 threes and scored 1,459 points in four seasons at Oklahoma. Sophomore Dawson Garcia averaged 13.0 points and 6.6 rebounds an earned Freshman All-Big East Conference honors last season at Marquette. Junior Justin McKoy, a Raleigh native who attended Panther Creek High School in Cary, returns to his home state after two seasons at Virginia.
• Manek's 235 three-pointers for the Sooners were more than all but two Tar Heels – Marcus Paige (299) and Joel Berry II (266).
• Manek earned his degree from OU in seven semesters. He became the tallest player in Big 12 history to make 200 threes and the first with 200 threes and 100 blocks. The Harrah, Okla., native is the only Sooner to compile 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 three-pointers and 100 blocks.
• Garcia scored 24 points and had 11 rebounds for Marquette against the Tar Heels in February when the Golden Eagles handed UNC an 83-70 loss in Chapel Hill.
• Garcia played AAU ball with fellow Minnesota native and Tar Heel teammate Kerwin Walton.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES
• Carolina was picked to finish third in the ACC by the media at preseason media day in Charlotte on October 12.
• Armando Bacot, who earned third-team All-ACC honors in 2021, was selected to the preseason first team. Sophomore guard Caleb Love was chosen for the second team. Love was a member of the ACC's All-Freshman team last season.
• Bacot and Dawson Garcia are on the preseason watch list for the Wooden Award. Bacot is also on the list for the Naismith Trophy and the Lute Olson Award.
• Bacot, Love and Dawson Garcia are on the Basketball Hall of Fame's preseason watch lists for their respective positional player-of-the-year awards.
• Love is a candidate for Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year award, Garcia for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year award and Bacot for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year award.
• Carolina is the only school to win three Bob Cousy Awards (Raymond Felton in 2005, Ty Lawson in 2009 and Kendall Marshall in 2012). Felton and Lawson won as juniors, while Marshall won the award as a sophomore.

RANKINGS
• Carolina is 18th in the November 15 AP poll.
• This week's ranking is the 930th time the Tar Heels were ranked in an AP poll, most in college basketball history.
• Carolina has been ranked at least once in 65 of the poll's 74 seasons.
• The Tar Heels play at least four teams this season currently ranked in the top 10 in the AP poll (No. 2 UCLA, No. 4 Michigan, No. 6 Purdue and two games vs. No. 7 Duke). Carolina will also play either No. 5 Villanova or No. 17 Tennessee on Sunday in the Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament in Uncasville, Conn.

TAR HEEL STAFF
• Head coach Hubert Davis is a Tar Heel alum, and so are each of his assistant coaches and members of the basketball staff.
• Assistant coaches Brad Frederick (1996-99), Jeff Lebo (1985-89) and Sean May (2002-05), Director of Recruiting Pat Sullivan (1990-93, 1994-95) and Director of Team and Player Development Jackie Manuel (2001-05) all played for the Tar Heels. Director of Operations Eric Hoots has been on staff for 18 seasons.
• Frederick played on Final Four teams that won ACC championships in 1997 and 1998.
• Lebo is a 20-year head coaching veteran who set 10 UNC records in his playing career.
• May was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2005 NCAA Final Four, scoring 26 points in the national championship game vs. Illinois.
• Manuel was twice named Carolina's defensive player of the year and was a starter on the 2005 NCAA champions.
• Sullivan was a key contributor on the 1993 national champions and is one of seven Tar Heels who have played in three Final Fours.
• Davis, Lebo, May and Frederick combined to score 4,441 points as Tar Heels. Syracuse is the only school whose coaches scored more points at their alma mater than UNC (Gerry McNamara, Adrian Autry, Allen Griffin and Jim Boeheim scored 5,189 for the Orange).

PRO HEELS
NBA
Cole Anthony, Orlando
Harrison Barnes, Sacramento
Tony Bradley, Chicago
Reggie Bullock, Dallas
Ed Davis, Cleveland
Wayne Ellington, Los Angeles Lakers
Danny Green, Philadelphia
Cameron Johnson, Phoenix
Nassir Little, Portland
Coby White, Chicago

G League
Justin Jackson, Austin (Dallas)
Theo Pinson, Maine (Boston)
Day'Ron Sharpe, Long Island (New Jersey)

