Tar Heel Men Set To Open 2024 At Pitt Tuesday

Tuesday, January 2

Pittsburgh, Pa.

7 PM

North Carolina

Pittsburgh

Jae'Lyn Withers, James Okonkwo & Zayden High

Photo by: AINSLEY E. FAUTH

January 1, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Live Stats UNC Notes Pitt Notes Watch Listen Media Central

• Carolina begins the calendar year 2024 with the first of three consecutive ACC road games, beginning the road trip January 2 at Pittsburgh. ESPN will carry the game live.
UNC then travels to Clemson (Jan. 6) and NC State (Jan. 10) before returning to the Smith Center for a pair of games vs. Syracuse (Jan. 13) and Louisville (Jan. 17).
• The Tar Heels are 9-3 overall, 1-0 in ACC play, UNC defeated Florida State in Chapel Hill on December 2.
• UNC closed the 2023 calendar year at home on December 29 with a 105-60 win over Charleston Southern, the most points and largest margin of victory in Hubert Davis' first three seasons as head coach.
• Six Tar Heels scored in double figures, Carolina out-rebounded the Buccaneers by 21, UNC had 20 assists and only five turnovers, out-scored CSU 52-12 in the paint, 15-0 on the break and 43-6 off the bench and shot a season-best 56.2% from the floor.
• Senior guard RJ Davis became the first Tar Heel ever with 20 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and no turnovers in a game.
• Sophomores Jalen Washington and Seth Trimble set and tied career scoring highs, respectively, and both players established career highs in rebounds. Washington was 7 for 9 from the floor, hit two threes and had 17 points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes; Trimble was 6 for 10 from the floor and totaled 12 points and six boards.
• Pittsburgh is 9-4, 0-2 in ACC play with a nine-point home loss to Clemson and an 81-73 loss at Syracuse on December 30.
• The Panthers are fourth in the nation in three-point percentage defense (.253), 18th in rebound margin (+9.2) and 20th in three-point attempts per game (27.9).
• Carolina is playing on another team's home court for the first time, going 6-0 at home and 3-3 at neutral sites so far (three games in the Bahamas and one each in New York, Atlanta and Charlotte).
• This is the first time UNC will be playing its first true road game in January since 1/9/1954, when it played the eighth game of the season at Wake Forest.
• Pittsburgh is the first of six ACC road games in January. It is the first time UNC has played six road games in a month since it played seven in January 1952, the Tar Heels' final season as a member of the Southern Conference.
• From November 24-December 20 UNC played five consecutive non-conference games against ranked opponents for the first time in UNC history. The Tar Heels played Arkansas (20th), Tennessee (10th), UConn (5th), Kentucky (14th) and Oklahoma (7th).
• KenPom ranks UNC's schedule the 28th toughest entering the game. That includes the 21st toughest non-conference slate.

GAME 13 NOTEBOOK
UNC-PITTSBURGH SERIES
• Carolina is 15-8 all-time against the Panthers, although Pittsburgh has won three in a row and five out of the last six games over the past four seasons.
• UNC is 6-3 all-time at Pittsburgh, including 3-3 in the Petersen Center, the current home of the Panthers.
• The two games last season, first in Pittsburgh and then in Chapel Hill, were decided by a total of three points.
• The Panthers beat UNC, 76-74, in the Petersen Center on 12/30/22 behind Jamarius Burton's 31 points on 14 of 17 shots from the floor. The Tar Heels made just 1 of 9 from three and 33% overall from the floor in the second half. Carolina led for 34:13 and by as many as nine points. Armando Bacot led UNC with 22 points and 13 rebounds.
• On February 1 in the Smith Center, the Tar Heels made 1 of 14 three-pointers in the second half and 5 of 27 for the game in the Panthers' 65-64 win. Carolina out-rebounded the Panthers, 43-34, including 19-7 on the offensive boards, but the Tar Heels converted those 19 rebounds into just 13 points. Caleb Love led UNC with 22 points and Bacot had 15 points and 11 boards.
• UNC led by a point and had the ball but committed a turnover with 27 seconds to play. Burton was fouled with 0:03 to play and made both free throws for the win.
• The game in Chapel Hill included eight ties and a dozen lead changes.
• Bacot has scored more points (92) and grabbed more rebounds (62) than any Tar Heel against Pittsburgh.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Armando Bacot has made 502 free throws...he is the seventh Tar Heel to make 500...needs five to pass Pete Brennan for sixth place.
• Bacot has scored 1,987 points...passed Antawn Jamison vs. Oklahoma and Larry Miller in vs. Charleston Southern for seventh in all-time scoring by a Tar Heel ... needs 13 points become the seventh Tar Heel to score 2,000.
• RJ Davis has made 196 three-pointers...passed Dante Calabria for 10th in UNC history...needs two to pass Hubert Davis (197) for ninth and five to pass Caleb Love (200) for eighth.
• Davis has scored 1,563 points...needs five to pass Jeff Lebo (1,567) for 29th place.
• Davis has 347 assists...needs two to pass three-time All-America Mike O'Koren for 23rd in UNC history.
• Cormac Ryan has 1,296 career points ... he needs four for 1,300.
• Harrison Ingram has made 95 career three-pointers...needs five for 100.
• Jae'Lyn Withers has scored 695 points...needs five for 700.

