MBB Set To Host Jackets Saturday Night

GAME 16
• Carolina returns to action after a seven-day break when the Tar Heels host Georgia Tech on Saturday, January 15 at the Dean E. Smith Center.
• Tip time is 8:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the ACC Network.
• UNC is 11-4 overall, 3-1 in the ACC after its 74-58 home win over Virginia on January 8.
• Georgia Tech is 7-8 overall, 1-4 in the ACC following its 81-76 win at Boston College on Wednesday.
• RJ Davis scored a game-high 23 points, Armando Bacot had 15 points and 13 rebounds, UNC made 10 of 17 three-pointers and shot a season-best 54.6% from the floor in a 79-62 win over the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta on December 5 in the league opener for both teams.
• Bacot set career highs in points (29), field goals (12), offensive (9) and total rebounds (22) in UNC's win over Virginia.
• Bacot was named the ACC Player of the Week for Jan. 3-9 for his play against Virginia and Notre Dame (game highs with 21 points and 17 rebounds). It was his first ACC Player-of-the-Week award and the first by a Tar Heel since Cole Anthony's 34-point debut against Notre Dame in November 2019.
• Bacot is one of three players in college basketball in the top 10 in the country in double-doubles (third with 11), rebounding (fifth with 11.2 per game) and field goal percentage (eighth at .642).
• Bacot leads the ACC in double-doubles, field goal shooting and rebounding. The last player to lead the ACC in those three categories in the same season was Duke's Marvin Bagley in 2018. No Tar Heel has ever led the league in those categories in the same season.
• Bacot is leading Carolina in scoring (16.6), rebounding, field goal percentage and blocks (23). He also led UNC in those categories last season. No Tar Heel has ever led those four categories in consecutive seasons.
• Bacot's 11.2 rebounds per game are on pace for the highest average by a Tar Heel since Mitch Kupchak grabbed 11.3 per game in 1975-76.
• Bacot's 29-point/22-rebound performance against Virginia was his sixth straight double-double and 11th in 15 games. It equals the eighth-longest stretch of consecutive double-doubles by a Tar Heel (Kupchak and Sean May are tied for sixth at eight straight).
• Over the last six games Bacot has scored 120 points, grabbed 82 rebounds and shot 66.2% from the floor. He's the only Tar Heel ever to do that in any six-game stretch.
• Carolina is 29th in KenPom's overall rankings. The Tar Heels are 16th in the country in offensive efficiency and 23rd in effective field goal percentage.
• Carolina's strength of schedule is the 38th most difficult in the country and the third toughest in the ACC (Notre Dame 22, Syracuse 23).

UNC-GEORGIA TECH ALL-TIME
• Carolina is 70-27 against the Yellow Jackets, including 56-25 since Tech joined the ACC.
• The Tar Heels are 30-6 in Chapel Hill, including 25-5 at the Smith Center.
• In the December win in Atlanta, UNC went on a 22-4 run after trailing 39-38 early in the second half.
• Carolina improved to 17-13 in Tech's home arena, including 5-2 in McCamish Pavilion since it was renovated prior to the 2013 season.
• It was Carolina's 10th win in the last 13 games against the Yellow Jackets.
• The Yellow Jackets won, 96-83, on 1/4/2020 in the most recent meeting in the Smith Center. Carolina missed its first 15 shots from the floor and trailed by 20 at the half, its largest halftime deficit ever in the Smith Center. Garrison Brooks led UNC with a career-high 35 points. He made UNC's first field goal with 6:50 to play in the first half to make the score 30-8.
• Carolina was 6-3 against the Yellow Jackets in Hubert Davis's playing career.

