Tar Heels Look To Bounce Back Vs. FSU

GAME 23
• Carolina closes out the month of February when it hosts Florida State at the Dean E. Smith Center on Saturday at 4 p.m. ESPN will televise the game.
• UNC is 14-8 overall, 8-5 in ACC play.
• UNC is coming off an 83-70 home loss to Marquette on February 24, a non-conference game that Carolina added last weekend after its game at Boston College on the 23rd became UNC's fourth ACC contest canceled due to Covid-19 safety protocols.
• Garrison Brooks led UNC with 18 points, which matched his season high, against Marquette. Those were 18 of the 33 points scored by UNC's starters. The only other Tar Heels to score in double figures were RJ Davis (11) and Walker Kessler (10).
• Marquette led by 18 points late in the first half and 16 at the break. The 18 points represented UNC's largest deficit of the season, and the halftime deficit was also UNC's largest of the season.
• That came one game after UNC led Louisville by 19 at halftime and defeated the Cardinals by 45 points, both season highs for the Tar Heels.
• Florida State, 14-3 overall, has won four in a row to lead the ACC at 10-2 in league play.
• The Seminoles defeated UNC, 82-75, in Tallahassee on January 16.
• On Wednesday, February 24, the state of North Carolina announced new regulations that allow indoor arenas that hold 5,000 or seats to allow 15 percent capacity. Fans will be required to sit at least six feet apart and wear masks.
• Approximately 75 percent (about 2,400) of the available tickets in the Smith Center will be reserved for Carolina students via the student lottery system. Other ticket blocks will be available to the families of student-athletes and coaches, health care workers from UNC Hospitals and a small number of donors. No tickets will be available for sale.

ROY'S 500TH HOME GAME
• Florida State is the 500th home game as a college head coach for Roy Williams (including UNC and Kansas).
• His teams are 442-57 at home, winning 88.6 percent of the time.
• Carolina is 241-41 at home under Williams – 239-40 at the Smith Center, 1-1 at Carmichael Arena and 1-0 in the Greensboro Coliseum in a 2017 game the NCAA designated as a home game.

UNC-FLORIDA STATE
• Carolina is 50-15 against the Seminoles, including 40-14 since FSU joined began play in the ACC in 1991-92.
• Carolina is 21-4 at home – 18-4 at the Smith Center and 3-0 at Carmichael Auditorium.
• The Tar Heels have won the last five in Chapel Hill.
• The Seminoles have won two straight and three of the last four (all three UNC losses have come in Tallahassee by one, six and seven points).
• This is the second time in three games (and the only two times in series history) the Tar Heels are unranked and playing a ranked FSU team. Last season, the eighth-ranked Seminoles beat UNC, 65-59, in Tallahassee.
• Roy Williams is 21-8 against the Seminoles (20-8 at UNC, 1-0 at Kansas).

EARLIER THIS YEAR IN TALLAHASSEE
JAN. 16 – FSU 82, CAROLINA 75
• Florida State was 11 for 11 from the foul line in the first half and 26 of 27 for the game. That's the third-best percentage (.963) ever in a game against UNC by an opponent with 20 or more attempts (Wake Forest was 32 for 32 in 2005 and NC State was 22 for 22 in 2003).
• Carolina made 10 three-pointers, which ties its season high, and shot 41.7 percent from three-point range (10 of 24).
• Freshmen guards RJ Davis (16), Kerwin Walton (14) and Caleb Love (11) all scored in double figures in the same game for the first time.
• FSU outrebounded UNC by one (30-29). It was the second game this season an opponent outrebounded the Tar Heels (also vs. Kentucky).
• The teams combined for 42 points off turnovers (Carolina scored 20, FSU scored 22).
• FSU scored 18 fastbreak points, the most allowed by UNC in the first 13 games this season.
• Carolina equaled its season low in points in the paint with 22 (also at Georgia Tech).
• Anthony Harris played for the first time this season and was a plus 10 in 8:29 of action. He had five points and tied for the team lead in assists with three.

