Looking To Rebound, MBB Hosts Wake Wednesday

GAME 15: WAKE FOREST
• Carolina begins the 2023 portion of the schedule by hosting Wake Forest on Wednesday, January 3, at 9 p.m.
• The Tar Heels are 9-5 overall, 1-2 in the ACC after a 76-74 loss at Pittsburgh on December 30. Armando Bacot led UNC with 22 points and 13 rebounds, but Jamarious Burton scored 31 and Blake Hinson added 16, including a go-ahead three-pointer with 1:28 to play.
• Carolina led by six at the break and by nine with just under 12 minutes to play, but shot just 33% from the floor in the second half, including 1 of 9 from three-point range.
• Bacot leads the ACC in scoring, rebouding and offensive rebounding and is fifth in field goal percentage. Last season, the Richmond, Va., native 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.
• UNC went 29-12 in the calendar year 2022.
• The loss at Pittsburgh snapped a four-game winning streak by the Tar Heels.
• Wake Forest is 10-4, 2-1 in the ACC. The Demon Deacons have won two straight, home wins over Duke (81-70) and Virginia Tech (77-75).
• The Tar Heels dropped out of the Associated Press poll this week. UNC had climbed back into the poll at No. 25 on December 26 after being unranked in the previous three polls.

UNC-WAKE FOREST SERIES
• Carolina is 163-68 all-time vs. Wake Forest, including 8-2 in the last 10 games.
• The Tar Heels are 79-18 against the Deacs in Chapel Hill, including 24-5 in the Smith Center.
• Wake Forest beat the Tar Heels, 98-76, in Winston-Salem on 1/22/2022, in the only matchup last season.
• The Tar Heels have won the last seven games against Wake Forest in Chapel Hill. Carolina defeated the Demon Deacons, 80-73 in front of a limited number of fans (due to the pandemic) on 1/20/2021 in the most recent game between the teams in Chapel Hill.
• Freshman Caleb Love scored 20 points, his first career 20-point game. Armando Bacot had 18 points, RJ Davis added 13 and Leaky Black had eight assists.
• Wake Forest made 13 threes and got 27 points from both Isaiah Muciius and Daivien Williamson.

LAST YEAR'S GAME
WAKE FOREST 98, UNC 76
Jan. 22, 2022, in Winston-Salem
• The 98 points were the Deacons' most in a regulation length game vs. the Tar Heels since Wake Forest defeated UNC, 107-85, on 1/6/1965.
• Coming one game after UNC's 85-57 loss at Miami, the 22-point margin marked the first time UNC lost consecutive starts by 20 or more points since 2001-02.
• Wake Forest shot 54.2% from the floor. The Deacons became the first team to shoot 50% in both halves against UNC last season (.516 in the first and .571 in the second).
• Wake Forest was 24 for 32 from the line, the most made and attempted free throws by an opponent all of last season.
• Carolina had grabbed 23 offensive rebounds and converted those into a season-high 29 second-chance points.
• Wake Forest's Jake LaRivia scored a game-high 31 points. He drew 10 fouls and made 12 of 15 free throws.
• Wake Forest converted 11 UNC turnovers into 21 points.
• The Deacons outscored the Tar Heels, 30-2, on fastbreak points.
• Brady Manek led UNC with 22 points.
• Armando Bacot had 12 points and 12 rebounds for his ninth straight double-double.
• Carolina shot 33.3% from the floor, its third-lowest percentage all season.
• The Tar Heels led, 23-21, with 8:49 to play in the first half, but the Deacons ended the half on a 25-13 run.
• UNC trailed by 10 with just over 13 minutes to play before Damari Monsanto made three consecutive three-pointers to push Wake's lead to 19.

RANKINGS
• Carolina is No. 22 in the country in KenPom and No. 29 in the NCAA's NET.
• Wake Forest is No. 88 in KenPom and 81st in the NET.
• The Tar Heels lead the ACC in scoring (81.5 ppg) and rebounding (40.2), but are last in the league in points allowed (74.6).
• Carolina is 11th in the ACC in three-pointers per game (6.4), 13th in three-point percentage defense (.338) and 14th in three-point shooting (.308).
• Armando Bacot (first), Caleb Love (tied for fourth) and RJ Davis (ninth) rank in the top 10 in the league in scoring.
• Bacot leads the ACC in scoring, rebounding, offensive boards and double-doubles.
• Bacot ranks third in the country in offensive rebounding (4.7 per game), fourth in rebounds per game (11.2) and double-doubles (8) and seventh in free throw attempts (105).