FIELD GOAL SHOOTING
• Carolina is second in the ACC and 27th in the country in field goal percentage at .482, which is on pace for its best shooting performance since 2015-16 (also 48.2%).
• In its first four ACC games the Tar Heels are shooting 51.3% from the floor.
• Carolina is 6-0 when shooting at least 50% from the floor this season (UNC was 220-9 when shooting 50% under Roy Williams).
• The Tar Heels have shot 50% or better from the floor in the second half in eight of the last nine games and 10 times in 15 games this season. The Tar Heels have shot 50% or better three times in the first half this season.
• Carolina is shooting 52.4% from the floor in the second half and holding its opponents to 44.2%. The opponents are shooting just 37.8% in the second half in Carolina's 11 victories.
• The opponents have shot 50% or better just three times in the second half, but all three came in UNC losses and in all three the opponents shot at least 64.3% from the floor (64.3% by Purdue, 65.6% by Tennessee and 66.7% by Kentucky).
• Carolina has held its opponents under 30 percent from the floor in the second half as many times (three) as it has allowed them to shoot 50 percent.
• Purdue, Tennessee, Kentucky and Notre Dame averaged 89.5 points, shot 53% from the floor, 44.9% from three and had 84 assists and 35 turnovers in their wins over UNC.
• Carolina is 23rd nationally in effective field goal percentage (which takes into account the added value of three-point shooting). The Tar Heels' effective FG percentage is 55.0, an improvement from 46.4% in 2019-20 and 48.3% in 2020-21.
• Carolina's effective FG% is its highest since shooting 56.0% in 2004-05.
• 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.
• Armando Bacot's ACC-leading field goal percentage of .642 is on pace to be the highest by a Tar Heel since Brandan Wright shot 64.6% in 2006-07.

FREE THROWS
• Carolina has made 25 more free throws than its opponents have attempted (202 made by UNC vs. 177 attempted by the opponents).
• The Tar Heels are shooting 74.8% from the line, their best percentage since 2008-09, when they converted 75.2%.
• Caleb Love leads UNC at the stripe this season at 84.0%. The sophomore guard has made 105 of 128 free throws as a Tar Heel. He has the 15th-highest percentage (.820) in UNC history.
• RJ Davis is shooting 82.1% from the line in his two seasons. He is 92 for 112 (needs eight more makes to qualify for the UNC list).
• Carolina has made 81.4% of its free throw attempts in its four losses.

DEFENSE
• UNC has held its opponents to 65 or fewer points in each of its last eight victories. It's the first time UNC has held the opponents under 70 points in eight consecutive wins since doing that in 2011-12.
• The last time UNC held the opponents to fewer than 70 points in nine or more consecutive wins was 2006-07, when it did that in 15 straight wins.
• Carolina has held the opposition to 463 combined points in its last eight victories. Those are the fewest points allowed over eight consecutive wins since the 2006-07 season. UNC allowed 445 points in wins from December 19 to January 17 that year.
• Carolina has won four times this season when it allowed fewer than 60 points (53 by UNC Asheville, 51 by Michigan, 50 by App State and 58 by Virginia).

CALEB'S THREES
• Caleb Love has made 34 three-pointers in the first 15 games. Last year, Love finished his freshman season with 34 threes in 29 games.
• Love has made the same number of threes as he did a year ago in 51 fewer attempts.
• Last season, Love made 34 threes in 128 attempts. This year, Love has 34 threes in 77 tries.
• Love has improved his three-point percentage from 26.6% as a freshman to 44.2% this season.
• Love is 13 for 26 from three over the last four games.

BACOT DOUBLING DOWN
• Armando Bacot is the fourth Tar Heel to start a season with 11 double-doubles in the first 15 games but is the first to do since in more than 50 seasons.
• The others were Lennie Rosenbluth in 1954-55 (11 in 15 games), Doug Moe in 1960-61 (13 in 15 games), Billy Cunningham in 1962-63 (14 of 15) and Cunningham again in 1963-64 (all 15).
• Bacot leads the ACC and is third in the nation in double-doubles. Fardaws Aimaq of Utah Valley has 13 and Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky has 12.
• Bacot has 29 double-doubles in 76 games over three seasons as a Tar Heel. His double-double rate (38.2%) is the 10th highest by a Tar Heel and the fourth highest in the last 50 years.

