MBB Heads North For Tuesday Tilt At Syracuse

GAME 21: AT SYRACUSE
• Carolina plays in the JWA Wireless Dome (formerly the Carrier Dome) for the 15th time when the Tar Heels travel to Syracuse to play the Orange on Tuesday, January 24, at 9 p.m.
• UNC is 14-6, 6-3 in the ACC. The Tar Heels have won three in a row and nine of their last 11.
• Syracuse is 13-7 overall and 6-3 in league play. The Orange are coming off a 17-point win at Georgia Tech and have won 10 of their last 13 games since a 3-4 start through November.
• The Tar Heels are 11-3 all-time in the Dome, including 4-2 against the Orange. UNC has played eight NCAA Tournament games in the Dome, splitting a pair of games in 1983 and winning two in 1991, 1997 and 2005.
• The Tar Heels are 1-4 on the road this season, 1-3 in ACC play. UNC won at Louisville and also defeated Portland in Portland, Ore., a game the NCAA deems a neutral-site game since it was played at the Moda Center, which is not the Pilots' home court.
• Carolina defeated NC State, 80-69, in Chapel Hill on Saturday. RJ Davis (26) and Armando Bacot (23) combined for 49 points and the Tar Heels set a school record converting 36 of 39 from the line in beating the Pack for the 36th time in 41 starts.
• Bacot, the ACC Player of the Week for his efforts, scored 23 points and had 18 rebounds and set all-time Carolina records for rebounds (1,221) and double-doubles (61).
• Bacot has 51 points and 36 rebounds in his last two games vs. NC State.
• Carolina has played the Wolfpack 243 times. The Tar Heel single-game record for rebounds vs. the Pack is 18 on three occasions – in 1965 by Billy Cunningham and in each of the last two games by Bacot.
• Davis not only led UNC in scoring for the eighth time this season, which leads the team, but he moved into first in career free throw percentage by a Tar Heel and became the first Tar Heel ever to score 24 or more points on fewer than nine field goal attempts (5 for 8 from the floor). Davis went 14 for 14 from the line, which upped his FT percentage this season to an ACC-best 89.8% and his career mark to a UNC-best 85.1%.
• Davis's 14 for 14 from the line against NC State is the third best in a game this season in the NCAA. Temple's Damian Dunn went 18 for 18 vs. Wagner and SIU-Edwardsville's Damarco Minor made 15 for 15 against Southern Indiana. No other Power 5 player has made better than 12 for 12 in a game this season.
• Over the last six games, Davis is shooting 51.5% from two-point range, 56.3% from three and 92.3% from the free throw line. The only Tar Heel to average higher percentages over a six-game stretch in one season was Hubert Davis, who made 54.8% from two, 59.3% from three and 95% from the free throw in the final six games of his junior season in 1991.
• Carolina went 36 for 39 from the free throw line against NC State. That was the highest percentage (.923) in any game in which the Tar Heels attempted 30 or more from the stripe. The previous mark was 91.9% vs. Syracuse in 2019 (34 for 37).
• Five different Tar Heels had one assist apiece vs. NC State. It was the first time since assists were officially recorded that Carolina won a game when no Tar Heel was credited with more than one assist.
• The Syracuse game is the second in an eight-game stretch in which every team the Tar Heels play has a winning record in the ACC. Those eight games include NC State (5-4), Syracuse (6-3), Pittsburgh (6-3), Duke (5-3 with a game on Monday), Wake Forest (6-3), Clemson (8-1), Miami (6-3) and NC State again (5-4).

UNC-SYRACUSE SERIES
• Carolina is 15-6 all-time against Syracuse, including 11-3 since the Orange joined the ACC.
• The teams have split the last four games.
• The Tar Heels prevailed in overtime last season in Chapel Hill, winning 88-79, in the final home game of the season (see details below).
• Carolina is 4-2 on the road vs. the Orange.

