Men's Basketball Welcomes Pitt Wednesday

GAME 22: PITTSBURGH
• Carolina returns to action following a seven-day break when it hosts Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. in the Dean E. Smith Center on Wednesday, February 1 on the ACC Network.
• Five of the top 11 individual scorers in the ACC will be on the court Wednesday, including UNC's Armando Bacot (second), RJ Davis (eighth) and Caleb Love (tied ninth) and Pittsburgh's Blake Hinson (seventh) and Jamarius Burton (11th).
• The Tar Heels are 15-6 overall, 7-3 in the ACC.
• The Tar Heels have won four in a row and 10 of their last 12. Carolina has held six consecutive opponents under 70 points and has won five of those six games.
• Carolina is fourth in the ACC standings, a half game behind Pittsburgh. Clemson leads at 10-1, Virginia is 9-2, the Panthers are third at 8-3 with UNC at 7-3.
• The Panthers are 15-7 overall. That includes a 76-74 win over the Tar Heels in Pittsburgh on December 30.
• This is Carolina's second-longest break between games this season. The Tar Heels had an eight-day layoff over the Christmas holiday between beating Michigan in Charlotte on December 21 and playing at Pittsburgh on the 30th.
• The Pittsburgh game is UNC's third in an eight-game stretch in which every team it plays has a winning record in the ACC. Those eight games include an 80-69 win on January 21 vs. NC State, a 72-68 win on January 24 at Syracuse, Pittsburgh, February 4 at Duke (6-4), February 7 at Wake Forest (6-5), February 11 vs. Clemson (10-1), February 13 vs. Miami (7-4) and February 19 at NC State (7-4).
• Carolina last played on January 24, a 72-68 win at Syracuse. It was the Tar Heels' 12th win in 15 games against the Orange since Syracuse joined the ACC. It improved UNC's all-time records to 16-6 vs. the Orange, 12-3 in the JMA (formerly Carrier) Dome and 5-2 against the Orange in the Dome.
• Pete Nance scored a game-high 21 points, including the game-winner with 17.7 seconds to play. Armando Bacot had 18 points, eight boards and four assists, and Caleb Love hit three three-pointers en route to 15 points and five assists.
• RJ Davis, who also had five assists, took a charge with 10 seconds to play as Carolina held a one-point lead to secure the victory. Davis is expected to play against Pittsburgh after taking a charge with 10 seconds to play that resulted in him taking an elbow to the face. He was unable to complete the game.
• The Tar Heels had 21 assists on 26 field goals vs. the Orange, assisting on a season-high 80.8% of their field goals in any game.

UNC-PITTSBURGH SERIES
• Carolina is 15-7 all-time vs. the Panthers, but Pittsburgh has won four of the last five times these teams have played over the last four seasons, including earlier this season in Pennsylvania.
• The Tar Heels are 7-2 in Chapel Hill against Pittsburgh, including 6-2 in the Smith Center.
• The Panthers have won the previous two games in the Smith Center – 73-65 on 1/8/2020 and 76-67 on 2/16/2022.
• Only two teams have defeated the Tar Heels at least three straight times in the Smith Center – Duke, which won four in a row from 1999-2002, and Wake Forest, which won three straight from 2002-04.
• Carolina has averaged 66.6 points over its previous five starts against the Panthers with a high of 75 in its only victory (on 1/26/21 at Pittsburgh) in that span of games.

PREVIOUS MATCHUP
Pittsburgh 76, UNC 74, 12/30/22 in Pittsburgh
• The loss snapped a four-game winning streak by the Tar Heels.
• The game was tied at 67 when Blake Hinson made a go-ahead three with 1:28 to play to begin a 9-2 run by the Panthers.
• In the first half, UNC shot 51.6% from the floor and held Pitt to 41.9%. In the second half, UNC shot 33.3%, while the Panthers made 50% from the floor.
• Pitt guard Jamarius Burton, the only Panther who also played in Pitt's win last season in Chapel Hill, was 14 for 17 from the floor and scored a game-high 31 points.
• Carolina made 6 of 13 threes in the first half en route to a 40-34 lead, but made only 1 of 9 in the second.
• The Tar Heels made 50% from two-point range for the game (18 of 36).
• The Panthers out-scored UNC, 42-26, in the paint. It was the fourth straight UNC loss this season in which the opponent scored at least 40 points in the paint.
• UNC led Pitt by as many as nine points, which matched the largest lead by the Tar Heels in a loss this season (also in the Iowa State and Virginia games).
• The Tar Heels led for 34:13, the most time they have led in a loss this season.
• Armando Bacot led UNC outright in scoring (22) and rebounds (13) and shared team honors in assists (3) and blocks (2), the first time a Tar Heel has led in all four since Luke Maye vs. Tulane on 12/3/2017.
• Bacot was the only Tar Heel to make multiple field goals in the second half. He was 4 for 8 from the floor in the second; the rest of the Tar Heels were 5 for 19 as five different players made one field goal apiece in the half.
• Caleb Love made Carolina's only three-pointer of the second half with six seconds to play.
• Leaky Black was the only Tar Heel other than Bacot to get an offensive rebound (Bacot had five, Black two).