HOORAY FOR RJ
• Senior guard RJ Davis leads Carolina in scoring (21.6 points per game), three-pointers (35) and free throw shooting (94.9% at 56 for 59) and is second in assists (43) and steals (16).
• Davis leads the ACC in scoring. The last Tar Heel to lead the ACC was Tyler Hansbrough in 2007-08.
• Davis is on pace for the highest scoring average by a Tar Heel since Hansbrough averaged 22.6 in 2007-08. Davis' 21.6 points per game are on pace to be the highest average by a UNC guard since Charlie Scott averaged 27.1 in 1969-70 (Scott played both shooting guard and small forward).
• Davis had 20 points, 10 assists, five steals and no turnovers in the win over Charleston Southern, becoming the first Tar Heel ever with 20/10/5/0 in a game.
• He was the first Tar Heel with a double-double in points and assists since Theo Pinson in 2018 and the first with 20 points/10 assists sine Kendall Marshall at Duke in 2012.
• Davis has led UNC in scoring in each of the last eight games – 23 vs. Villanova, a career-high tying 30 vs. Arkansas, 27 vs. Tennessee, 27 vs. Florida State, 26 vs. UConn, 27 vs. Kentucky, 23 vs. Oklahoma and 20 vs. Charleston Southern. He led UNC in consecutive games two different times last year.
• He is the first Tar Heel to lead in scoring eight straight games since Tyler Hansbrough, who led in 13 in a row in 2007-08.
• Davis has scored 20 or more in eight straight games. Hansbrough did that in nine consecutive in 2008-09.
• Davis has scored 20 or more points 21 times as a Tar Heel, including nine of UNC's 12 games this season. Carolina is 6-3 this season and 16-5 oversll when Davis scores 20 or more. He is the only current Tar Heel with a 30-point game, and he has two – against Baylor in the 2022 NCAA second round and this season against Arkansas.
• Davis' 203 points are the most by a Tar Heel in an eight-game stretch since Hansbrough (220) in 2008.
• Davis scored at least 26 points in five straight games (Arkansas through Kentucky), becoming the first Tar Heel to do that since Charlie Scott in 1969-70.
• Davis is UNC's all-time leader in free throw percentage at 86.5% and has climbed from 19th at the start of the season to ninth in ACC history in free throw accuracy.
• Davis made 41 straight free throws from the Villanova game on November 23 to the Kentucky game. That tied Jeff Lebo's school record for consecutive makes. Davis also had a streak of 39, which he set over the last five games in the 2022 NCAA Tournament to the first four games last season. That is now tied for the fourth-longest streak by a Tar Heel.
• Davis began his fourth season as UNC's 48th-leading scorer and has moved up 18 spots to 30th through 12 games with 1,563 points. So far this season he has passed Danny Green, Ty Lawson, Kris Lang, Luke Maye, Brendan Haywood, Deon Thompson, Jason Capel, Shammond Williams, Dennis Wuycik, Caleb Love, Kennedy Meeks, Tyler Zeller, Scott Williams and J.R. Reid. Jeff Lebo is 29th with 1,567.
• Davis is shooting career-high percentages from three-point range (.389) and the free throw line (.949).