LAST SEASON'S GAME
UNC 88, Syracuse 79, in Chapel Hill, 2/28/22
• Carolina led for only 15:08 of the 45 minutes. It was the second-fewest minutes UNC led in a win last season (topped only by the UCLA game in the Sweet 16 when UNC led for 8:20).
• Brady Manek and Caleb Love led UNC in scoring with 22 and 21 points, respectively.
• Love scored 14 of his 21 points in the final 2:23 of regulation and overtime.
• Leaky Black had eight points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots.
• RJ Davis made five threes, scored 17 points and had five assists.
• Armando Bacot had 17 points and 18 rebounds. He broke his own record for most rebounds by a Tar Heel against Syracuse (he had 15 on 3/1/2021). Pete Brennan also had 15 on 3/16/1957.
• Bacot tied his career high with nine offensive rebounds (also nine vs. Virginia 1/8/22).
• Carolina had 21 assists on 29 field goals and made 14 three-pointers.
• The Orange made 30 of 57 (.526) shots from the floor in regulation, but only 1 of 7 (.167) in overtime. The Tar Heels made five of six shots in the extra period (.833).
• Cole Swider scored 36 points for the Orange, the second most by an opponent in the Smith Center. Lionel Simmons of LaSalle scored 37 on 1/9/1988.

BACOT: NOW 6-TIME ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Bacot earned his third ACC Player-of-the-Week award this season and the sixth of his career for his play in Carolina's victories last week over Boston College and NC State.
• Bacot has won ACC Player of the Week six times, which equals Phil Ford for the third most all-time by a Tar Heel.
• Antawn Jamison (ACC-record 12) and Tyler Hansbrough (11) are the only Tar Heels to have won the award more than Bacot.
• Bacot scored 43 points and grabbed 34 rebounds (11 offensive) vs. BC and NC State. He had 20 points, 16 rebounds vs. the Eagles and 23 points, 18 boards vs. the Wolfpack. They were his 11th and 12th double-doubles of the season and second and third straight games with at least 15 rebounds. In the win over NC State, he set UNC all-time records for rebounds (1,221) and double-doubles (61). The 23-point, 18-rebound game vs. NC State was his 20th career game with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. It also equaled the most rebounds by a Tar Heel ever against the Pack, a record set by Billy Cunningham in 1965. Bacot first tied it 2/26/22, the last time these teams met in Raleigh.
• In December, Bacot earned ACC Player-of-the-Week honors for his performances against The Citadel and Ohio State. He also won Player-of-the-Week honors for the Wake Forest and Notre Dame games earlier this month.

RANKINGS
• Carolina is No. 24 in the country in KenPom and No. 32 in the NCAA's NET.
• The Tar Heels lead the ACC in scoring (79.6 ppg) and are second in rebounding (39.6) and rebound margin (+5.5). Carolina is sixth in the league in scoring margin (+7.3).
• Last season, UNC was No. 1 in the ACC and No. 3 in the country in rebound margin (plus 8.5). This season, UNC is No. 2 in the conference and 34th nationally.
• The Tar Heels are 19th in the country in rebounds per game (39.6).
• The Tar Heels are seventh in the ACC in field goal percentage and 10th in field goal percentage defense.
• Carolina is 10th in the ACC in three-pointers per game (6.8), 13th in three-point shooting (.316) and eighth in three-point percentage defense (.331).
• Carolina is the only team with three players in the top 10 in the ACC in scoring. Armando Bacot is third, RJ Davis is sixth and Caleb Love is tied for eighth.
• Despite playing less than two minutes at Virginia Bacot is third in the ACC in scoring (17.8) and leads the ACC in rebounding (11.6), offensive boards (4.6) and double-doubles (12).
• Nationally, Bacot is third in offensive rebounding, fourth in double-doubles and rebounds and seventh in free throw attempts (141).
• Bacot's 23 rebounds vs. James Madison in November equal the third most in a game this season in the NCAA. Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe had 24 vs. Georgia and Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis had 24 vs. Northwestern.
• Davis leads the ACC in free throw shooting at 89.8%. He is on pace for the second highest percentage in a season in Carolina history. Only Shammond Williams had a higher percentage (.911 in 1997-98) among players with 75 makes.
• Davis is 19th in the country at the line.
• Davis's 14 for 14 from the line against NC State is the third best in a game this season in the NCAA.

SCHEDULE NOTES
• Carolina has 11 games, all conference games, remaining in the regular season. Ten of the 11 games are against teams that currently have winning records in ACC play.
• Carolina's schedule is the 20th-most difficult in the nation (per KenPom). Virginia (31st) and Florida State (38th) are the others ACC team with strength of schedules ranked in the top 40.
• The six teams that have defeated UNC were a combined 83-30 (.735) through January 22.
• Carolina has played four teams that are ranked in the January 23 AP poll – No. 2 Alabama, No. 7 Virginia, No. 12 Iowa State and No. 18 Charleston and three teams that received votes (Indiana, NC State and Wake Forest).