LAST TIME IN CHAPEL HILL
Pittsburgh 76, UNC 67, Feb. 16, 2022
• The Panthers shot 60% from the floor to build a 40-23 lead at the half. The 17-point deficit tied the third-largest for UNC in the Smith Center and was the largest since 1/4/2020, when Georgia Tech led 47-27.
•The Panthers made 10 of 17 three-pointers, the highest percentage (.588) by an opponent last season.
• Pitt's Ithiel Horton was 5 for 5 from three and scored 19 points. He was one of five Panther starters to score in double figures, accounting for 72 of Pitt's 76 points.
• Caleb Love led four Tar Heels in double figures with 19 points.
• Armando Bacot had seven points and eight rebounds. He attempted only six field goals and made two. The six field goal attempts match the fewest he has attempted in his last 58 games (not including the Virginia game on 1/10/23, when he played just over a minute due to injury).
• The Tar Heels made 8 of 29 shots from the floor (.276) in the first half. They doubled their field goal percentage in the second half, when they shot 55.2% from the floor (16 of 29).
• Pittsburgh scored 20 points off 10 UNC turnovers in the first half. The Panthers scored only two points off turnovers in the second half, when UNC outscored Pitt by eight.
• Carolina scored a season-high 24 points off 18 Pittsburgh turnovers. The 18 turnovers were the most forced by UNC last season.
• Carolina led 5-0, its largest lead in a loss all season until the national championship game, when it led Kansas by 15 at the half.

MID-SEASON ACCOLADES
• Armando Bacot was one of 20 players named Monday to the Wooden Award's Late-Season list.
• Bacot and Caleb Love were named to the USBWA's mid-season list for the Oscar Robertson (NPOY) Trophy.
• Bacot was named second-team mid-season All-America by Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News and third-team All-America by CBSSports.com's Jon Rothstein.
• Fifth-year senior Leaky Black was named to the mid-season watch list for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award.

BACOT: NOW 6-TIME ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Bacot has earned three ACC Player-of-the-Week awards this season.
• Bacot has won ACC Player of the Week six times in his career (all in the last two seasons), 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.
• Most recently, Bacot won the awards for his play vs. Boston College and NC State, when he totaled 43 points and 34 rebounds (11 offensive) vs. Boston College 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 in early January.

RANKINGS
• Carolina is tied for No. 30 in the AP poll, 31st in KenPom and 33rd in the NCAA's NET.
• The Tar Heels are second in the ACC in scoring (79.2 ppg), rebounding (39.1) and rebound margin (+5.1). Carolina is sixth in the league in scoring margin (+7.2).
• 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 43rd nationally.
• The Tar Heels are 23rd in the country in rebounds per game.
• The Tar Heels are seventh in the ACC in field goal percentage and ninth in field goal percentage defense.
• Carolina is 11th in the ACC in three-pointers per game (6.8), 13th in three-point shooting (.318) and eighth in three-point percentage defense (.336).
• Carolina is the only team with three players in the top 10 in the ACC in scoring. Armando Bacot is second, RJ Davis is eighth and Caleb Love is tied for ninth.
• Despite playing less than two minutes at Virginia Bacot is second in the ACC in scoring (17.9) and leads the ACC in rebounding (11.4), offensive boards (4.4) and double-doubles (12).
• Bacot is the only player in the ACC in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage.
• Nationally, Bacot is fourth in offensive rebounding, rebounds and double-doubles.
• 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 87.8%. He is on pace for the third highest percentage in a season in Carolina history. Shammond Williams made 91.1% in 1997-98 and Joel Berry II made 89.3% in 2017-18.
• Davis is 34th in the country at the line.
• Davis's 14 for 14 from the line against NC State is the fourth best in a game this season in the NCAA.

