Tar Heels Open Hubert Davis Era Tuesday Vs. Loyola

GAME 1
• The Tar Heels open the 2021-22 season on Tuesday, November 9 at the Smith Center against Loyola. The ACC Network will televise the game live.
• This is the first regular-season game under the direction of Hubert Davis, who 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.

SERIES VS. LOYOLA
• Carolina defeated Loyola, 64-47, at the Baltimore Coliseum on New Years Eve 1947 in the only previous game between the schools. Bob Paxton (17) and Nemo Nearman (16) combined for 33 of UNC's 64 points.

SEASON OPENERS
• Carolina is 99-12 in season openers, including last year's 79-60 win over the College of Charleston. Freshman point guard Caleb Love led four Tar Heels in double-figure scoring with 17 points.
• UNC has won its last 16 season openers (last loss was the 2004-05 opener against Santa Clara in Oakland).
• The Tar Heels have won their last 19 home openers since a November 16, 2001, loss to Hampton.

TEAM CAPTAINS
• Junior forward/center Armando Bacot and sophomore guards RJ Davis and Caleb Love were selected team captains for 2021-22.
• Davis and Love are the first sophomore captains since Marcus Paige in 2013-14.
• The players were selected captains by a vote of their teammates.

RECAPPING ELIZABETH CITY STATE
• Five Tar Heels scored in double figures in Carolina's 83-55 win over Elizabeth City State at the Smith Center on November 5.
• Dawson Garcia (17), Armando Bacot (16), Brady Manek (16), RJ Davis (12) and Caleb Love (11) scored 72 of UNC's 83 points.
• Garcia, Love and Manek each hit a pair of three-pointers. Carolina made 9 of 23 from three-point range. The Tar Heels shot 43.1 percent from the floor and made 24 of 30 free throws.
• Davis and Love each had five assists as UNC assisted on 18 of 25 field goals.
• The Tar Heels out-rebounded ECSU, 49-28.
• Garcia was 5 for 5 from the free throw line (he also was 5 for 5 from the line when he played for Marquette against UNC last February).

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 are 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 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, 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 No. 19 in the Associated Press preseason poll and No. 20 in the coaches' poll.
• The preseason ranking was the 929th time the Tar Heels were in named an AP poll, most in college basketball history.
• Carolina has been ranked at least once in 65 of the poll's 74 seasons.

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 was a manager and 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 seven 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
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

source: TarHeelsInternational.com

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

RJ Davis

Dawson Garcia

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

Justin McKoy

Day'Ron Sharpe

Kerwin Walton

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