Preview: Tar Heels Vs. Kentucky Saturday In Las Vegas

GAME 11
• Carolina plays No. 21 Kentucky in Las Vegas in the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday, December 18. Gametime is 5:30 p.m. Eastern (2:30 p.m. in Las Vegas).
• Tickets previously purchased for the UNC-UCLA and Kentucky-Ohio State games will still be honored for the UNC-Kentucky game.
• Carolina was originally scheduled to play UCLA in this year's Classic, which is in its eighth year.
• The UNC-Kentucky matchup was arranged after Ohio State and UCLA were unable to play due health and safety protocols.
• This is the second straight year UNC will play Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic in a late change of the schedule. Last season, the Tar Heel were slated to play Ohio State, but a change was made three days before tip to match teams from the ACC and SEC, which had similar Covid protocols.
• Carolina beat Kentucky, 75-63, on December 19, 2020, in Cleveland.
• The Tar Heels have won five games in a row and are 8-2 overall, including 1-0 in ACC play.
• Carolina has won eight of its first 10 games for the first time since 2018-19.
• Carolina ranks in the top third in the ACC in numerous categories, including first in rebound margin, second in field goal percentage, three-point percentage and rebounding and third in assists and scoring.
• Dawson Garcia (20/10) and Armando Bacot (14/12) had double-doubles and the Tar Heels broke a halftime tie with a 15-4 run to begin the second half in a 74-61 win over Furman Tuesday at the Smith Center.
• The Tar Heels shot 53.3 percent from the floor and held the Paladins to 28.1 percent in the second half. It was the fifth straight game UNC held an opponent to 63 or fewer points.
• Kentucky is 7-2. The Wildcats opened the season with a 79-71 loss to Duke in New York, won their next seven and are coming off a 66-62 loss at Notre Dame on December 11.
• The 'Cats lead the nation in offensive rebound percentage (45.0%), are ninth in blocked shot percentage (5.2%) and 19th in offensive efficiency.
• The Tar Heels are seventh in the country in three-point percentage (40.9%), while Kentucky is 345th in percentage of points coming from 3FGs.
• Carolina is 5-2 in the CBS Sports Classic (2-0 vs. Ohio State, 2-0 vs. UCLA and 1-2 vs. Kentucky).

Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic
def. Ohio State, 82-74, 12/20/2014 (Chicago)
def. UCLA, 89-76, 12/19/2015 (Brooklyn)
lost to Kentucky, 100-103, 12/17/2016 (Las Vegas)
def. Ohio State, 86-72, 12/23/2017 (New Orleans)
lost to Kentucky, 72-80, 12/22/2018 (Chicago)
def. UCLA, 74-64, 12/21/2019 (Las Vegas)
def. Kentucky, 75-63, 12/19/2020 (Cleveland)

• The Tar Heels are 1-1 at T-Mobile Arena and 5-3 in Las Vegas. UNC is 0-1 against Kentucky in T-Mobile Arena.

Carolina in T-Mobile Arena
lost to Kentucky, 100-103, 12/17/2016
def. UCLA, 74-64, 12/21/2019

Carolina in Las Vegas
def. Old Dominion, 99-82, 11/23/2007^%
def. BYU, 73-63, 11/24/2007^%
def. South Carolina, 11/25/2011^%
lost to UNLV, 80-90, 11/26/2011^%
lost to Kentucky, 100-103, 12/17/2016^#
lost to Texas, 89-82, 11/22/2018^%
def. UCLA, 94-78, 11/23/2018^%
def. UCLA, 74-64, 12/21/2019^#

% Las Vegas Invitational, Orleans Arena
# CBS Sports Classic, T-Mobile Arena

• UNC has won its last five starts allowing 58.0 points per game. No opponent has scored more than 63 points in those five games, the first time UNC has held the opposition to 63 or fewer points in five straight games since 2010-11. The last time UNC held six straight opponents to 63 or fewer points was 1984-85, when UNC did that in its final seven games.
• Following the Kentucky game, the Tar Heels conclude the non-conference portion of the regular season on Tuesday, December 21, at home vs. Appalachian State.
• Carolina returns to action after Christmas on the 29th at home vs. Virginia Tech. That begins a 19-game stretch of games through the end of the regular season against only ACC competition.
• Carolina is 31st in KenPom's overall rankings. The Tar Heels are 12th in the country in offensive efficiency and 26th in effective field goal percentage.