POLLING
• Carolina is No. 8 in week nine of the Associated Press poll.
• This is the 945th time the Tar Heels are ranked in the AP poll, the second most in college basketball history.
• This is the fourth time this season (all in the last five weeks) and 693rd time (third most all-time) the AP has ranked the Tar Heels in the top 10.
• Carolina has already played the No. 4, 5, 6 and 11 teams in this week's AP poll and plays at No. 16 Clemson on Saturday.
• Carolina beat No. 5 Tennessee and No. 11 Oklahoma and lost to No. 4 UConn and No. 6 Kentucky.

PAIR OF ACC HONORS FOR DAVIS
• RJ Davis was the co-ACC Player of the Week for his 23 points, five assists, five three-pointers and no turnovers in UNC's 81-69 win over No. 7 Oklahoma on December 20.
• It was the second time this season Davis was the ACC Player of the Week and third time a Tar Heel won the honor (see below).
• Davis also was named the ACC Player of the Week on November 27 for his play in the Bahamas, where he averaged 22.0 points and led UNC in scoring with 23 points against Villanova and a career-high tying 30 in the win over Arkansas.
• Davis was one of five players named to the all-tournament team at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
• Davis is the first Tar Heel guard to win multiple ACC Player-of-the-Week honors since Joel Berry II was a four-time winner in 2016-17.
• Davis also was one of the USBWA's National Players of the Week for his play vs. Oklahoma. It was the second time this season a Tar Heel won the USBWA's weekly honor (see below).

BACOT AN EARLY ACC, USBWA WEEKLY WINNER
• Armando Bacot earned national player-of-the-week honors from the USBWA and Lute Olson Award and was named the ACC Player of the Week for his play in Carolina's wins over Radford and Lehigh. The grad student from Richmond, Va., averaged 23.5 points and 16.5 rebounds, made 18 of 30 from the floor (.600) and 11 of 12 free throws (.917) in the two games.
• The ACC award was the seventh of his career, the third most by a Tar Heel.

ROSTER TIDBITS
• The average age of Carolina's 11 scholarship players at the start of the season was 21.0 years. Cormac Ryan (25), Armando Bacot (23), Paxson Wojcik (23), RJ Davis (22) and Jae'Lyn Withers (22) are the oldest; freshmen Elliott Cadeau and Zayden High are among five 19-year-olds.
• Carolina was active in the transfer portal in the offseason with five players joining the program from Brown (grad student Paxson Wojcik), Louisville (grad student Jay'Lyn Withers, Notre Dame (grad student Cormac Ryan), Stanford (junior Harrison Ingram) and West Virginia (junior James Okonkwo).
• Carolina has six players who have started 50 or more college games (144 by Bacot, 97 by Ryan, 93 by Davis, 74 by Ingram, 67 by Withers and 58 by Wojcik).
• Wojcik is the son of Doug Wojcik, who was an assistant coach for the Tar Heels from 2000-03 and was part of the staff that recruited all five starters on Carolina's 2005 NCAA championship team.
• Ingram played the last two seasons at Stanford, where he was coached by former Tar Heel assistant coach Jerod Haase.

BACOT UNC'S CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDS
• Fifth-year grad student Armando Bacot is Carolina's all-time leader in rebounds (1,465), offensive rebounds (515), double-doubles (73) and games with 10 or more rebounds (81).
• Through 12 games this season Bacot has passed Joel Berry II, Bobby Lewis, Marcus Paige, Walter Davis, Brad Daugherty, Antawn Jamison and Larry Miller for seventh in UNC career scoring with 1,987 points. Charlie Scott (sixth with 2,007) and Al Wood (fifth with 2,015) are the next two ahead of Bacot.
• Bacot has five double-doubles this season and 73 in his career. He is third in ACC history behind only Tim Duncan and Ralph Sampson.
• Bacot has 73 double-doubles in 144 games (double-doubles in 50.7% of his games). That is the third-highest percentage by a Tar Heel.
• Bacot set UNC single-season records in 2021-22 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 season and tied the NCAA single-season record for double-doubles with 31 (Navy's David Robinson also had 31 in 1985-86).
• Bacot's 22 points against Tennessee marked his 30th career 20-point game. The Tar Heels are 25-5 when he scores 20 or more.