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

• Williams 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 Florida State, Williams would reach 900 wins in 1,161 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 307 at West Virginia).
– 481 wins at UNC (third most by an ACC coach);
– 442 home wins in 499 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

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 ROLLERCOASTER
• 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).
• In the next game vs. Marquette, Carolina shot 36.7 percent from the floor in the first half, which included missing all six three-point attempts, had 10 turnovers and scored just 29 points on 44 possessions. The Tar Heels had a much more efficient second half against the Golden Eagles, scoring 41 points again on 44 possessions.
• Over the last 11 games (beginning with Syracuse on 1/12/21), the Tar Heels have scored 837 points on 933 possessions, an efficiency of .90.
• Over the first 10 games, UNC's points per possession was only .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.
• Carolina has had 10 different players score in double figures, but no player has done that in more than 14 games. Armando Bacot and Garrison Brooks both have reached double figures 14 times followed by RJ Davis (11), Caleb Love (10) and Day'Ron Sharpe (10).
• Bacot leads the team in scoring at 11.4 points per game. The last time UNC's leading scorer averaged less than 12 points was 1946-47.
• Carolina scored a season-high 99 points in beating Louisville. UNC has scored 80 or more points six times in the last 11 games. 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 17 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.
• Carolina has been outscored by 10 points in the first half this season and outscored the opposition by 115 points in the second half.

TAKE CARE OF & SHARING THE BALL
• The Tar Heels committed 19 turnovers in their loss to Marquette. That snapped a four-game streak in which they had 35 more assists than turnovers. It was the first time in five games and only third time in the last 13 contests UNC committed more turnovers than it had assists.
• For the season, UNC has 26 more assists than turnovers (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).
• UNC has handed out 20 or more assists four times in the last eight games (22 at Pittsburgh, 20 at Duke, 20 vs. Northeastern and 29 vs. Louisville).
• 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 44 three-pointers and a three-point percentage of .454 (44 of 97). RJ Davis is second with 22 made threes and Caleb Love is third with 21.
• 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.
• UNC made 10 of 15 threes 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 1.5 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)
.315 in 2020-21 (117 of 372)
.327 in 2015-16 (224 of 685)
.328 in 2010-11 (190 of 580)
.329 in 2009-10 (176 of 535)

• Carolina has been outscored 237-117 from the three-point line in its eight losses this season.
• The opponents have averaged 9.9 threes in the seven losses and shot 42.5 percent from beyond the arc (UNC has made 4.9 threes per game and shot 29.3 percent 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.
• 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).
• In ACC play, UNC freshmen have played 1,367 of 2,600 minutes (52.6 percent).
• Freshmen have made 47 starts this season, including 20 by Caleb Love, 14 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 11 games (Love, Walton, Black, Brooks and Bacot).
• Freshmen are third (Love), fourth (Sharpe), tied fifth (Walton) and tied fifth (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 55.8percent 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
.558 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.
• Love is the fourth Tar Heel to start at the point in the last four seasons (senior Joel Berry II in 2017-18, White in 2018-19, Anthony in 2019-20 and Love).

REBOUNDING
• Carolina is second in the nation in rebound margin (+10.5) and offensive rebounds (15.0 per game) and third in total rebounds per game (42.5 rpg).
• Carolina is second in offensive rebound percentage, pulling down 39.5 percent of its own missed shots. Houston leads at 39.6 percent.
• UNC has grabbed 40 or more rebounds 13 times this season.
• UNC has more offensive rebounds than its opponents in 20 of 22 games (tied with Wake Forest and Louisville).
• Carolina is averaging 16.3 second-chance points with a season-high 30 vs. Charleston, low of seven at Georgia Tech and 20 or more four times. The 16.3 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 +10.5 per game is on pace for the fourth 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 2007-08
10.8 in 1956-57
10.5 in 2020-21
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 (8.1 by Day'Ron Sharpe, 7.5 by Armando Bacot and 7.1 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).

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 the final minutes in five of its eight losses this 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

Garrison Brooks

RJ Davis

Anthony Harris

Walker Kessler

Caleb Love

Day'Ron Sharpe

Kerwin Walton

Coby White