MBB Returns To Action At Wake Forest Tuesday

GAME 24: AT WAKE FOREST
• The Tar Heels are 15-8 overall, 7-5 in the ACC. Carolina is seventh in the ACC, one game behind Duke and a half-game ahead of Wake Forest and Syracuse, who are both 7-6.
• Wake Forest is 10-2 at home and 15-9 overall, coming off a 17-point win at Notre Dame. That win over the Irish followed three straight two-point losses for the Demon Deacons against Pittsburgh, Duke and NC State.
• UNC is 2-5 on the road this season (which does not include the win over Portland in Portland, Ore., which was officially a neutral-site game).
• Carolina has dropped two straight games, 65-64 at home to Pittsburgh and 63-57 at Duke. The Tar Heels shot under 35% from the floor and were a combined 12 of 54 from three-point range in the two losses.
• Carolina has held eight consecutive opponents under 70 points and is 5-3 in those games.
• The Tar Heels have not shot 50% from the floor since shooting 51.6% in their 88-79 win at home over Wake Forest on January 4.
• Wake Forest is the last team to score 70 or more points and is the last opponent to make 10 three-pointers vs. Carolina.
• Carolina held Duke to 39.3% shooting from the floor and only 63 points, but the Blue Devils broke a 57-all tie and ended the game on a 6-0 run.
• Armando Bacot led the Tar Heels in Durham with 14 points and 10 rebounds but did not attempt a field goal in the final 12:14 (UNC was 6 for 20 from the floor over that stretch).
• Leaky Black recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. It was Black's first game scoring in double figures since he had a career-high 18 vs. Wake Forest. Black made three of his six three-point attempts at Duke, the first time he made three 3FGs since the Wake Forest game.
• Black has 10 offensive rebounds in the last two games. He is second on the team with 34 offensive boards (behind Bacot's 96).
• Bacot grabbed four more offensive rebounds at Duke. He has 96 this season and is averaging 4.36 per game, ahead of his school-record pace of 4.18 he established a season ago.
• Bacot leads the ACC in rebounding, offensive rebounding and double-doubles, is third in scoring and fourth in field goal percentage. He is third in the country in double-doubles and fourth in offensive rebounds and total rebounds per game.

UNC-WAKE FOREST ALL-TIME
• Carolina is 164-68 all-time against Wake Forest. The 164 wins equal the most against an opponent (also 164 vs. NC State).
• The Tar Heels have won nine of the last 11 games vs. the Demon Deacons.
• The Tar Heels are 55-33 on the road in the series, including 15-12 against Wake Forest in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
• Carolina is 21-12 in all games in the LJVM Coliseum. That includes a 6-0 record in NCAA Tournament games in 1993, 1997 and 2007.
• The Demon Deacons have won the last two games vs. the Tar Heels in the LJVM Coliseum, including 98-76 in the only matchup last season.
• Carolina's most recent win in Winston-Salem was a 95-57 victory on 2/16/2019, the Tar Heels' largest win in the series and their largest ACC road win ever.

EARLIER THIS SEASON
@UNC 88, WAKE FOREST 79
January 4, 2023, in Chapel Hill
• The game featured 20 lead changes, the most in a UNC game this season, and eight ties.
• RJ Davis had season highs in three-pointers (5) and points (27). He scored 22 of his game-high 27 points in the second half.
• Leaky Black tied his career high with six field goals and scored a career-high 18 points. He made three 3FGs and scored 14 points in the first half.
• Bacot scored 21 points, had a season-high five assists and did not commit a turnover.
• Freshman guard Seth Trimble scored a season-high 11 points and was a game-high and season-best plus 16.
• Carolina shot 60% from the floor in the second half and 51.7% for the game.
• Carolina scored a season-high 32 points off 15 Wake Forest turnovers. The 32 points were the most by UNC in any game since the Tar Heels scored 32 off 20 turnovers at Wake Forest in 2019.
• The Tar Heels committed eight turnovers in the first half that led to eight Wake Forest points. In the second half, Carolina committed only one turnover that led to no points.
• The Tar Heels scored 51 points in the second half, which equal the most points allowed by Wake Forest in any half this season.
• Pete Nance left the game after playing 1:56 and did not return due to a stiff back.