STAT STUFF
• Per KenPom, Carolina is ninth in the country in offensive efficiency (118.7 points per 100 possessions), 14th in turnover percentage, 20th best at getting to the free throw line and 38th in defensive efficiency (96.2).
• Carolina is third in the nation (behind Tulane and Denver) in free throws made per game at 20.3.
• Carolina leads the ACC in scoring at 86.3 points per game and is sixth in scoring margin at 13.0 per game.
• RJ Davis and Armando Bacot lead the ACC in scoring and rebounding, respectively. The last time two different Tar Heels led the ACC in those categories was 2003-04 (Rashad McCants in scoring, Sean May in rebounding).
• Harrison Ingram made a career-high three 3FGs seven times during his two seasons at Stanford. He has made at least three five times this season, including 4 of 6 vs. UNI, 4 of 5 vs. Villanova, 4 of 8 against Tennessee, 3 of 4 vs. UConn and 3 of 5 vs. Charleston Southern.
• Ingram averaged 1.1 threes per game in his first two college seasons (72 in 65 games) and is averaging 1.9 this season (23 in 12).
• Ingram has improved his three-point percentage from .313 and .319 his freshman and sophomore seasons to .451 through 12 games this season. He is fifth in the ACC in three-point accuracy.
• UNC has committed only five turnovers against Charleston Southern, which equaled the fewest in the last three seasons under head coach Hubert Davis (also at Duke in 2022). The Tar Heels have committed fewer than 10 turnovers in six of the first 12 games this season.
• UNC is 8-0 when it scores more points off turnovers than its opponents and 1-3 when the opponents score more points off turnovers.
• The Tar Heels are committing 10.2 turnovers per game. UNC's record low average for a season is 10.8 in 2015-16 and 2022-23.
• In Hubert Davis' three seasons as head coach, the Tar Heels have won 80.5% of games when they committed fewer than or the same number of turnovers (including 24-7 when they commit fewer). Conversely, UNC is 25-18 (58%) when it commits more turnovers than its opponents.
• Carolina is also 8-0 when it has more second-chance points, 8-2 when it scores more fastbreak points, 6-0 when it scores more paint points and 7-0 when its bench scores more than the opponent's bench.
• RJ Davis leads UNC in plus/minus at +149. He has been +20 or better in four games this season (+25 vs. UC Riverside, +21 vs. UNI, +22 vs. Arkansas and +36 vs. CSU) and has led UNC six times.
• Freshman Elliot Cadeau leads Carolina in assists with 44 (3.7 per game). Phil Ford, Ed Cota, Raymond Felton, Ty Lawson, Kendall Marshall, Marcus Paige, Coby White, Cole Anthony and Caleb Love also led UNC in assists as freshmen.
• Carolina is shooting 76.5% from the free throw line, which is on pace for the second-highest percentage in school history.
• RJ Davis (.949) and Cormac Ryan (.900) are shooting at least 90% from the free throw line. The UNC single-season record is .911 by Shammond Williams in 1997-98.
• Davis led the ACC in free throw shooting last season (.881).
• Jalen Washington scored 43 points in 20 games as a freshman. This season he has 65 points in 12 games.

NOVEMBER SIGNEES
• Carolina signed three players in the November high school signing period: James Brown of Aurora, Ill. (Link Prep in Branson, Mo.), Ian Jackson of Bronx, N.Y. (Our Saviour Lutheran) and Drake Powell of Pittsboro, N.C. (Northwood).

CARTER AND DAVIS ON NAISMITH BALLOT
• Vince Carter and Walter Davis are on the 2024 ballot for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
• Carter played for Carolina from 1995-98 and a record 22 seasons in the NBA. An eight-time all-star, he is one of four NBA players with 25,000 points and 2,000 three-pointers with Reggie Miller, Paul Pierce and LeBron James.
• Davis played for UNC from 1973-77. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and is the Phoenix Suns' all-time leading scorer.
• Both won NBA Rookie-of-the-Year honors – Davis in 1978 with the Suns and Carter in 1999 with the Toronto Raptors.
• The Tar Heels are represented by 12 players and coaches in the Naismith Hall of Fame.