KENPOM HIGHLIGHTS
• The Tar Heels are 16th in offensive efficiency (115.4 points per 100 possessions) and 61st in defensive efficiency.
• Carolina is second in the ACC in offensive efficiency behind Miami, which is eighth nationally.
• The Tar Heels have committed the 24th-fewest turnovers per possession, but are 335th in forcing turnovers.
• The Tar Heels are 64th in two-point field goal percentage and 283rd in three-point percentage.
• UNC has dropped to 305th in assists to field goals percentage at 45.8%. Over the last four games, UNC has 34 assists on 94 field goals (36.2%).
• Armando Bacot is 14th in the country in offensive rebound percentage, but as a team the Tar Heels are 146th. Bacot has 86 offensive rebounds, 63 more than Leaky Black, who is second with 23. Puff Johnson is third with 16.
• Bacot has 40.6% of Carolina's offensive rebounds. Last season he grabbed 36% of UNC's offensive boards.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS (WINS & LOSSES)
• Carolina has scored 10.1 more points per game in its 14 wins than in the six losses, while the opponents have scored almost nine more points per game in UNC's losses than they have when the Tar Heels win.
• Carolina is shooting 47.1% from the floor in the wins and 41.4% in its losses.
• The Tar Heels make 7.4 threes at 33.4% in the wins, but only 5.5 threes at 27% in the losses.
• Carolina has a rebounding edge of 8.1 in the wins and has been out-rebounded by 0.5 per game in its losses.
• The Tar Heels are plus 37 in assists/turnovers in the wins and minus 15 in the losses.
• The opponents have shot 42.2% from the floor in Carolina's wins and 46% in the losses.
• The opponents are plus 26 assist/turnovers in UNC's losses and have 10 more turnovers than assists in Carolina's 14 wins.
• UNC has outscored the opponents, 220-160, in points off turnovers in the Tar Heels' 14 wins, including 24-10 vs. Charleston, 27-12 vs. Ohio State, 32-8 vs. Wake Forest and 23-8 at Louisville.
• The opponents have outscored the Tar Heels, 99-53, in points off turnovers in the six losses. That includes a 15-point advantage by Iowa State, a seven-point edge by Alabama, a 17-4 advantage at Indiana, a 12-6 margin by Pittsburgh and 19-10 advantage by Virginia.
• Carolina is 7-1 in games when it has scored more points off turnovers than its opponents.
• The Tar Heels are 5-5 when the opponents score more points off turnovers.
• The opponents have scored at least 40 paint points four times in the UNC losses, including 40 by Alabama, 50 by Indiana, 42 by Virginia Tech and 42 by Pittsburgh. UNC has allowed 30 paint points per game in its 14 victories.
• In the 14 wins, four starters have more assists than turnovers (and Bacot has only more turnover than assists); in the six losses, only Black has more assists than turnovers.
• Carolina has scored 80 or more points 11 times. The Tar Heels are 10-1 in those games, losing 103-101 in four overtimes vs. Alabama (scored 77 in the regulation).
• The Tar Heels have averaged 66.8 points in the other five losses with a high of 74 at Pittsburgh.

