Men's Hoops Heads To Notre Dame For Road Tilt Wednesday

Wednesday, January 5

Notre Dame, Ind.

9 PM

North Carolina

Notre Dame

RJ Davis

Photo by: Maggie Hobson

January 4, 2022 | Men's Basketball

UNC Notes (.pdf)ND Notes (.pdf)Live Stats Watch

GAME 14
• Carolina travels to Indiana to play Notre Dame on Wednesday, January 5. Gametime is 9 p.m. on ESPN2 (watch).
• The Tar Heels are 10-3 overall, 2-0 in the ACC. Carolina has won seven of its last eight games.
• UNC built a 31-point lead in the first half and went on to defeat Boston College, 91-65, in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Sunday. Armando Bacot had 18 points, 11 rebounds and three steals, Caleb Love led four double-figure scorers with 22 points and the Tar Heels held the Eagles to 16.7% shooting from the floor in the first half in the victory.
• It was Carolina's 13th win in the last 14 games against BC, as the Tar Heels improved to 9-1 all-time in Conte Forum.
• Notre Dame is 7-5 overall and has split a pair of road games in ACC play, losing by 16 at BC and edging Pittsburgh, 68-67, on December 28th, the last time the Irish have played.
• UNC and Notre Dame have mixed results among their two common opponents thus far this season. The Irish defeated Kentucky at Notre Dame and lost at BC; Kentucky beat Carolina by 29 points in Las Vegas, but defeated BC by 26 in Chestnut Hill.
• Carolina has held the opposition to 65 or fewer points in the Tar Heels' last seven victories. The 405 combined points are the fewest allowed over seven consecutive wins since the 2006-07 season. UNC allowed 393 points in wins from December 22 to January 17.
• Carolina is 30th in KenPom's overall rankings. The Tar Heels are 16th in the country in offensive efficiency and 29th in effective field goal percentage.
• Carolina's strength of schedule is the 59th most difficult in the country and the fourth toughest in the ACC (Syracuse 38, Florida State 55, Louisville 56).
• The Notre Dame game marks the first time the Tar Heels have opened ACC play with three away games since 1983-84. UNC opened league play at Georgia Tech on December 5 and was scheduled to host Virginia Tech on the 29th, but that game was postponed due to Covid protocols in the Hokie program.
• This would be the fourth time the Tar Heels opened with three road games in ACC play. In 1969-70, UNC beat Virginia, lost at South Carolina and beat NC State; in 1977-78, the Tar Heels won at Clemson and Virginia then lost at Duke; in 1983-84, Carolina swept NC State, Maryland and Wake Forest on the road to start the conference slate.
• This is the first time the Tar Heels are 3-0 on the road (in all games) since 2017-18 when they won at Stanford, beat Davidson in Charlotte and won at Tennessee. The last time UNC won its first four road games was 2007-08, when Carolina finished the season 13-0 on the road.
• The last time UNC won three straight ACC road games was in 2018-19, when the Tar Heels went 9-0 on the road in conference play.

UNC-NOTRE DAME SERIES
• Carolina leads the series, 27-8.
• Carolina has won nine of the last 10 games.
• The Tar Heels are 11-4 since the Irish joined the ACC in 2013-14.
• Carolina is 5-3 at Notre Dame. This is UNC's first game at Purcell Pavilion since 2/17/2020, when Nate Laszewski hit a game-winning three with 2.4 seconds to play to give Notre Dame a 77-76 win.
• The Tar Heels won both games against the Irish last season.
• On 1/2/21, Leaky Black banked in the game-winning shot with 9.3 seconds to play in Carolina's 66-65 win in Chapel Hill. Day'Ron Sharpe had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Kerwin Walton made four threes and scored a dozen points.
• On 3/10/21, Carolina defeated the Irish, 101-59, in the second round of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro. The 42-point margin of victory was Carolina's largest in an ACC Tournament game.
• Carolina led by as many as 17 points in the first half, then went on a 37-2 spurt that began with 14:35 to play that included runs of 15-0 and 22-0.
• UNC grabbed 25 offensive rebounds and five Tar Heels scored in double figures (Armando Bacot 20, Walker Kessler 16, Caleb Love 15, Day'Ron Sharpe 14, RJ Davis 14).
• Bacot tied his career high with eight offensive rebounds.
• Love scored 15 points, made three 3FGs and had six assists and only one turnover.

FIELD GOAL SHOOTING
• Carolina has shot 50% or better from the floor in the second half in each of the last seven games and nine times in 13 games this season. The Tar Heels have shot 50% or better three times in the first half this season.
• Carolina is shooting 53.1% from the floor in the second half and holding its opponents to 43.7 percent. The opponents are shooting just 37.0% in the second half in Carolina's 10 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 and Kentucky averaged 93.3 points, shot 54.7% from the floor, 46.7% from three, out-rebounded UNC by 6.7 per game, had 69 assists and 28 turnovers and 28 steals in their wins over UNC.
• Carolina is 6-0 when shooting at least 50% from the floor this season (UNC was 220-9 when shooting 50% under Roy Williams).
• Carolina is 29th nationally in effective field goal percentage (which takes into account the added value of three-point shooting). The Tar Heels' effective FG percentage is 54.8%, an improvement from 46.4% in 2019-20 and 48.3% in 2020-21.
• 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.

FREE THROWS
• Carolina has made 26 more free throws than its opponents have attempted (188 made by UNC vs. 162 attempted by the opponents).
• The Tar Heels are shooting 74.9% 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. His percentage of 82.0 moves him into 15th place in UNC history.