Double-Doubles Games Pct.
Billy Cunningham, 1962-65 60 69 .870
Lennie Rosenbluth*, 1954-57 39 76 .513
Antawn Jamison, 1995-98 51 104 .490
Doug Moe, 1958-61 29 60 .483
Rusty Clark, 1966-69 43 91 .473
Larry Miller, 1965-68 42 91 .462
Robert McAdoo, 1971-72 14 31 .452
Pete Brennan*, 1955-58 35 81 .432
Sean May, 2002-05 33 77 .429
Armando Bacot, 2019-active 29 76 .382
Bobby Jones, 1971-74 35 92 .380
Mitch Kupchak, 1972-76 44 119 .370
* Rosenbluth and Brennan played numerous games where their rebound totals are unknown

SCORING
• 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 has scored 20 or more six times, Caleb Love has five 22-point games, Dawson Garcia has three 20-point games and Brady Manek and RJ Davis have two apiece.
• Tar Heels have scored 20 or more points 18 times in 15 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 five times – against Loyola Maryland, Charleston, Michigan, Elon and Boston College. The sophomore scored 20 or more twice in 29 games last season.
• Carolina is 7-0 when Love scores 20 or more and 9-1 when he makes 50% of his field goal attempts (4-0 last season and 5-1 in 2021-22).
• The Notre Dame game on January 5 was the first time in two seasons UNC lost when Love made 50% of his field goal attempts.

DIALING LONG-DISTANCE
• The Tar Heels are shooting 40.1% from three, second best in ACC and sixth in the country.
• Carolina has shot 40% or higher in five previous seasons but not since winning the national championship in 2004-05, when it made 40.3% from three-point range.
• Three Tar Heel starters are shooting better than 40% from three – Dawson Garcia (45.8%), Caleb Love (44.2%) and RJ Davis (41.7%).
• Carolina is shooting 46.0% from three in ACC games, led by Caleb Love, who is 14 for 26 in conference play (.538). RJ Davis (9 for 20) and Brady Manek (11 for 28) also top the 40% mark in league play.
• Carolina makes 8.1 threes per game, on pace for the fifth-highest average in UNC history.
• The Tar Heels made 41.9% of their threes in their 11 wins compared to 35.6% in the four losses. The opponents have more than a 16-point swing, converting 44.9% in their four wins over Carolina and just 28.7% in the 11 losses.

UNC Three-Pointers Per Game, Last 10 Years
2021-22 8.07
2020-21 5.59
2019-20 5.48
2018-19 (UNC record) 8.67
2017-18 8.24
2016-17 7.08
2015-16 5.60
2014-15 4.84
2013-14 4.29
2012-13 7.56

UNC Three-Pointers Per Game, All-Time
2018-19 8.67
2002-03 8.29
1982-83 (experimental distance) 8.25
2017-18 8.24
2021-22 8.06

STILL HITTING THE BOARDS
• The Tar Heels lead the ACC and are 13th in the country in rebound margin at plus 8.6 per game. UNC also leads the league in rebounds per game (39.7).
• Carolina has led the ACC in rebound margin in each of the previous six seasons and in 13 of 18 seasons under head coach Roy Williams.
• UNC has won the battle of the boards 13 times in 15 games this season. The Tar Heels are 11-2 when out-rebounding their opponents and 0-2 when getting out-rebounded (Tennessee and Kentucky).
• Under Roy Williams the Tar Heels won 82.3% of the games they out-rebounded their opponents. The Tar Heels were victorious in only 46.8% of the games they were out-rebounded under Williams.

PLUS/MINUS LEADERS
• Bacot and Leaky Black lead UNC in plus/minus at plus 175 and plus 156, respectively. Bacot and Black have both led UNC in plus/minus five times.
• Love's plus 34 at Boston College is the highest by a Tar Heel this season.
• Last season Bacot led the team with a plus 121.

THIRD ALL-TIME IN WINS
• 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).
• The Tar Heels enter the January 15 Georgia Tech game with 2,305 wins.

SMITH CENTER
• Carolina is 444-81 all-time in the Dean E. Smith Center.
• The Tar Heels are 226-63 in the Smith Center in ACC play and 393-95 at home in ACC play (in three home venues).

HUBERT
• Hubert Davis 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.

PRESEASON PICKS
• 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.

SHAVER JOINS ROSTER
• Will Shaver signed with UNC in November and has joined the team this semester, although he will not play this season.
• The Birmingham, Ala., native began practicing with the team in January.

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
Justin Jackson, Phoenix
Cameron Johnson, Phoenix
Nassir Little, Portland
Theo Pinson, Dallas
Day'Ron Sharpe, New Jersey
Coby White, Chicago

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
Sterling Manley, Sichuan Blue Whales, China
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

Garrison Brooks

RJ Davis

Dawson Garcia

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

Sterling Manley

Day'Ron Sharpe

Will Shaver