LAST SEASON'S GAME
@WAKE FOREST 98, UNC 76
January 22, 2022, in Winston-Salem
• The 98 points were the most by Wake Forest in the series since the Demon Deacons' 119-114 triple overtime win in Chapel Hill in 2003-04.
• The 98 points were the most in a regulation-length game since Wake Forest defeated UNC, 107-85, on 1/6/1965.
• Wake Forest shot 54.2% from the floor and was 24 for 32 from the line.
• Carolina had 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.
• Alondes Williams, the ACC's leading scorer, had 23 points for the Deacons.
• Wake Forest turned 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. He was 4 for 12 from the floor and 4 for 8 from the line.
• Carolina shot 33.3% from the floor, its third-lowest percentage last season.
• Manek made three of UNC's six three-pointers. Carolina was 6 for 28 from three-point range.
• 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 nine with 13:11 to play in the game before Damari Monsanto made three consecutive three-pointers to push Wake's lead to 19.

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.
• Bacot's ACC Player-of-the-Week honors this season were a product of his performances against The Citadel and Ohio State in December, Wake Forest and Notre Dame games in early January and Boston College and NC State games in mid-January.

STATISTICAL RANKINGS
• The Tar Heels are second in the ACC in rebounding (39.3) and rebound margin (+4.7), third in scoring (77.6 ppg) and sixth in the league in scoring margin (+6.8).
• 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 45th nationally.
• The Tar Heels are 17th in the country in rebounds per game.
• The Tar Heels are ninth in the ACC in field goal percentage and eighth in field goal percentage defense.
• Carolina is 11th in the ACC in three-pointers per game (6.7), 14th in three-point shooting (.308) and eighth in three-point percentage defense (.338).
• Carolina is the only team with three players in the top 12 in the ACC in scoring. Armando Bacot is third, Caleb Love is sixth and RJ Davis is tied for 12th.
• Bacot and Clemson's Hunter Tyson are the only players in the ACC in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage.
• 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 is second in the ACC in free throw shooting at 86.2%.
• Davis's 14 for 14 from the line against NC State is the fourth best in a game this season in the NCAA.

KENPOM NOTES
• The Tar Heels are 32nd in offensive efficiency (114.2 points per 100 possessions) and 44th in defensive efficiency (97.8).
• Carolina is fourth in the ACC in offensive efficiency behind Miami, which is 11th nationally, Virginia (24th) and Wake Forest (26th).
• The Tar Heels have committed the 14th-fewest turnovers per possession, but are 318th in the nation in forcing turnovers.
• The Tar Heels are 104th in two-point field goal percentage and 316th in three-point percentage.
• Armando Bacot is 18th in the country in offensive rebound percentage, but as a team the Tar Heels are 139th. Bacot has 96 offensive rebounds, 62 more than Leaky Black, who is second with 34. Puff Johnson is third with 17.
• Bacot has 38% of Carolina's offensive rebounds. Last season he grabbed 36% of UNC's offensive boards.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS (WINS & LOSSES)
• Carolina is averaging 81.9 points in its 15 wins and 69.5 (12.4 fewer) in the eight losses.
• Carolina is shooting 47.0% from the floor in the wins and 39.6% in its losses.
• The Tar Heels make 7.3 threes at 33.6% in the wins, but 5.6 threes at 25.6% in the losses.
• Carolina's best three-point percentage in a loss this season was 33.3% at Virginia (8 for 24).
• UNC is 30 for 117 (25.6%) from three-point range in its five ACC losses.
• Carolina has a rebounding edge of 7.3 in the wins and has the same number of rebounds as its opponents in the losses.
• The Tar Heels are a combined plus 48 in assists/turnovers in the wins and minus 13 in the losses.
• The opponents are a combined plus 20 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, 114-73, in points off turnovers in the 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 at Pittsburgh and 19-10 advantage by Virginia.
• Carolina is 8-2 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 2-1 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 at Pittsburgh.
• Carolina is 9-3 when it scores more paint points and 5-5 when the opponents have more.
• 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 65.0 points in the other seven losses with a high of 74 at Pittsburgh.
• Bacot is averaging 19.3 points in the wins and 13.7 in the losses. However, Bacot only played 1:18 in the loss at Virginia and did not play at Virginia Tech (he is averaging 16.0 in the other six losses).
• Caleb Love is shooting 39.8% from the floor, including 27.7% from three, and has 49 assists/34 turnovers in the wins; in the losses, Love is shooting 35.9% from the floor (30.0% from three) and has 21 assists/20 turnovers in the losses.
• RJ Davis is averaging 16.6 points, is shooting 47.6% from the floor (42.5% from three) and has 56 assists/26 turnovers in the wins; in the losses, he is averaging 14.3 points, is shooting 36.0% from the floor (22.5% from three) and has 20 assists/18 turnovers.
• Pete Nance is shooting 48.4% from the floor (40.5% from three) in the wins and 37.9% from the floor (20% from three) in the losses. Nance is 33 for 39 (.846) from the free throw line in the wins and 15 for 22 in the losses (.682).