CAROLINA ALL-TIME VS. KENTUCKY
• Carolina is 25-16 all-time against Kentucky.
• Carolina is the only D-I program in the country that has 10 or more wins and a winning record against Kentucky.
• Carolina is 13-6 against Kentucky at neutral sites, including 2-1 in Charlotte, Greensboro and Louisville; 1-0 in Atlanta, Birmingham, Cleveland, College Park, East Rutherford, N.J., Memphis and Raleigh; and 0-1 in Chicago, Newark and Las Vegas.
• Carolina is 1-2 against Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic. The Wildcats beat UNC, 103-100, in T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on 12/17/16. Malik Monk scored 47 and De'Aaron Fox had 24 points and 10 assists to offset a career-high 34 points by Tar Heel junior Justin Jackson.
• That game was just the second in UNC history, and the first in a regulation-length game, in which the Tar Heels lost when scoring 100 points.
• The teams met in Memphis later that season in the 2017 NCAA South Region final, a game UNC won, 75-73, on a Luke Maye shot with 0.3 seconds to play.
• On 12/22/18 in Chicago, Carolina committed 18 turnovers that led to 23 points in an 80-72 Kentucky victory.

LAST TIME VS. KENTUCKY
UNC 75, KENTUCKY 63, DEC. 19, 2020
• UNC trailed 19-8 early and by six at the half but out-scored Kentucky, 41-25, in the second half to win by a dozen before a mostly empty Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland in the CBS Sports Classic.
• Trailing 48-42 with 13:15 to play, UNC did not allow a Kentucky field goal over the next 9:11. In that time, UNC went from trailing by six points to leading by six.
• In the first half, Kentucky out-scored UNC, 14-5, on second-chance points. In the second half, however, UNC had a 13-2 advantage in second-chance scoring.
• Armando Bacot led UNC with 14 points, freshman Caleb Love had six assists and freshman Kerwin Walton scored 10 of his season-high 13 points in the second half.
• Walton and Bacot combined for 21 second-half points (Kentucky scored 25 in the second half).

NOTABLE
• The Tar Heels are averaging 80.4 points, their highest average since scoring 85.8 per game in 2018-19. Carolina has averaged 80 or more points 21 times since the shot clock era began in 1985-86.
• The wins over UNC Asheville and Michigan marked the first time since December 2006 the Tar Heels held the opponents to 53 or fewer points in consecutive games.
• Caleb Love leads UNC in scoring (16.2 ppg), assists (39), three-pointers (21) and steals (16). The sophomore has more assists than turnovers in nine of the first 10 games.
• Love has made 21 three-pointers in the first 10 games. Last year as a freshman, Love made his 19th three in the Tar Heels' 21st game against Louisville on February 20th.
• Armando Bacot is second in the ACC in field goal percentage (.619) and rebounding (9.8) and fifth in blocks (17).
• Bacot leads the ACC and is sixth in the country with six double-doubles. He has 24 in three seasons as a Tar Heel. Bacot is 19th in the nation in rebounding and 22nd in field goal percentage.
• Sophomore guards RJ Davis and Caleb Love are playing a combined 64.4 minutes game and averaging 29.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game. They are one-two on the team in three-pointers made – 21 by Love and 19 by Davis. They are shooting 44.0 percent from three (40 of 91).
• Five Tar Heels are averaging double figures in scoring this season. The last time five Tar Heels averaged 10 or more points was 2017-18.
• Five different Tar Heels also have scored 20 or more points in a game this season. Caleb Love has four 22-point games, Armando Bacot and Dawson Garcia each have three 20-point games, and Brady Manek and RJ Davis have two apiece.
• Tar Heels have scored 20 or more points 14 times in 10 games, including four games in which two players scored 20 or more (Loyola, Brown, Charleston and Elon). Last season, UNC had only seven 20-point performances in 29 games. Freshman Day'Ron Sharpe became the first Tar Heel to score 20 or more when he had 25 against Notre Dame in the season's 10th game. UNC did not have any games last season when two players scored 20 or more points.
• This is the 11th Tar Heel team to have five players score 20 points at least twice: 1960, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1989, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2016, 2018 and 2022. Five of the other 10 teams to accomplish that played in Final Fours.
• Love has scored 22 points four times – against Loyola Maryland, Charleston, Michigan and Elon. The sophomore scored 20 or more twice in 29 games last season.
• Carolina is 6-0 in two seasons when Love scores 20 or more and 7-0 when he makes 50 percent of his field goal attempts (4-0 last season and 3-0 in 2021-22).
• UNC is averaging 8.3 threes per game, which equals the second most in a season.
• Carolina made at least seven threes in its first nine games this season. This was the first time since 2004-05 the Tar Heels made seven or more 3FGs in nine consecutive games.

