Marquette Visits For Non-Conference Matchup Wednesday

GAME 22
• Carolina hosts Marquette at the Dean E. Smith Center at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24. ESPN2 will televise the game.
• Carolina is 14-7 overall, 8-5 in ACC play. The Tar Heels are in fourth place in the ACC standings with three games remaining on the schedule at home versus No. 11 Florida State, at Syracuse and home against Duke.
• Marquette is 10-12 overall, 6-10 in the Big East.
• The Tar Heels scheduled the Golden Eagles after UNC's conference game at Boston College, originally scheduled for February 23, was postponed. The Golden Eagles last played on February 17, defeating Butler for the second time in 15 days. Marquette was off until the 27th, when it is scheduled to play at UConn.
• Marquette is the second non-conference opponent in UNC's last three games. The Tar Heels defeated Northeastern, 82-62, on February 17. That game was scheduled after UNC's game against Virginia Tech on the 16th had been postponed.
• The February 24 game against Marquette will be UNC's latest non-ACC regular-season game since the Tar Heels defeated Louisville in Charlotte on 2/27/1977.
• This the first time UNC has played two regular-season non-ACC games in February or March since the 1988-89 season, when the Tar Heels defeated Old Dominion on February 14 and Nevada on February 21.
• Carolina is averaging 80.8 points in eight home games this season (70.5 in the other 13 games).
• UNC is 211-17 all-time against non-ACC teams in the Smith Center.
• Carolina defeated Louisville, 99-54, at the Smith Center on Saturday to improve to 8-0 at home this season (5-0 in ACC play, 3-0 vs. non-conference teams).
• The Tar Heels' 45-point margin of victory over Louisville tied UNC's fourth largest in an ACC game.
• Led by three in double figures (21 by Day'Ron Sharpe, 19 by Kerwin Walton and 10 by Walker Kessler) UNC's freshmen scored 73 points against Louisville, the most in UNC history. The previous high was 61 vs. NC State on 1/23/21 (prior to this season it was 58 in the 2002-03 opener vs. Penn State).
• Carolina set season highs in the win over Louisville in points/game (99), points/half (51 in the second), points in a first half (48), field goals (42), assists (29), field goal percentage/game (.609) and field goal percentage/half (.647, second half).

ONE MORE W FOR 900
• Roy Williams is 899-260 in 33 seasons as a head coach. With UNC's next win, Williams will become the fourth Division I coach to win 900 games, joining fellow Naismith Hall of Famers Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim and Bob Knight.

MOST WINS AS DIVISION I HEAD COACH
1168 Mike Krzyzewski Army, Duke
977 Jim Boeheim Syracuse
902 Bob Knight Army, Indiana, Texas Tech
899 Roy Williams Kansas, North Carolina
879 Dean Smith North Carolina

THE ROAD TO 900
Win Date Score, Opponent
1 (KU) 11-25-88 94-81, Alaska-Anchorage
100 (KU) 3-13-92 84-66, Colorado
200 (KU) 1-28-96 88-73, Nebraska
300 (KU) 2-20-99 60-50, Oklahoma
400 (KU) 1-15-03 98-70, Wyoming
418 (KU) 4-5-03 94-61, Marquette
419 (UNC) 11-22-03 90-64, Old Dominion
500 (UNC) 12-9-06 94-69, High Point
600 (UNC) 11-29-09 80-73, Nevada
700 (UNC) 3-22-13 78-71, Villanova
800 (UNC) 1-16-17 85-68, Syracuse