MISCELLANEOUS
• KenPom ranks Carolina's strength of schedule 25th overall and 16th in non-conference play when the Tar Heels went 8-3.
• Carolina's eight losses are against teams with a combined record of 116-42 (.734) through 2/5/23 (Alabama 20-3, Virginia 17-4, Duke 17-6, Pittsburgh 16-7, Iowa State 16-6, Indiana 16-7 and Virginia Tech 14-9).
• Carolina has played five teams that are ranked in the February 6 Associated Press Top 25 – losing to No. 3 Alabama, No. 8 Virginia, No. 11 Iowa State and No. 18 Indiana and defeating No. 22 NC State.
• Armando Bacot leads Carolina in scoring (career-high 17.5 ppg), rebounding (11.3 rpg), offensive rebounding (career-high 4.4), blocks (25) and field goal percentage (.563). 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 12-2 this season and 33-9 in his career when Bacot attempts more than six free throws in a game. The Tar Heels are 3-5 this season and 42-38 over the last four seasons when he attempts six or fewer.
• Bacot and Davis lead the Tar Heels in plus/minus at plus 153. Davis led UNC in plus/minus at Duke when he was minus 2. It was the second time this season he led UNC.
• Bacot has led UNC in plus/minus eight times. Pete Nance is second in games led in plus/minus with four.
• 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 +51.
• Puff Johnson was even at Duke. He had a positive plus/minus in each of his previous seven games.
• Dunn came off the bench at Louisville to tie for the team lead in scoring with a career-high 14 points. He also set career highs that day 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).
• The opponents are averaging 5.4 more bench points per game this season. Over the last five games, the opponents have out-scored UNC's bench, 44-22.
• 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.

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, most recently passing Jawad Williams, Justin Jackson, Eric Montross and Kenny Smith when he scored 23 points in the win over NC State on January 21.
• Bacot needs nine points to pass Wayne Ellington, 14 to become the 21st Tar Heel to score 1,700 and 18 to surpass Rick Fox for 20th on the UNC scoring list.
• RJ Davis scored 27 points against Wake Forest on January 4 to pass the 1,000-point mark in his 83rd game, the 38th-fewest games needed by a Tar Heel to score 1,000 points (standout UNC guards Raymond Felton and Ty Lawson both scored their 1,000th points in their 84th games).
• Bacot has 10 or more rebounds in a UNC-record 70 games. He passed Billy Cunningham, who had 61 in three seasons from 1962-65.
• Bacot is Carolina's all-time leader in rebounds (1,250) and double-doubles (63), is second in offensive rebounds per game (3.59), second in offensive rebounds (438) 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 63 double-doubles in 122 games (double-doubles in 51.6% of his games). Only Cunningham (87.0%) 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.
• RJ Davis is fifth and Caleb Love is 16th 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 sixth-most three-pointers in UNC history (547) and made the 14th most (173).
• 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 two steals from 100. Berry, Capel, Felton, Fox, Lebo and Paige also had 100 steals.
• Leaky Black has played in 145 games in four-plus seasons. He is on pace to 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 121 starts and Black has 120.

HANSBROUGH/MISSOURI SPORTS HALL OF FAME
• Tyler Hansbrough, the only four-time first-team All-America in ACC history, and the ACC's all-time leading scorer, was inducted in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame on February 5.
• Hansbrough led the Tar Heels to two ACC Tournament championships in 2007 and 2008, two Final Fours in 2008 and 2009 and an NCAA championship as a senior in 2009.
• The Poplar Bluff, Mo., native holds the ACC career scoring record with 2,872 points and is the NCAA's all-time leader in free throws made (982).

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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