MOST THREE-POINT FIELD GOALS MADE PER GAME
8.7 in 2018-19 (312 in 36 games)
8.3 in 2021-22 (83 in 10 games)
8.3 in 2002-03 (290 in 35 games)
8.3 in 1982-83 (132 in 16 games – ACC games only)
8.2 in 2017-18 (305 in 37 games)
7.8 in 1994-95 (266 in 34 games)

• The Tar Heels are shooting 40.9 percent from three-point range, seventh best in the country. That is on pace for the fifth-best percentage by UNC and the highest since 1994-95.

HIGHEST THREE-POINT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE
.437 in 1982-83 (132 of 302) ACC games only
.436 in 1986-87 (213 of 488)
.430 in 1987-88 (169 of 393)
.410 in 1994-95 (266 of 648)
.409 in 2021-22 (83 of 203)
.403 in 2004-05 (277 of 687)

• Carolina is 26th nationally in effective field goal percentage (which takes into account the added value of three-point shooting). The Tar Heels' effective FG percentage is 55.3%, an improvement from 46.4% in 2019-20 and 48.3% in 2020-21.
• By comparison, Carolina's effective FG percentage in its most recent NCAA championship seasons were 51.7% in 2016-17, 52.8% in 2008-09 and 56.0% in 2004-05.
• Carolina is sixth in the ACC in offensive rebound percentage but leads the conference in rebound margin at plus 10.7 per game and is second in total rebounds per game (40.6).
• Bacot and senior Leaky Black rank one-two on the team in plus/minus through eight games. Bacot is +131 and Black is +128 (Black has played in one fewer game than Bacot).
• Black has a positive plus/minus in eight of his nine games this season (did not play due to illness vs. Purdue). In all eight games in which he had a positive plus/minus, Black was at least +11. His +29 against Michigan is the highest value by a Tar Heel in any game this season.
• The win at Georgia Tech on December 5 was No. 2,300 in Carolina history. UNC is the third team in college basketball history with 2,300 wins (with Kentucky and Kansas).

HUBERT
• Hubert Davis is 8-2 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.

2021-22 ROSTER NOTES
• 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.

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
Day'Ron Sharpe, New Jersey
Coby White, Chicago

G League
Justin Jackson, Austin (Dallas)
Theo Pinson, Maine (Boston)

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

I-40 NEAR UNC NAMED FOR SMITH, WILLIAMS
• The North Carolina Department of Transportation formally a request by Carolina Athletics to honorarily name stretches of U.S. Interstate 40 in Chapel Hill for former Tar Heel men's basketball coaches Dean Smith and Roy Williams.
• The Chapel Hill Town Council approved a resolution to support the request on November 17.
• The DOT will place honorary signs designating stretches of I-40 from exits 266-270 the Roy Williams Highway and from exits 270-273 the Dean Smith Highway.
• "Dean Smith and Roy Williams are two of the greatest to ever have coached college basketball," says North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. "And while their combined five national championships helped make UNC one of the premier basketball institutions in the country, it is their work off the court and in their communities that truly sets them apart. North Carolinians across the state are grateful for their leadership and these honorary road namings will help us recognize them for their hard work and sacrifice."
• Smith and Williams combined to coach the Tar Heels for 67 seasons (Smith was an assistant coach for three years and head coach for 36; Williams was an assistant on Smith's staff for 10 years and head coach for 18).
• The pair of Naismith, College Basketball and North Carolina Sports Hall of Famers combined to lead Carolina to five NCAA championships, 16 Final Fours, 16 ACC Tournament titles, 26 regular-season ACC championships, 33 top-10 Associated Press rankings and 1,364 victories.

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

RJ Davis

Dawson Garcia

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

Justin McKoy

Day'Ron Sharpe

Kerwin Walton

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