Tar Heels To Meet UConn In Top-10 Clash In NYC

• Carolina returns to Madison Square Garden for the second straight season as the Tar Heels play defending national champion Connecticut in the second game of a doubleheader in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday, December 5. ESPN will televise the game.
• The Tar Heels (7-1) have won three straight since its only loss of the season by two points in overtime to Villanova on November 23 in the Bahamas. Since that 83-81 loss, UNC has defeated Arkansas by 15, No. 10 Tennessee by eight and Florida State by eight after trailing by 14 points early in the second half.
• Carolina improved to 57-14 in ACC openers with its 78-70 win over the Seminoles in Chapel Hill. RJ Davis led all scorers with 27, Armando Bacot had his 72nd career double-double with 13 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high tying six blocks. FSU led by six at the half and 14 with just over 17 minutes to play. Midway through the second half, the Tar Heels trailed 56-48 and went on a 22-0 run to complete a 28-point swing (from 14 down to 14 ahead).
• The Huskies are also 7-1 after a 69-65 loss at Kansas.
• The game matches two teams ranked in the top five in the nation in offensive efficiency (UConn No. 3 at 121.2 pts/100 possessions and UNC fifth at 119.6).
• This is Carolina's third appearance in the Jimmy V Classic. Carolina defeated UMass, 83-69, on 12/20/1996, and lost to Indiana, 82-73, on 12/21/1999. Both were played at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.

UNC-CONNECTICUT
• The Tar Heels and Huskies have a combined 11 NCAA titles with UNC winning in 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009 and 2017 and UConn winning in 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014 and 2023. Carolina has played in an NCAA-record 21 Final Fours; the Huskies have advanced to six Final Fours.
• Carolina is 5-1 against Connecticut with all six games having been played from 1990-2005.
• UNC won the only previous neutral-site game, which was played in the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum in the 1998 NCAA East Regional final.
• Three head coaches (Dean Smith, Matt Doherty and Roy Williams) led the Tar Heels to a 3-0 record vs. the Huskies in Chapel Hill.
• Carolina split a pair of games on UConn's home courts – 1-0 in Hartford and 0-1 in Storrs.
• The Jimmy V Classic is the first time the teams have played since a 77-70 Tar Heel victory in Hartford on 2/13/2005. Williams' Tar Heels went on to win the NCAA title that season.
• This is the first time Carolina has played the defending NCAA champions since defeating Baylor in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas.
• Hubert Davis played one game as a Tar Heel vs. UConn, scoring 11 points in Carolina's 79-64 win in the Smith Center on 12/6/1990 in the ACC-Big East Challenge.

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

RJ Davis