MISCELLANEOUS
• Junior guard RJ Davis has made multiple three-pointers in eight of the last 10 games.
• Davis has made 50% or better from three in nine of his last 11 games, including the last six, when he is 18 for 32 (.563) combined from beyond the arc.
• Davis has shot 50% from the floor in the last 12 games (67 for 134) after opening the season 42 for his first 108 (.389). He's also made 27 of his last 56 three-pointers (.482) after making 11 of his first 42 (.262).
• The White Plains, N.Y., native dislocated a finger on his shooting hand in late October.
• Carolina is 11-2 this season and 42-11 over the last three seasons when Davis has more assists than turnovers.
• Davis scored a game-high 26 points vs. NC State. The Tar Heels are 5-0 this season and unbeaten in 10 games in Davis's career when he scores 20 or more points.
• Armando Bacot leads Carolina in scoring (career-high 17.8 ppg), rebounding (11.6 rpg), offensive rebounding (career-high 4.6), blocks (21) and field goal percentage (.581). Last season, he became the first Tar Heel ever to lead UNC in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and blocked shots in consecutive seasons, and he is on pace to accomplish that again this season.
• Caleb Love and Bacot were named to the Wooden Award's and Oscar Robertson Trophy's (USBWA) mid-season top 25.
• Love made at least one three-pointer in the first 17 games this season and 45 consecutive dating back to December 2021, breaking the previous UNC record of 41 games set by Marcus Paige.
• Bacot (career-high 17.8 ppg), Davis (career-high 16.8) and Love (career-high 16.3) are on pace to become the first Tar Heel trio to average 16 points in a season since Walter Davis, Phil Ford and Mitch Kupchak did that in 1974-75 and 1975-76.
• Davis and Bacot lead the Tar Heels in plus/minus at plus 158 and plus 153, respectively.
• Bacot has led UNC in plus/minus seven times. Caleb Love, who was a game-high plus 17 in the win over NC State, and Pete Nance are second in games led in plus/minus with three apiece.
• D'Marco Dunn led the Tar Heels in plus/minus at Louisville with a plus 25 (plus 18 in the first half). Dunn became the fifth Tar Heel non-starter to lead the team in plus/minus in a game this season (Puff Johnson vs. Alabama, Tyler Nickel at Virginia Tech, Seth Trimble vs. Wake Forest, Jalen Washington at Virginia and Dunn at Louisville).
• Dunn, who returned to action at Pittsburgh after missing five games due to a broken bone in his left hand, leads the non-starters in plus/minus at +58.
• Puff Johnson, who did not play in the win over NC State due to a sore right knee, has a positive plus/minus in each of his last seven games, the longest current streak on the team.
• Dunn tied for the team lead in scoring with a career-high 14 points and was a game-high plus 25 in the win at Louisville. He set career highs Saturday in minutes (25:56), points, field goals (5), three-pointers (2), offensive rebounds (2), rebounds (5), steals (2) and plus/minus (+25) and tied his career highs in free throws (2), assists (1), turnovers (1) and blocks (1)
• Carolina's bench has outscored the opponents five times this season (16-12 in the loss at Virginia Tech, 42-18 vs. The Citadel, 10-9 in the loss at Pittsburgh, 22-12 vs. Notre Dame and 26-10 at Louisville).
• Freshman Tyler Nickel's 16 points vs. The Citadel were his season high and the most by a Tar Heel non-starter this season. They were the most by a Tar Heel non-starter (in a non-Senior Day game) since Puff Johnson had 16 in the win at NC State last February.
• Carolina is 12-1 this season and 33-8 in his career when Bacot attempts more than six free throws in a game. The Tar Heels are 2-4 this season and 41-37 over the last four seasons when he attempts six or fewer.
• RJ Davis leads the ACC and is 19th in the country in free throw percentage at .898.
• The last Tar Heel to lead the ACC in free throw percentage was Joel Berry II in 2017-18 (.893). Berry was the 11th Tar Heel to lead the league.
• Carolina's 103-101 loss to Alabama was just the second four-overtime game in UNC history and the first since Carolina beat Tulane, 113-106, in New Orleans on Feb. 14, 1976.
• Carolina had not played even a triple overtime game since 2003-04 (a 119-114 loss to Wake Forest).
• It was only the third time UNC lost in 211 games when scoring 100 points.
• Caleb Love played 57:24 in Carolina's four-overtime loss to Alabama. That is the second-highest minutes played in a game by a Tar Heel. Phil Ford played 58 minutes in a four-OT win at Tulane in 1976.
• Love was named to the PKI All-Tournament team after scoring a career-high 34 points against the Tide.
• The Nov. 21 poll was the 113th time UNC was ranked No. 1 in an AP poll, fourth most in NCAA college basketball history.
• This was the 10th time the AP poll ranked the Tar Heels No. 1 to begin a season (1977-78, 1981-82, 1983-84, 1986-87, 1993-94, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2011-12, 2015-16 and 2022-23).
• UNC's 10 preseason No. 1 rankings are the most all-time, breaking a tie with Duke. UCLA is third with eight, Kentucky is fourth with six and Arizona, Indiana, Kansas and Michigan are tied with three.

