Men's Basketball Opens ACC Play At Georgia Tech Sunday

GAME 8
• Fresh off a 72-51 win over Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge the Tar Heels head to Atlanta to begin conference play on Sunday, December 5, at McCamish Pavilion.
• Gametime is 3 p.m. (ESPN).
• Both teams are 5-2 this season with the Tar Heels 1-0 in true road games (a win at the College of Charleston) and the Yellow Jackets 4-2 on their home floor.
• Georgia Tech is coming off a 70-66 home loss to Wisconsin on December 1. Michael Devoe made five threes and scored 33 of Tech's 66 points. The Jackets had won their previous five games since an opening-game loss to Miami (Ohio).
• This is the second straight season UNC has opened conference play on the road and third time in six seasons the Tar Heels have a December contest in Atlanta. Last year, Carolina began league play with back-to-back losses at NC State and Georgia Tech, then won 10 of its final 14 regular-season ACC games to finish 10-6 to tie for fifth place.
• Last season was the 44th in which the Tar Heels won at least 10 regular-season ACC games. UNC has the most 10-win seasons in ACC history (Duke is second with 38). It also was the 62nd season in which Carolina finished in the top half of the league.
• This is the 69th season of competition in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tar Heels have won the ACC regular-season title a record 32 times, including nine times in the previous 18 seasons under Roy Williams (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2019).
• The Tar Heels are 55-13 all-time in ACC openers.
• Carolina is 715-296 in regular-season ACC games. The 715 wins are the most in ACC history. UNC has won 70.7 percent of its regular-season ACC games.
• Carolina has won 2,299 games. A win would make UNC the third team in college basketball history with 2,300 wins (with Kentucky and Kansas).
• Sophomore guard Caleb Love scored 22 points and led a Tar Heel attack that shot 58.1 percent from the floor en route to out-scoring Michigan, 43-24, in the second half in Wednesday's 21-point win over the 24th-ranked Wolverines.
• Carolina held Michigan 35.1 percent shooting from the floor and 51 points, fewest in a game this season by the Wolverines and allowed by the Tar Heels. The 51 points were the fewest allowed by UNC in the 23-year history of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
• The Tar Heels made just two of their first 10 shots from the floor and eight of their first 27 as the Wolverines built a 23-18 lead. UNC then made five of their last nine field goal attempts in the first half to take a 29-27 lead to the break and shot 58.1 percent (18 of 31) in the second half to pull away for the 21-point victory. It was Carolina's largest in the Challenge since defeating Michigan State on 12/3/2008 in a preview of the 2009 NCAA championship game.
• Carolina was just 2 for 3 from the free throw line. It was a school record for fewest attempts and tied the mark (sixth time) with just two made free throws.

CAROLINA ALL-TIME VS. GEORGIA TECH
• Carolina is 69-27 against Georgia Tech, including 22-15 in Atlanta (16-13 in McCamish Pavilion/Alexander Memorial Coliseum).
• Tech has won two in a row and three of the last five in the series.
• UNC has won four of six games since the building was renovated and the arena was renamed McCamish Pavilion.
• Overall the Tar Heels have won nine of the last 12 games against the Yellow Jackets.

LAST SEASON VS. GEORGIA TECH
• The teams played one time, on December 30 in Atlanta, a 72-67 Yellow Jacket victory.
• Carolina led 35-29 at the half and 61-53 with under seven minutes to play.
• Freshmen Day'Ron Sharpe and Kerwin Walton made their first career starts.
• Carolina came into the game averaging 3.9 made three-pointers in its first eight games but made eight, including three by Walton and two by Caleb Love.
• Georgia Tech shot 61.5 percent from the floor in the second half when it out-scored UNC, 43-32. The Yellow Jackets had 13 assists on 16 second-half field goals.
• Carolina committed 18 turnovers that led to 19 Georgia Tech points.
• Armando Bacot (14) and Leaky Black (10) were the only Tar Heels to score in double figures. Jose Alverado and Michael Devoe both scored 20 for Tech.

NOTABLE
• Carolina scored at least 83 points and averaged 88.8 points in the first four games this season. The Tar Heels have scored 72 points in each of the last three games. They lost by 17 to Tennessee in the first of those three games, but held UNC Asheville to 53 points and Michigan to 51 in wins in the last two starts.
• It was the first time since December 2006 the Tar Heels held the opponents to 53 or fewer points in consecutive games (87-48 win over Rutgers on 12/28/2006 and 81-51 win over Dayton on 12/31/2006).
• The Tar Heels have held the opposition to under 37 percent shooting from the floor in the last four halves – .273 and .257 by UNC Asheville and .351 and .367 by Michigan.
• Purdue and Tennessee combined to shoot 55.0 percent from the floor, while the Tar Heels limited UNC Asheville and Michigan to a combined 30.4 percent. That's the largest drop in field goal percentage from one two-game stretch to another in UNC history (courtesy Jody Zeugner).
• Carolina is 14th in the country in offensive efficiency. UNC climbed 23 spots in defensive efficiency to 90th after the win over Michigan, when it held the Wolverines to 51 points and 35.1 percent shooting from the floor.
• The Tar Heels forced a season-high 13 turnovers in the win over Michigan but are 351st in the country in turnover percentage defensively. The opponents are averaging turnovers on only 17.5 percent of their possessions.
• Carolina was a season-best plus-9 in points off turnovers against Michigan.
• Brady Manek is tied for the team lead in three-pointers with 14. The next three the graduate student from Harrah, Okla., makes will be the 250th of collegiate career. He is fifth in Oklahoma history after making 235 from 2017-21.
• 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. Armando Bacot and Caleb Love each have three 20-point games, Brady Manek has two and RJ Davis and Dawson Garcia each have one.
• Love has scored 22 points three times in the first seven games – against Loyola Maryland, College of Charleston and Michigan. The sophomore guard scored 20 or more twice in 29 games last season.
• Armando Bacot has four double-doubles this season and 22 in his three seasons as a Tar Heel.
• Last season Bacot led UNC in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and blocks. He leads again this year in all but scoring, where he is second behind Love. No Tar Heel has ever led the team in those four categories in consecutive seasons.
• Carolina is 5-0 in two seasons when Love scores 20 or more and 6-0 when he makes 50 percent of his field goal attempts (4-0 last season and 2-0 in 2021-22).
• Love has more assists than turnovers in all seven games and has 29 assists and 14 turnovers this season.
• UNC is averaging 8.7 threes per game, which is on pace to equal the school record for a season (8.7 per game in 2018-19).
• The Tar Heels are shooting 41.5 percent from three-point range over the first seven games. That is on pace for the fourth-best percentage by UNC and the highest since 1987-88.
• The Tar Heels are 10th in the country in three-point percentage. Last season, UNC was 262nd in the country (.318) and, in 2019-20, the Tar Heels ranked 306th in three-point accuracy (.304).
• Bacot and senior Leaky Black share the team lead in plus/minus through seven games. Both are plus-84, although Black has played in one fewer game than Bacot.

HUBERT
• Hubert Davis is 5-2 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

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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