SCHEDULE
• Carolina's schedule is ranked the eighth-most difficult in the nation (per KenPom) among all teams and the second-most difficult among Power 5 conference teams behind only Alabama.
• Carolina's non-conference schedule is the ninth-toughest in the country.
• The five teams that have defeated UNC (Iowa State, Alabama, Indiana, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh) were a combined 52-14 through January 1.
• Five of Carolina's opponents in the first 14 games are ranked in this week's Associated Press poll – No. 7 Alabama, No. 15 Indiana, No. 23 Charleston, No. 24 Ohio State and No. 25 Iowa State.
• The Tar Heels are 2-3 against those five teams currently ranked in the AP poll.

KENPOM HIGHLIGHTS
• Some notable stats according to KenPom: the Tar Heels are 11th in the country in offensive efficiency (114.4 points per 100 possessions), 14th best in getting to the free throw line and have committed the 23rd-fewest turnovers per possession.
• Conversely, the Tar Heels are 294th in three-point percentage, 324th in forcing turnovers and 278th in assists to field goals.
• Armando Bacot is 18th in the country in offensive rebound percentage, but as a team the Tar Heels are 163rd. Bacot has 61 offensive rebounds, 42 more than Leaky Black, who is second with 19.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS (WINS & LOSSES)
• Carolina has scored nearly nine fewer points per game in its five losses than the nine wins and allowed an average of 10.2 more points in the losses.
• The Tar Heels are shooting 48% from the floor in the wins and 41.7% in their losses.
• The Tar Heels make 7.2 threes at a 33.5% clip in the wins, but only 5.0 threes at 25.5% in the five losses.
• Carolina has a rebounding edge of 7.9 in the wins and has been out-rebounded by 1.4 per game in its losses.
• The Tar Heels are plus 31 in assists/turnovers in the wins and minus 11 in the five losses.
• The opponents have shot 41.5% from the floor in Carolina's wins and 46% in the losses.
• The opponents are plus 23 assist/turnovers in UNC's losses and minus 2 in Carolina's nine wins.
• The opponents have outscored the Tar Heels, 70-43, in points off turnovers in the five losses. That includes a 15-point advantage by Iowa State, a seven-point edge by Alabama, a 17-4 advantage at Indiana and a 12-6 margin by Pittsburgh.
• UNC has outscored the opponents, 135-118, in the Tar Heels' nine wins.
• The opponents are averaging 40.0 paint points in the five UNC losses, including 40 by Alabama, 50 by Indiana, 42 by Virginia Tech and 42 by Pittsburgh. UNC has allowed 31.1 paint points in its nine victories.
• Carolina's five starters are all shooting at least 44.3% from the floor in the nine wins; in the five losses, only Armando Bacot (.571) is shooting better than 43% from the floor.
• In the nine wins, Bacot is the only starter with more turnovers than assists; in the five losses, only Black has more assists than turnovers.

FREEBIES
• Carolina is attempting 26.0 free throws per game, the third-highest average number of attempts by the Tar Heels in the last 45 years. Only the 1994-95 (28.8 per game) and 2004-05 (27.0) teams averaged more attempts per game.
• Carolina is third in the country in free throws made per game (19.2) and fifth in attempts.
• Armando Bacot is seventh nationally in free throw attempts (105) and 24th in free throws made (70).
• Bacot made six of seven from the line at Pittsburgh.
• RJ Davis leads the ACC and is 29th in the country in free throw percentage at .887. Pete Nance (11th at .784) and Caleb Love (17th at .764) also rank in the top 20 in the ACC.

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.

BACOT EARNS ANOTHER ACC AWARD
• Bacot earned ACC Player-of-the-Week honors for his play against The Citadel and Ohio State. He averaged 21 points, 13 rebounds, 2.5 assists and a block in UNC's two wins.
• It was Bacot's fourth career ACC Player-of-the-Week award, which ties him for the ninth most all-time by a Tar Heel with Brice Johnson, Joseph Forte and Sam Perkins. He needs just 35 rebounds to pass Perkins for the second most in UNC history.
• Bacot led UNC vs. Ohio State with a season-high-tying 28 points and 15 rebounds, becoming the first Tar Heel ever to have at least 25 and 15 in a game in the current Madison Square Garden (Lennie Rosenbluth had 29 and 19 against Yale in the 1957 NCAA Tournament in the original Garden). It was his 16th career game with 20/10 and third with 25/15 (with Virginia and at NC State in 2021-22).