IN THE RECORD BOOK
• Carolina has an NCAA-record 81 1,000-point scorers, including Caleb Love, Armando Bacot and RJ Davis, who scored his 1,000th point against Wake Forest on 1/4/23.
• Bacot is 22nd all-time in scoring at Carolina, passing Jawad Williams, Justin Jackson, Eric Montross and Kenny Smith when he scored 23 points in the win over NC State.
• Davis scored 27 points to pass the 1,000-point mark against Wake Forest in his 83rd game, the 38th-fewest games needed by a Tar Heel to score 1,000 points.
• Raymond Felton and Ty Lawson both scored their 1,000th points in their 84th games.
• Bacot scored his 1,000th in his 82nd game, while Love scored his 1,000th point in his 73rd game, the fewest games needed since Harrison Barnes hit the mark in his sophomore season in 2011-12 in his 61st game as a Tar Heel.
• Bacot has grabbed 10 or more rebounds in a UNC-record 68 games. He passed Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham, who had 61 in three seasons from 1962-65.
• Bacot is Carolina's all-time leader in rebounds (1,221) and double-doubles (61), is second in offensive rebounds per game (3.60), third in offensive rebounds (428) and tied for sixth in rebounds per game (10.3). He is one of eight Tar Heels to average a career double-double (13.8/10.3).
• Sean May and Bacot are the only Tar Heels to average career double-doubles in the last 50 years.
• Bacot has 61 double-doubles in 119 games (double-doubles in 51.26% of his games). Only Cunningham (87.0%) and Lennie Rosenbluth (51.32%) recorded double-doubles in a higher percentage of games by a Tar Heel.
• Bacot set UNC single-season records last year with 511 rebounds, 31 double-doubles, five 20-rebound games (tied), 32 games with 10 or more rebounds, rebounds in an NCAA Tournament and rebounds by a Tar Heel in the Elite 8, national semifinal and championship games.
• Bacot became the first player in NCAA Tournament history with six double-doubles in one year and tied the NCAA single-season record for double-doubles with 31 (Navy's David Robinson also had 31 in 1985-86).
• Bacot grabbed a career-high 23 rebounds in UNC's 80-64 win over previously unbeaten James Madison on November 20.
• Bacot's 23 rebounds vs. JMU marked his sixth career game with 20 or more. The win over NC State (18 rebounds) was his 22nd with 15 or more.
• Bacot had 23 points and 18 rebounds vs. NC State, his 20th career game with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.
• RJ Davis leads and Caleb Love is tied with Cameron Johnson for 12th all-time at UNC in free throw percentage.
• Love made at least one three-pointer in a UNC-record 45 consecutive games, a streak that ended at Louisville on January 14. He broke Marcus Paige's previous mark of 41.
• Last season, Love made 40 consecutive free throws, the second-longest streak in school history (one off the record by Jeff Lebo).
• Love has attempted the seventh-most three-pointers in UNC history (524) and made the 15th most (164).
• Love is one of nine Tar Heels with 1,200 points, 300 assists and 150 three-pointers (also Joel Berry II, Jason Capel, Raymond Felton, Rick Fox, Justin Jackson, Jeff Lebo, Marcus Paige and Shammond Williams).
• Love is three steals from 100. Berry, Capel, Felton, Fox, Lebo and Paige also had 100 steals.
• Leaky Black has played in 142 games in four-plus seasons. He could break Deon Thompson's school record for games played (152).
• Black is one of two current Tar Heels to start at least 100 career games. Bacot has made 118 starts and Black has 117.
• Black, a fifth-year graduate student, recently surpassed 700 career points, 600 rebounds and 300 assists.

LATE-GAME HEROICS
• Pete Nance's clutch shot vs. Ohio State marked the first time a Tar Heel made a field goal with 0:00 on the clock (released with 0.2 to play) to send a game to overtime since Pete Chilcutt (off an assist from Jeff Lebo) vs. Syracuse on 11/21/1987, in Springfield, Mass. Remarkably, it also happened in UNC's previous overtime game, when Lebo fed Scott Williams for a jump hook at the buzzer that sent the 1987 ACC semifinal against Virginia to a second OT in Landover, Md.
• The 1987 buzzer-beaters came eight months, six games and one overtime game apart; Nance's shot was 35 years, 1,249 games and 52 overtime games since Chilcutt's shot vs. Syracuse.
• Carolina trailed Ohio State by 10 with 6:44 to play. It was the first time UNC trailed by double digits with less than 10:00 to play and won since beating Louisville, 72-71, on 1/10/2015.
• Ohio State led by 14 twice in the first half. That was the largest deficit in a Tar Heel victory since 2/27/21, when UNC overcame a 16-point deficit to beat Florida State, 78-70, in the Smith Center.

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

RJ Davis

D'Marco Dunn

Puff Johnson

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

Pete Nance

Tyler Nickel

Seth Trimble

Jalen Washington

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