Tar Heels Set To Visit Duke Saturday Night

GAME 18
• Carolina and Duke meet for the 254th time overall and 84th time at Cameron Indoor Stadium when the teams play on Saturday, February 6 at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
• The Tar Heels are 11-6 overall, 6-4 in the ACC. The Blue Devils are 7-6, 5-4. Both teams are coming off losses. Carolina trailed by as many as 16 in the first half and committed as many turnovers as it made field goals (17 of each) in a 63-50 loss at Clemson; Duke fell, 77-75, at Miami.
• Carolina had won its previous three league games, including a road win at Pittsburgh. The Blue Devils began ACC play with three victories but dropped four of their last six.
• Both Carolina and Duke rank in the bottom 10 percent in the country in experience. Carolina is 322nd, while the Blue Devils are 343rd out of 347 teams.
• Freshmen rank three-four-five-six in scoring for the Tar Heels and are three of the top four leading scorers for Duke.
• Carolina went into the game at Clemson averaging 79.4 points over its previous five games and shot 50 percent from the floor in four of its last five halves (.538 in those two and a half games), but tallied season lows in points, points in a half and offensive rebounds and had 17 turnovers and just eight assists.
• The Tar Heels rallied from 16 down to within four at 42-38 with 12:38 to play in the second half. UNC then went seven straight possessions without a point, missing five field goal attempts and two free throws and turning the ball over three times. The Tar Heels were 14 for 28 from the floor before converting just three of their final 16 shots from the floor.
• Clemson forward Hunter Tyson was scoreless for the first 30:38, then scored 16 of Clemson's final 21 points outscoring the Tar Heels, 16-12, over the final 9:21.
• The Clemson game on February 2 was Roy Williams' 300th regular-season ACC game as Carolina's head coach. The Tar Heels are 208-92 under Williams, the second-most wins ever by any coach after 300 regular-season ACC games. Carolina's Dean Smith was 220-80 and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski was 203-97 after 300 games.
• Williams has 896 wins in 33 seasons as a head coach. He is four wins shy of 900 and seven from surpassing Bob Knight for the third-most wins by a Division I head coach.
• Williams and Mike Krzyzewski have a combined 2,060 wins.

OFFENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS
• Carolina struggled offensively at Clemson, ending a four-game run during which UNC played its most efficient offense of the season. The Tar Heels scored 50 points on 72 possessions (both season lows) at Clemson, a points per possession of .69. Over the previous four games UNC averaged .93 and posted a PPP of at least .90 in each game (.91 at Florida State, .93 vs. Wake Forest, .96 vs. NC State and .94 at Pittsburgh). Those were the first games all season UNC registered a PPP of .90 or better.
• The last time UNC had a PPP of .90 or better in four straight games was the last four games in 2018-19 against Duke, Iona, Washington and Auburn.
• Carolina shot 44.4 and 34.6 percent from the floor in the respective halves at Clemson. In the previous three games – wins over Wake Forest, NC State and Pittsburgh – the Tar Heels shot 51.3 percent from the floor.
• Carolina has scored 80 or more points four times this season, including three of the last six games. In 18 seasons under Roy Williams, UNC has scored 80 or more points 349 times in 636 games (54.9 percent).
• Carolina is 310-39 under Williams when it scores at least 80 points, a winning percentage of .888.

AWAY AGAIN
• Carolina at Duke is the third of three consecutive ACC road games for the Tar Heels. The unusual scheduling is a result of changes due to Covid-19 that moved the Notre Dame game from January 30 to January 2 and left UNC with an open date on the 30th.
• This is the first time UNC has played three consecutive ACC road games since February 1-9, 2016, when the Tar Heels played at Louisville (L), Notre Dame (L) and Boston College (W).
• The Tar Heels are 2-5 on the road (2-4 in ACC play) this season.
• Roy Williams has a 92-59 record in ACC road games. The 92 wins are third most all-time and his winning percentage of .609 is fourth highest in ACC history.
• Carolina is scheduled to play five of its next eight ACC games at the Smith Center and could play a sixth home game if the Clemson game that was postponed on January 12 is re-scheduled.

SERIES VS. DUKE
• Carolina leads the all-time series against Duke, 139-114 (253 games are more than any other opponent for the Tar Heels).
• Carolina is 48-55 against the Blue Devils on the road, including 37-46 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
• Under Roy Williams, the Tar Heels have won at Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2016 and 2019.
• This is the first Carolina-Duke game in which neither team is ranked in the AP poll since a 75-50 Tar Heel win at Duke Indoor Stadium on 2/27/1960. This ends a streak of 153 consecutive Carolina-Duke games with at least one team occupying a spot in the AP poll.
• Prior to that game, at least one team was ranked in the previous 14 games, thus this is just the second instance in 169 games.
• Arguably even more remarkable is that both teams were ranked in the AP poll in 79 of the previous 153 games (51.6 percent).
• Roy Williams is 16-22 against Duke as Carolina's head coach.
• Carolina is 46-49 against Mike Krzyzewski's Duke teams.
• Carolina and Duke have won 39 of the ACC's 65 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championships, including 21 by Duke and 18 by UNC.
• Carolina and Duke are No. 1 and 2 all-time in the ACC in wins, ACC regular-season wins, ACC Tournament wins and NCAA Tournament wins.
• Carolina has won the ACC regular-season title 32 times. The Blue Devils are second with 19 regular-season crowns.
• Either Carolina or Duke have played in the NCAA Final Four 25 times in the last 40 seasons (Carolina in 1981, 1982, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2016 and 2017). Both teams reached the 1991 Final Four.
• The Tar Heels and Blue Devils have won 10 national championships in the last 40 seasons, five by Carolina and five by Duke.
• Carolina has played in an NCAA-record 20 Final Fours. Duke has played in 16 Final Fours.