MISCELLANEOUS
• Armando Bacot leads the Tar Heels in plus/minus at +100. RJ Davsi is second at +97.
• Bacot has led UNC in plus/minus six times. Pete Nance is second with three games as UNC's plus/minus leader.
• Bacot has scored 28 points vs. Ohio State, 26 vs. Michigan and 22 at Pittsburgh in the last three games. It is the second time in his career he scored 20 or more points in three straight games. Last season, he scored 21 at Notre Dame and a career-high 29 against both Virginia and Georgia Tech.
• Sophomore guard D'Marco 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 +36. Freshman guard Seth Trimble is next at +10 off the bench.
• Carolina is 4-1 in games when it has scored more points off turnovers than its opponents, including the overtime win over Ohio State, when the Tar Heels held a 27-12 advantage over the Buckeyes.
• The Tar Heels are 3-4 when the opponents score more points off turnovers.
• Carolina's bench has outscored the opponents three times this season (16-12 in the loss at Virginia Tech, 42-18 vs. The Citadel and 10-9 in the loss at Pittsburgh).
• Freshman Tyler Nickel's 16 points vs. The Citadel were his season high and the most by a Tar Heel non-starter this season. His 16 points equaled the previous high for most total bench points in a game by UNC this season. They were also the most by a Tar Heel non-starter (in a non-Senior Day game) since Puff Johnson had 16 at NC State last February.
• 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 all-time 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 80 1,000-point scorers, including Caleb Love and Armando Bacot, who scored his 1,000th point on 1/29/22.
• RJ Davis needs five points for 1,000.

Most 1,000-POINT SCORERS
All Schools

North Carolina 80
Villanova 70
Louisville 69
Duke 67
Notre Dame 67
Kansas 65
Syracuse 65
Kentucky 60
Ohio State 60
Maryland 59
UCLA 59

• Should Davis score at least five points against Wake Forest, he would hit the 1,000-point mark in his 83rd game, which would be 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 64 games. He passed Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham, who had 61 in three seasons from 1962-65.
• Bacot passed George Lynch on December 10 against Georgia Tech for third place all-time in rebounds at UNC. He has 1,147 rebounds and needs 22 to pass College Basketball Hall of Famer Sam Perkins for second and 73 to surpass four-time first-team All-America Tyler Hansbrough for the UNC record.
• Bacot has 57 double-doubles in 113 games (double-doubles in 50.4% of his games). Only Cunningham (87.0%) and Lennie Rosenbluth (51.3%) 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 national 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 Ohio State game on December 17 was his 19th with 15 or more.
• Bacot had 22 points and 13 rebounds at Pittsburgh, his 17th career outing with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.
• Bacot is second in UNC history in double-doubles (57), second in offensive rebounds per game (3.57), third in rebounds (1,147) and sixth in rebounds per game (10.2). The Richmond, Va., native is one of eight Tar Heels to average a career double-double (13.6/10.2).
• Sean May and Bacot are the only Tar Heels to average a double-double over a career in the last 50 seasons.
• RJ Davis and Caleb Love are fifth and 12th, respectively, in free throw percentage.
• Leaky Black has played in 136 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 112 starts and Black has 111.
• In the last two games, Black, a fifth-year graduate student, has surpassed 700 career points, 600 rebounds and 300 assists.
• Caleb Love needs eight assists for 300.
• Bacot pulled down five offensive rebounds at Pittsburgh and has 403 career offensive boards.

NOVEMBER SIGNEES
• Carolina signed two players to National Letters of Intent in November 2022.
• Zayden High, a 6-10 forward from San Antonio, Texas. High attends AZ Compass Prep in Chandler, Ariz., where he plays for Coach Ed Gipson.
• Simeon Wilcher, a 6-5 guard from Plainfield, N.J. Wilcher plays for Coach Dave Boff at Roselle Catholic High School in Roselle, N.J.

MILLER, WILLIAMS HONORED
• Larry Miller, the only Tar Heel to twice earn ACC Player of the Year and ACC Tournament MVP honors, and three-time national championship winning head coach Roy Williams were inducted in the NABC College Basketball Hall of Fame Nov. 20 in Kansas City.
• Miller and Williams are among 13 Tar Heels in the College Basketball Hall of Fame with Larry Brown, Ben Carnevale, Billy Cunningham, Phil Ford, Antawn Jamison, Bob McAdoo, Frank McGuire, Sam Perkins, Charlie Scott, Dean Smith and James Worthy.
• On December 14, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced named Williams the recipient of the 2023 Naismith Outstanding Contributor to Men's Basketball. He will be honored at the 2023 Final Four.
• In September, George Karl was inducted in the Naismith Hall of Fame. Karl, who played at UNC from 1970-73, became the 12th Tar Heel enshrined in Springfield with Brown, Carnevale, Cunningham, Bobby Jones, Michael Jordan, McAdoo, McGuire, Scott, Smith, Williams and James Worthy.

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

RJ Davis

D'Marco Dunn

Puff Johnson

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

Pete Nance

Tyler Nickel

Seth Trimble

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