SCHEDULE NOTES
• Carolina has 10 games, all in the conference, remaining in the regular season. Eight of the 10 (all but road starts at Notre Dame and Florida State) are against teams that currently have winning records in ACC play.
• Carolina's schedule is the 33rd-most difficult in the nation (per KenPom). No other ACC team has a strength of schedule ranked in the top 40.
• Carolina's non-conference schedule is the 18th-hardest in the country.
• The six teams that have defeated UNC were a combined 92-32 (.742) through January 29.
• Carolina has played four teams that are ranked in the January 30 AP poll – No. 4 Alabama, No. 6 Virginia, No. 13 Iowa State and No. 21 Indiana.

KENPOM HIGHLIGHTS
• The Tar Heels are 26th in offensive efficiency (115.0 points per 100 possessions) and 53rd in defensive efficiency.
• Carolina is third in the ACC in offensive efficiency behind Miami, which is 12th nationally, and Virginia, which is 18th.
• The Tar Heels have committed the 20th-fewest turnovers per possession, but are 322nd in forcing turnovers.
• The Tar Heels are 73rd in two-point field goal percentage and 284th in three-point percentage.
• Armando Bacot is 17th in the country in offensive rebound percentage, but as a team the Tar Heels are 169th. Bacot has 87 offensive rebounds, 63 more than Leaky Black, who is second with 24. Puff Johnson is third with 16.
• Bacot has 40% of Carolina's offensive rebounds. Last season he grabbed 36% of UNC's offensive boards.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS (WINS & LOSSES)
• Carolina has scored 9.4 more points per game in its 15 wins than in the six losses, while the opponents have scored nine more points per game in UNC's losses than they have when the Tar Heels win.
• Carolina is shooting 47.0% from the floor in the wins and 41.4% in its losses.
• The Tar Heels make 7.3 threes at 33.6% in the wins, but only 5.5 threes at 27% in the losses.
• Carolina has a rebounding edge of 7.3 in the wins and has been out-rebounded by 0.5 per game in its losses.
• The Tar Heels are plus 48 in assists/turnovers in the wins and minus 15 in the losses.
• The opponents have shot 42.7% 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 14 more turnovers than assists in Carolina's 15 wins.
• UNC has outscored the opponents, 240-174, in points off turnovers in the Tar Heels' 15 wins, including 24-10 vs. Charleston, 27-12 vs. Ohio State, 32-8 vs. Wake Forest, 23-8 at Louisville and 20-14 at Syracuse.
• 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 8-1 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 (and 2-0 when even).
• 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.
• In the 15 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
• Carolina is 25-2 at home the last two seasons under head coach Hubert Davis.
• Junior guard RJ Davis has made 50% or better from three in nine of his last 12 games. He is 19 for 36 (.528) from three in the last seven games.
• Carolina is 12-2 this season and 43-11 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.
• Davis leads the ACC and is 34th in the country in free throw percentage at .878.
• 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.
• Armando Bacot leads Carolina in scoring (career-high 17.9 ppg), rebounding (11.4 rpg), offensive rebounding (career-high 4.5), blocks (21) and field goal percentage (.578). 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.
• 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 3-4 this season and 42-37 over the last four seasons when he attempts six or fewer.
• Bacot (career-high 17.9 ppg), Davis (career-high 16.4) and Caleb Love (career-high 16.2) 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.
• 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 and Davis lead the Tar Heels in plus/minus at plus 159 and plus 153, respectively.
• Bacot has led UNC in plus/minus eight 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 leads the non-starters in plus/minus at +58.
• Puff Johnson, who did not play in the last two games 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 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.
• The Tar Heel bench has scored just 13 total points in the last three games (seven vs. Boston College, one vs. NC State and five at Syracuse). In the three games prior to the win over BC, UNC's bench scored at least 20 in all three contests and averaged 22.7 points vs. Notre Dame, Virginia and Louisville.
• 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 on January 21.
• 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 10 or more rebounds in a UNC-record 68 games. He passed Billy Cunningham, who had 61 in three seasons from 1962-65.
• Bacot is Carolina's all-time leader in rebounds (1,229) and double-doubles (61), is second in offensive rebounds per game (3.58), third in offensive rebounds (429) and sixth in rebounds per game (10.2). He is one of eight Tar Heels to average a career double-double (13.8/10.2).
• 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 120 games (double-doubles in 50.8% 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 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 is tied for third and Caleb Love is 13th 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 (529) and made the 15th most (167).
• 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 143 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 119 starts and Black has 118.
• 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.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

RJ Davis

D'Marco Dunn

Puff Johnson

Caleb Love

Pete Nance

Tyler Nickel

Seth Trimble

Jalen Washington