• Win No. 418 vs. Marquette was Williams' final win as the head coach at Kansas. It came in New Orleans in the 2003 national semifinal.
• His 100th win at Kansas came in his 129th game.
• He was eighth-fastest in games played to 200 wins, tied for the third-fastest to 300, fourth fastest to 400, the fastest to 500 and 600, third fastest to 700 behind Adolph Rupp and Jerry Tarkanian and second-fastest to 800 behind Rupp.
• He won his 800th in fewer seasons than any coach.
• If UNC beats Marquette, Williams would reach 900 wins in 1,160 games. Krzyzewski won his 900th in 1,183 games, Boeheim in 1,251 and Knight in 1,269. It would be the fastest to 900 in both games and seasons than any coach in history (Krzyzewski won his 900th in his 36th season).
• Some other numbers:
– 481 wins as Carolina's head coach and 418 at Kansas. Only one other coach has won at least 300 at two schools (Bob Huggins– 399 at Cincinnati and 306 at West Virginia prior to the Mountaineers' game on 2/23 at TCU).
– 481 wins at UNC (third most by an ACC coach);
– 442 home wins in 498 games;
– 210 regular-season ACC wins (third all-time)
– 93 ACC road wins (third all-time);
– 79 NCAA Tournament wins (second all-time);
– 66 wins over AP top-10 teams (tied third all-time);
– eight wins over the No. 1 ranked team in the Associated Press poll (most all-time);
– second all-time in 30-win seasons with 12;
– tied for fourth in 20-win seasons with 29;
– three NCAA titles

UNC-MARQUETTE
• Carolina is 4-1 against Marquette (1-0 in the Roy Williams era).
• UNC led 40-15 at the half and defeated Marquette, 81-63, on 3/25/2011, in the most recent meeting between the schools. That was an NCAA East Regional Sweet 16 game in Newark, N.J. Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes combined for 47 points, Zelller and Johg Henson both had double-doubles and Kendall Marshall had seven assists.
• Carolina is 2-0 at home against Marquette (both in the Smith Center).
• This is Marquette's first visit to Chapel Hill since an 84-54 Tar Heel victory on 1/13/2001. Brendan Haywood led five Tar Heel scorers in double figures (including Julius Peppers, who had 13 points and nine rebounds) with 17 points, nine boards and five blocks.
• Marquette defeated UNC, 67-59, in the 1977 NCAA title game in Atlanta.

WALTON IS FOURTH TAR HEEL TO WIN
ACC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK HONORS
• Kerwin Walton was named the ACC Freshman of the Week for his efforts last week against Northeastern and Louisville.
• He became the fourth Tar Heel to win the award this season. That marked the second time in ACC history one team had four different players earn Freshman of the Week honors in the same season.
• Walton joined teammates Caleb Love, RJ Davis and Day'Ron Sharpe in winning the award this season. Love won for his play against Wake Forest/NC State and Duke, Davis vs. Syracuse and Florida State and Sharpe vs. Notre Dame.
• Wake Forest had four recipients in 1978-79 (Mike Helms, Jim Johnstone, Guy Morgan and Alvis Rogers).
• The five awards this season are the most by UNC players since Harrison Barnes (3), Kendall Marshall (3) and Reggie Bullock (1) combined for seven in 2010-11.

OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY
• Carolina had its highest and third-highest points per possessions by half in the win over Louisville. UNC scored 51 points on 43 second-half possessions (1.19) and 48 first-half points on 46 possessions (1.07).
• That continued a trend over the second half of Carolina's season. Over the last 10 games (beginning with Syracuse on 1/12/21), the Tar Heels have scored 767 points on 845 possessions, an efficiency of .91.
• That includes six of 10 games at .90 or higher (with a season-best 1.13 against Louisville) and also games at Clemson (.69) and Virginia (.68), where UNC struggled to score.
• Over the first 10 games, UNC's points per possession was just .82 (795 points on 966 possessions). The Tar Heels did not have a PPP of .90 or higher in any of those first 10 games.

MORE WITH THE BALL
• Carolina is one of 14 teams in the nation that has had 10 or more players score in double figures. Freshman Walker Kessler became the 10th Tar Heel to score in double figures this season when he scored 10 points against both Northeastern and Louisville.
• Sophomore Armando Bacot has scored 10 or more points a team-best 14 times followed by Garrison Brooks (13), RJ Davis (10), Caleb Love (10) and Day'Ron Sharpe (10).
• Three Tar Heels have scored 20 or more this season – Love with 25 at Duke and 20 vs. Wake Forest, Sharpe with 25 vs. Notre Dame and 21 vs. Louisville and Bacot with 21 at Pittsburgh.
• Carolina scored a season-high 99 points in beating Louisville. It was the sixth time in the last 10 games UNC scored 80 or more points. The Tar Heels scored 80 only one time (in a 13-point loss at Iowa) in their first 11 games.
• Carolina has shot 50 percent or better from the floor in eight of its last 15 halves (accomplished that five times in the first 27 halves).
• UNC has shot 50 percent or better from the floor in four of the last six ACC games (.544 vs. NC State, .525 at Pittsburgh, .531 at Duke and a season-high .607 vs. Louisville). Those are the only four times this season UNC has shot 50 percent.
• Carolina is 4-0 this season and 218-9 in 18 seasons under Roy Williams when it shoots 50 percent from the floor.