LAST SEASON VS. DUKE
• Duke won both games against the Tar Heels – 98-96 in overtime at the Smith Center on February 8 and 89-76 in Durham on March 7. It was the first time since 2015 UNC did not beat the Blue Devils at least once in a season.
• Garrison Brooks was 18 for 34 (.529) from the floor and averaged 22.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in the two games. He had 26 points and 13 frebounds at Duke.
• Armando Bacot had 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three bloks at home and 13 points and 12 boards at Duke.

Feb. 8, 2020 – Duke 98, @UNC 96 (OT)
• Duke's Wendell Moore put back a missed shot at the buzzer in overtime (left his hands with 0.3 seconds to play) to break a 96-96 tie.
• Duke sent the game to overtime when Tre Jones, who scored 28, hit a shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 84.
• Carolina led, 44-35, at the half and by as many as 13 with 3:56 to play in regulation.
• The 96 points equaled the most by UNC in a loss to Duke. The Blue Devils beat Carolina, 99-96, in overtime at the Greensboro Coliseum on 1/3/1975.
• Carolina shot 52.2 percent from the floor, only the eighth time in 220 games under Roy Williams the Tar Heels lost when they shot at least 50 percent from the floor.
• UNC shot 59.4 percent in the first half. It was the highest percentage Duke allowed in a half last season.
• Duke scored 25 points off 18 UNC turnovers.
• Carolina went 21 for 38 from the free throw line. The Tar Heels made just 5 of 12 in the final 6:49 of regulation and 7 of 16 over the final 11:49 including overtime.
• UNC missed both ends of a two-shot foul four times and the first shot of a 1 and 1 once.
• Freshman guard Cole Anthony led UNC with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
• Leaky Black had a career-high nine assists.
• Andrew Platek tied his season high with nine points. He also had seven rebounds and five assists.

March 7, 2020 – @Duke 89, UNC 76
• Duke made 10 three-pointers and shot 29 of 33 from the line, including Tre Jones, who was 10 for 10 from the stripe.
• Carolina had only seven assists on 29 field goals, assisting on a season-low 24.1 percent of its field goals, while Duke had 19 assists on 25 baskets (76 percent).
• The Blue Devils had a 15-0 edge in fastbreak points in the first half, then scored 47 points on 36 possessions in the second half.
• Garrison Brooks had a game-high 26 points and 13 rebounds and grabbed a career-high nine offensive rebounds.
• Armando Bacot scored 13 points and had 12 rebounds.

MANDO LOOKS TO REBOUND
• Armando Bacot is Carolina's leading scorer and one of the top rebounders in the ACC, but is coming off his least productive game as a Tar Heel. The Richmond, Va., native scored one point, attempted only one field goal and had no offensive rebounds at Clemson.
• Roy Williams said after the game Bacot has been Carolina's most consistent player this season. In fact, he's led Carolina in scoring a team-best six times, shares the team lead with four double-doubles and was 24 for 32 from the floor in UNC's three games prior to Clemson.
• Bacot leads UNC in scoring at 11.9 points per game. The last time a Tar Heel led the team in scoring with less than 12 points a game was 1946-47 (Jim Hamilton at 11.4 ppg).
• Bacot is shooting 65.0 percent from the floor, which is on pace for the fourth highest in a season by a Tar Heel, and an increase of more than 16 percent from his freshman season (.484).

HIGHEST FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE — SEASON
.697 Brendan Haywood, 1999-2000
(191 of 274) (ACC record)
.668 Bobby Jones, 1971-72 (127 of 190)
.654 Rasheed Wallace, 1994-95 (238 of 364)
.650 Armando Bacot, 2020-21 (76 of 117)
.648 Brad Daugherty, 1985-86 (284 of 438)
.648 Brendan Haywood, 1998-99 (160 of 247)