DEFENSE
• UNC has held its opponents to 65 or fewer points in each of its last seven victories. It's the first time UNC has held the opponents under 70 points in seven consecutive wins since doing that in eight straight wins in 2011-12.
• Carolina has won three times this season when it allowed fewer than 60 points (53 by UNC Asheville, 51 by Michigan and 50 by App State).
• The Tar Heels held Boston College to 20 first-half points, the fewest in a half by the opponents this season.

MORE LOVE
• Caleb Love leads the Tar Heels in scoring (15.6 ppg), three-pointers (27), assists (46), steals (17), free throws made (42 for 50) and free throw percentage (.840).
• No Tar Heel has ever led the team in all six of those categories in the same season (Marcus Paige led in all but free throw percentage in 2014-15 and Jeff McInnis led in all but three-pointers made in 1995-96).
• Love has made 27 three-pointers in the first 13 games. Last year as a freshman, Love made his 27th three in the Tar Heels' 26th game (in the ACC Tournament vs. Notre Dame).
• Love is one of five players in the top 10 in the ACC in scoring and assists (with Duke's Wendell Moore, NC State's Dereon Seabron, Wake Forest's Alondes Williams and Syracuse's Buddy Boeheim).

BACOT AMONG LEAGUE LEADERS, TOO
• Bacot leads the ACC in field goal percentage (.633) and is second in rebounding (9.9), sixth in blocks (21) and 10th in scoring (15.3).
• Bacot led UNC in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and blocks in 2020-21. If he repeats in all four categories he would become the first Tar Heel ever to lead the team in those categories in consecutive seasons. Currently he is second in scoring (0.3 behind Love) and leads in the other three categories.
• Bacot leads the ACC and is third in the country with nine double-doubles. Bacot is 10th in the nation in field goal percentage and 18th in the nation in rebounding.
• Bacot is the first Tar Heel to start a season with nine double-doubles in the first 13 games since Mitch Kupchak, who had nine in the first 12 games and 10 in the first 13 in 1974-75.
• Bacot has 27 double-doubles in 74 games over three seasons as a Tar Heel. His double-double rate (36.5%) is the 12th 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
Bobby Jones, 1971-74 35 92 .380
Mitch Kupchak, 1972-76 44 119 .370
Armando Bacot, 2019-active 27 74 .365
* 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. Caleb Love has five 22-point games, Armando Bacot also has scored 20 or more four times, Dawson Garcia has three 20-point games, and Brady Manek and RJ Davis have two apiece.
• Tar Heels have scored 20 or more points 16 times in 13 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 9-0 when he makes 50% of his field goal attempts (4-0 last season and 5-0 in 2021-22).

DIALING LONG-DISTANCE
• The Tar Heels are shooting 40.0% from three, second best in ACC and eighth 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%), RJ Davis (45.8%) and Caleb Love (43.5%).

STILL HITTING THE BOARDS
• The Tar Heels lead the ACC in rebound margin at plus 8.5 per game and are second in rebounds per game (40.1).
• 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.
• Kentucky out-rebounded Carolina, 44-26. The 18-rebound deficit was UNC's largest since 12/19/2009, when Texas had a 60-41 advantage on the boards in a game played at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. The Kentucky game was one of the five largest rebound deficits for Carolina in the last 50 years (-19 vs. Texas on 12/19/2009, -19 vs. Iowa on 1/7/1989, -19 at Virginia on 1/12/1985, -18 vs. Kentucky on 12/18/2021 and -18 at Georgia Tech on 2/18/1990).
• UNC has won the battle of the boards 11 times in 13 games this season. The Tar Heels are 10-1 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 153 and plus 137, respectively. (Black has played in one fewer game than Bacot).
• Love's plus 34 at Boston College is the highest by a Tar Heel this season.

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).

SMITH CENTER
• Carolina is 443-81 all-time in the Dean E. Smith Center.
• The Tar Heels are 225-63 in the Smith Center in ACC play and 392-95 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.

2021-22 ROSTER NOTES
• The Tar Heels have seven new players on the roster this season, 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
Justin Jackson, Boston
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

I-40 NEAR UNC NAMED FOR SMITH, WILLIAMS
• The North Carolina Department of Transportation formally a request by Carolina Athletics to honorarily name stretches of U.S. Interstate 40 in Chapel Hill for former Tar Heel men's basketball coaches Dean Smith and Roy Williams.
• The Chapel Hill Town Council approved a resolution to support the request on November 17.
• The DOT will place honorary signs designating stretches of I-40 from exits 266-270 the Roy Williams Highway and from exits 270-273 the Dean Smith Highway.
• "Dean Smith and Roy Williams are two of the greatest to ever have coached college basketball," says North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. "And while their combined five national championships helped make UNC one of the premier basketball institutions in the country, it is their work off the court and in their communities that truly sets them apart. North Carolinians across the state are grateful for their leadership and these honorary road namings will help us recognize them for their hard work and sacrifice."
• Smith and Williams combined to coach the Tar Heels for 67 seasons (Smith was an assistant coach for three years and head coach for 36; Williams was an assistant on Smith's staff for 10 years and head coach for 18).
• The pair of Naismith, College Basketball and North Carolina Sports Hall of Famers combined to lead Carolina to five NCAA championships, 16 Final Fours, 16 ACC Tournament titles, 26 regular-season ACC championships, 33 top-10 Associated Press rankings and 1,364 victories.