TAKE CARE OF & SHARING THE BALL
• Carolina had 29 assists in its win over Louisville. That was the fourth time in the last six games UNC had 20 or more assists (22 at Pittsburgh, 20 at Duke, 20 vs. Northeastern and 29 vs. Louisville). UNC had 22 assists at Iowa on December 8, the only time the Tar Heels had 20 or more assists in their first 15 games.
• Carolina has more assists than turnovers in each of its last four games and 10 of the last 12.
• The Tar Heels have 80 assists and 45 turnovers in the last four games and have 32 more assists than turnovers for the season (Carolina has never committed more turnovers than it had assists in 17 previous seasons under Roy Williams).
• In ACC play, the Tar Heels have 223 assists and 180 turnovers.
• The Tar Heels are 10-3 this season when they have more assists than turnovers (including 7-2 in ACC games).
• Six Tar Heels have more assists than turnovers (Leaky Black 56/25, Kerwin Walton 40/26, RJ Davis 46/35, Anthony Harris 10/4, Caleb Love 75/68 and Andrew Platek 21/19).
• In 18 seasons under Roy Williams, the Tar Heels have won 81.6 percent of its games when they have fewer turnovers than their opponents.

THREES
• Kerwin Walton leads UNC with 42 three-pointers and a three-point percentage of .467 (42 of 90). Caleb Love is second with 21 made threes and RJ Davis is third with 20.
• The last time a Tar Heel made more threes than the next two teammates combined was 2014-15, when Marcus Paige made 94 and Justin Jackson (28) and Nate Britt (26) combined for 54.
• Carolina made eight three-pointers vs. Louisville. It was the seventh time this season UNC made seven or more three-pointers. UNC is 5-2 when it makes seven or more.
• UNC was 10 of 15 at Duke, a percentage of .667 that was the highest ever by UNC against Duke (except for the 1983 game in Cameron, when the ACC experimented with a three-point line at 17 feet, nine inches).
• That tied the seventh-highest three-point percentage in any game by UNC in which the Tar Heels made 10 or more threes.
• The Tar Heels are shooting 3 1.6 percent from three-point range this season, which is on pace to be the second lowest in school history.

LOWEST THREE-POINT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE
.304 in 2019-20 (181 of 595)
.316 in 2020-21 (104 of 336)
.327 in 2015-16 (224 of 685)
.328 in 2010-11 (190 of 580)
.329 in 2009-10 (176 of 535)

• UNC has shot slightly better from three in its wins (.326) vs. its losses (.296). The biggest difference in wins/losses is the number of threes made by UNC and its opponents.
• Carolina has been outscored 210-102 from the three-point line in its seven losses this season.
• The opponents have averaged 10.0 threes in the seven losses and shot 43.2 percent from beyond the arc (UNC has made 4.9 per game in the losses).

SCHEDULING ANOMALIES
• Covid-19 has resulted in the postponement of four ACC games for the Tar Heels, three of which were scheduled for the Smith Center. They include January 12 vs. Clemson (which Syracuse replaced), February 8 vs. Miami, February 16 vs. Virginia Tech and February 23 at Boston College.
• Carolina has played only eight of its 21 games at home this season. Only Boston College, which has played seven home games, has played fewer times at home among ACC teams.
• Between the January 23 game vs. NC State and February 17 game vs. Northeastern, Carolina played four consecutive ACC games on the road. That was the first time UNC played four straight true ACC road games in one season since 1964-65, when Carolina played at South Carolina, Maryland, Wake Forest and Duke.
• Before the season began Carolina had five non-conference games canceled as the NCAA limited schedules to 27 games. Those included home games against UNC Asheville, UNCW and Loyola (Md.) and games at Hawai'i and Monmouth.