WINNING MARGINS
• Carolina's first seven ACC games this season were decided by seven points or fewer, the first time that ever happened for the Tar Heels. However, the last three games have all been decided by double-digit margins, as UNC beat NC State and Pittsburgh by 10 and lost by 13 at Clemson.
• Carolina has led at the half just seven times in the first 17 games. UNC has been outscored by 17 points in the first half this season but has outscored its opponents by 78 points in the second.
• Carolina is 6-1 when it leads at the half and 4-5 when it trails, including comeback wins over Stanford, Kentucky, Notre Dame and Wake Forest.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
• KenPom ranks Carolina as the 322nd-most experienced team in the nation (out of 342 teams). Seven of UNC's 11 rotation players are freshmen. Those freshmen have played 50.9 percent of all minutes played (1,732 of 3,400).
• Freshmen have made 37 starts this season, including 15 by Caleb Love, 10 by RJ Davis and nine by Kerwin Walton. That's the fourth most in the country behind Kentucky, Washington State and Kansas State.
• Carolina has started the same lineup in each of the last six games (Love, Walton, Black, Brooks and Bacot).
• UNC has used five different starting lineups this season.
• Freshmen are third (Love), fourth (Sharpe) and fifth (Davis) and sixth (Walton) 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.
• Freshmen (including red-shirt freshman Anthony Harris) have scored 53.7 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
.537 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.
• Caleb Love (Wake Forest and NC State), RJ Davis (Syracuse and Florida State) and Day'Ron Sharpe (Notre Dame) have won ACC Freshman of the Week honors this season. This is the first time three Tar Heels have won the award in the same season since Harrison Barnes, Kendall Marshall and Reggie Bullock combined to win seven times in 2010-11.

THREES
• Carolina averaged eight three-point field goals over a five-game stretch from Dec. 30-Jan. 16 in which it went 3-2. That included 10 threes in the January 16 loss at Florida State. Over the last four games UNC has made a total of 16 three-pointers (three vs. Wake Forest, four vs. NC State, four at Pittsburgh and five at Clemson).
• UNC's three-point percentage (.302) is on pace to be the lowest in school history.

LOWEST THREE-POINT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE
.302 in 2020-21 (87 of 288)
.304 in 2019-20 (181 of 595)
.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 180-96 from the three-point line in its six losses this season.
• The opponents have averaged 10.0 threes in the six losses and shot 42.9 percent by beyond the arc (UNC has made 5.3 per game in the losses).

REBOUNDING
• Carolina is second in the nation in offensive rebounds per game (15.2), total rebounds per game (42.8) and rebound margin (+11.2).
• Wright State leads in total rebounds (42.9 to 42.8), Houston in offensive rebounds ( 15.24 to 15.18) and Utah State in margin (+11.3 to +11.2).
• The school record for offensive rebounds per game is 15.75 in 2016-17.
• Carolina is second to Houston in offensive rebound percentage. The Cougars grab 40.3 percent of their misses, while the Tar Heels grab 40.0 percent of theirs.
• Carolina is averaging 16.7 second-chance points with a season-high 30 vs. Charleston, low of seven at Georgia Tech and 20 or more four times. The 16.7 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 +11.2 per game is on pace to be the second highest in school history (the record is +12.3 in 2016-17).

HIGHEST REBOUNDING MARGIN PER GAME
12.3 in 2016-17
11.3 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 , 7.5 by Armando Bacot and 7.2 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).
• Bacot is averaging 7.5 rebounds this season and 8.0 through 49 games as a Tar Heel. The sophomore is pace to be the first Tar Heel to average eight or more rebounds through his first two seasons since Sean May, who averaged 9.4 in 2002-03 and 2003-04

MOVE THE BALL
• Carolina has never committed more turnovers than it had assists in 17 previous seasons under Roy Williams. The closest margin was in 2009-10, when UNC had 552 assists and 512 turnovers.
• The Tar Heels had moved into positive territory after the Pittsburgh game, following a 22-assist game which gave UNC six more assists than turnovers for the season. However, UNC had just eight assists and committed 17 turnovers in the loss at Clemson and stands at 252 assists/255 turnovers for the season.
• In ACC play, the Tar Heels have 163 assists and 145 turnovers.
• Carolina had more assists than turnovers in only three of its first nine games this season, but it has more assists than turnovers in six of the last eight games.
• Four Tar Heels have more assists than turnovers (Leaky Black 44/23, Kerwin Walton 33/20, RJ Davis 38/32 and Anthony Harris 6/2).
• The Tar Heels are 7-2 this season when they have more assists than turnovers.
• In 18 seasons under Roy Williams, the Tar Heels have won 81.5 percent of its games when they have fewer turnovers than their opponents.

DEFENSIVE HONORS
• Freshman point guard Caleb Love won his first defensive player of the game award in the loss at Clemson.
• Love became the seventh different Tar Heel to earn defensive player of the game honors in UNC's last eight games. The only player to win the award, which is based on the coaches' grades, twice in that span was RJ Davis, who won vs. Wake Forest and Pittsburgh.
• Freshmen have won the award eight times in 17 games, including seven times in the last 10 contests.
• Day'Ron Sharpe leads UNC with four awards.
• Garrison Brooks has won the award 36 times in his career, the second most by a Tar Heel since 2007 (39 by Marcus Paige from 2012-16).

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 six 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

Caleb Love

Andrew Platek

Day'Ron Sharpe

Kerwin Walton

Coby White