International source: TarHeelInternational.com
Nate Britt, Yoast United, The Netherlands
Isaiah Hicks, Seoul Samsung Thunders, South Korea
Desmond Hubert, Al Arabi, Kuwait
Brice Johnson, Toyama Grouses, Japan
Christian Keeling, BC Rustavi, Georgia
Justin Knox, Neo-Phoenix, Japan
Ty Lawson, US Monastir, Tunisia
Luke Maye, BAXI Manresa, Spain
James Michael McAdoo, Hitachi Sun Rockers, Japan
Kennedy Meeks, Cholet Basket, France
Marcus Paige, Orleans Loiret, France
Justin Pierce, VfL Kircheim Knights, Germany
Reyshawn Terry, Plateros de Fresnillo, Mexico
Deon Thompson, Leones des Ponce, Puerto Rico
J.P. Tokoto, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Israel
Jawad Williams, Yamagata Wyverns, Japan
Kenny Williams, Kolossos Rhodes, Greece

NOVEMBER 2021 SIGNEES
• Hubert Davis's first recruiting class includes Tyler Nickel of Massanutten, Va., Will Shaver of Birmingham, Ala., Seth Trimble of Menomonee Falls, Wis., and Jalen Washington of Gary, Ind.

• "The young men we want to sign have to be able to shoot and be versatile guys who can play multiple positions," says Davis. "We were specifically looking in this class for a point guard, a shooter with size and two big men who are versatile on both ends of the floor, and we were able to get all of that with these four players."

• Tyler Nickel plays for Coach Carey Keyes at East Rockingham High School in Elkton, Va. "We knew we had to improve our shooting, and Tyler's not only a great shooter but a tremendous all- around player at his size," says Davis. "He's a wing that is outstanding defensively and competes hard on both ends of the floor. He is built to play on the biggest stage. He desperately wants to be on the floor against the best players and teams in the country. His relentless work ethic and skill give him a chance to be one of the best wings ever to play at UNC. I'll never have to coach effort or motivate Tyler to play hard on every possession because the passion to play is built into his character."

• Will Shaver is home schooled. "Will is a versatile big," says Davis. "He can consistently score in the post with either hand and can shoot it well from three. He is effective in pick and roll and pick and pop situations, and he loves to pass. He's a really good passer out of the post, so when teams have to double team him, because he can score, he has the ability to find open shooters all over the floor. He holds a special place for me because he was the first 2022 kid to commit. And he's from Alabama and we've had a couple of players from there in Pete Chilcutt and Garrison Brooks, who were pretty good players for us."

• Seth Trimble, the younger brother of J.P. Tokoto, who played for the Tar Heels from 2012-15, plays for Coach Jason Hallenbeck at Menomonee Falls High School. "Seth is the fastest point guard in the country with the ball," says Davis. "He's the most athletic point guard, combo guard in the country. As good as he is, his ceiling is ridiculous. He's the best on-the-ball defender I saw as we evaluated the class of 2022. Seth can pick up full court and create havoc on the defensive end and with his athleticism and speed he is almost impossible to stop at driving the ball into the paint. He is a true point guard in that he loves to get people involved."

• Jalen Washington attends West Side High School and is coached by Ricky Carter. "Jalen is the best shooting big in the country in this class," says Davis. "His touch from 12-15 feet in the mid-post is outstanding. I can't remember a guy who will be coming into college who is that skilled. He is athletic, has great size and is a good passer. I've talked about wanting versatile bigs who can score in the post and are excellent offensive rebounders, and he can also defend guards on the perimeter. That's what I want and we got the best one."

JAMISON INDUCTED TONIGHT IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME
• Antawn Jamison, the unanimous National Player of Year as a Tar Heel in 1998, will be inducted later tonight (Nov. 21) in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. The celebration in Kansas City, Mo., begins at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
• The Class of 2021 Induction Celebration will be streamed live on the Hall of Fame Twitter and website.
• The class includes Jamison, Maryland's Len Bias, Kansas's Paul Pierce (coached at KU by Roy Williams), Ohio State's Jim Jackson, UCLA's David Greenwood, Bradley's Hersey Hawkins and coaches Tom Penders and Rick Byrd.
• Jamison was a three-time first-team All-ACC and two-time All-America selection who led UNC to ACC Tournament championships and Final Fours in 1997 and 1998.
• Jamison is the 12th Tar Heel player and coach to be inducted in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame joining coaches Ben Carnevale, Frank McGuire, Dean Smith, Larry Brown and Roy Williams and players Billy Cunningham, Bob McAdoo, James Worthy, Phil Ford, Charlie Scott and Sam Perkins.

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

RJ Davis

Dawson Garcia

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

Justin McKoy

Day'Ron Sharpe

Kerwin Walton

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University of North Carolina Athletics