FRESHMEN FOCUS
• KenPom ranks Carolina the 325th-most experienced team in the nation (out of 342 teams). Seven of UNC's 11 rotation players are freshmen.
• In ACC play, UNC freshmen have played 1,367 of 2,600 minutes (52.6 percent).
• Freshmen have made 45 starts this season, including 19 by Caleb Love, 13 by Kerwin Walton and 10 by RJ Davis. That's the fifth most in the country behind Kentucky, Washington State, Kansas State and Duke.
• UNC used five different starting lineups in the first 11 games this season, but has started the same lineup in each of the last 10 games (Love, Walton, Black, Brooks and Bacot).
• Freshmen are second (Love), fourth (Sharpe), fifth (Walton) and sixth (Davis) in scoring for the Tar Heels. This is the first time three freshmen are among UNC's top five scorers since 2006-07, when Brandan Wright, Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson were second, third and fourth, respectively. This would be the first season four freshmen are among UNC's top six scorers.
• Freshmen (including red-shirt freshman Anthony Harris) have scored 56.0 percent of Carolina's points this season. That's the second-highest percentage in any season at UNC. The 2002-03 team included Rashad McCants, Sean May, Raymond Felton and David Noel. In the first nine games that season, before May broke his foot, the freshmen accounted for 62 percent of the team's scoring.

HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF SCORING BY UNC FRESHMEN
.584 in 2002-03
.560 in 2020-21
.502 in 2006-07
.501 in 2005-06
.372 in 1995-96

• 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.

REBOUNDING
• Carolina outrebounded Louisville, 45-34. It was the 13th time UNC has grabbed 40 or more rebounds in a game this season.
• UNC has more offensive rebounds in 19 of 21 games this season (tied with Wake Forest and Louisville).
• Carolina leads the nation in rebound margin (+11.0) and offensive rebounds (15.1 per game) and is third in total rebounds per game (42.9 rpg) behind Buffalo and Coastal Carolina.
• Carolina and Houston are tied for first nationally in offensive rebound percentage. Both the Tar Heels and Cougars grab 39.8 percent of their missed shots.
• Carolina is averaging 16.4 second-chance points with a season-high 30 vs. Charleston, low of seven at Georgia Tech and 20 or more four times. The 16.4 points are the second-most second-chance points UNC has averaged in the last 10 seasons (17.6 in 2016-17).
• 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).
• UNC's rebound margin of +11.0 per game is on pace to tie the second highest in school history (the record is +12.3 in 2016-17).

HIGHEST REBOUNDING MARGIN PER GAME
12.3 in 2016-17
11.0 in 2020-21
11.0 in 2007-08
10.8 in 1956-57
10.4 in 2018-19
10.4 in 2011-12

• 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.
• Three Tar Heels are averaging at least seven rebounds a game (7.8 by Day'Ron Sharpe , 7.6 by Armando Bacot and 7.4 by Garrison Brooks). This is the first time three Tar Heels averaged 7.0 or more rebounds since 1969-70 (Lee Dedmon, Charlie Scott and Dennis Wuycik).
• Sharpe (third), Bacot (fifth) and Brooks (11th) rank in the top 11 in the ACC in rebounding in all games. In ACC play, Sharpe is first, Bacot fifth and Brooks 15th.
• Sharpe is second nationally among freshmen in offensive rebounds.

CLOSE LOSSES
• Carolina has either led in the final 10 minutes, including two times when UNC led inside the final 3:30, or trailed by one possession in five of its seven losses season:
– took a 65-63 lead over Texas with 2:35 to play on a Garrison Brooks basket, but lost, 69-67, on a last-second shot;
– took a 68-67 lead at Iowa with 9:30 to play, but lost, 93-80;
– rallied from 17 down to within two at NC State with 10 seconds to play and had two three-point attempts in the final seconds that could have tied the game in a 79-76 loss;
– led Georgia Tech by six at the half, by eight with 6:36 to play and 65-64 with 3:25 remaining, but lost, 72-67;
– trailed Florida State, 74-73, with 2:22 to play in the Seminoles' 82-75 win in Tallahassee.

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Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

RJ Davis

Anthony Harris

Walker Kessler

Caleb Love

Andrew Platek

Day'Ron Sharpe

Kerwin Walton

Coby White

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University of North Carolina Athletics