Men's Basketball Returns Home For Syracuse Saturday

Saturday, January 13

Chapel Hill

Noon

North Carolina

Syracuse

Tickets

Seth Trimble & Hubert Davis

Photo by: Maggie Hobson

January 12, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Live Stats Syracuse Notes Media Central Watch

• Seventh-ranked Carolina returns to the Dean E. Smith Center for the second time in six weeks when the Tar Heels host Syracuse on Saturday, January 13, at noon on ESPN.
• Carolina is 6-0 at home. The Tar Heels opened ACC play on December 2 in the Smith Center beating Florida State, 78-70, and routed Charleston Southern by 45 on December 29.
• Since the win over Florida State, Carolina has traveled 1,791 miles to New York City, Atlanta, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Clemson and Raleigh.
• January 13 is the latest the Tar Heels have played their first home game in the month of January since 1984 (a 69-66 win over Virginia on 1/18/1984).
• The Tar Heels have won five straight games and are 12-3 overall, 4-0 in the ACC. It is the fifth time the Tar Heels have won at least five straight games under head coach Hubert Davis (three different times with a high of six in 2021-22 and once last season).
• It is the first time UNC has begun ACC play 4-0 since an 8-0 start in 2015-16.
• Carolina is coming off a 67-54 win at NC State on Wednesday.
• Syracuse is 11-4 overall, 2-2 in the ACC. The Orange have won six of their last seven games, including a 69-59 win at home over Boston College on Wednesday.
• Carolina and Syracuse have two common opponents thus far this season, Tennessee and Pittsburgh. The Tar Heels defeated the Vols in Chapel Hill, while Tennessee defeated the Orange in Maui, and both teams beat Pittsburgh.
• The 67-54 win at NC State was Carolina's third straight game holding the opponents under 60 points, the first time it did that in three straight road wins since 1998-99 (72-54 win at Florida State, 59-56 win at NC State and 52-40 win at Wake Forest).
• Carolina is ranked No. 7 in this week's Associated Press poll, the third straight week and fifth time in the last six polls the Tar Heels are ranked in the top 10. It's the latest in a season the Tar Heels are ranked in the top 10 since the final four weeks of the season in 2018-19.
• The Tar Heels are No. 9 in Ken Pom and No. 9 in the NET. The Tar Heels have five Quad 1 wins; only Purdue (six) and Arizona (five) have as many. Three other teams have four.
• The Tar Heels are 4-2 against AP-ranked opponents this season with wins over No. 20 Arkansas, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 16 Clemson (rankings when UNC played those teams).
• KenPom ranks Carolina's schedule the eighth most difficult in the country. The next highest-rated ACC strength of schedules are Clemson (13th) and Syracuse (31st).
• The Tar Heels are No. 14 in the country in offensive efficiency and No. 8 in defensive efficiency. They are one of four teams in the top 15 in both offense and defense with Arizona, Auburn and Duke.

GAME 16 NOTEBOOK
UNC-SYRACUSE
• Carolina is 16-6 all-time against the Orange, including 6-0 in Chapel Hill (all in the Smith Center).
• The Tar Heels have won two in a row and 12 of 15 since Syracuse joined the ACC prior to the 2014-15 season.
• This is the first time UNC has played Syracuse without Jim Boeheim as the Orange's head coach since 3/20/1975, an NCAA Tournament game in Providence, R.I. That was the second of 22 times the Tar Heels have played the Orange.
• Armando Bacot has produced a double-double in three of his last four games against the Orange, averaging 17.0 points and 13.3 rebounds in four starts over the last three seasons.
• Bacot had 15 points and 12 rebounds at home as a sophomore, 18/15 in a road loss later that season, 17/18 at home as a junior and 18/8 last season at Syracuse.
• RJ Davis has averaged 11.8 points in four games against the Orange with a high of 17 in the overtime home win in March 2022.
• Davis has five assists in each of his last two games vs. the Orange.
• Cormac Ryan has scored in double figures twice against the Orange – 16 at Notre Dame in 2021-22 and 14 last season at Syracuse, when he made 4 of 8 three-pointers.
• Jae'Lyn Withers scored 13 points and added five rebounds at Syracuse in 2021-22 and had 10 points, seven rebounds at Louisville last year.

LAST SEASON UNC VS. SYRACUSE
• Carolina won the only time these teams played last season, a 72-68 Tar Heel victory on 1/24/23 in the JMA Wireless (formerly Carrier) Dome.
• Carolina had 14 assists on 16 first-half field goals and finished with 21 assists on 26 baskets for a season-best percentage of .808.
• RJ Davis and Caleb Love both had five assists.
• Pete Nance led UNC with a game-high 21 points.
• Armando Bacot scored 18 points, grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and had four assists. • The Tar Heels led for 36:42 and trailed for only 1:40, including for 1:04 at 68-66 before Pete Nance made one FT and then scored the game-winning basket with 19 seconds to play after a missed FT and steal.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Armando Bacot has scored 2,026 points, fifth most all-time by a Tar Heel ... needs 22 points to pass Lennie Rosenbluth (2,047) for fourth.
• Bacot has blocked 188 shots ... needs three to pass Warren Martin (190) for fourth place.
• Bacot is sixth in games played by a Tar Heel with 147 ... Leaky Black holds the record (155) ... Brice Johnson is fifth (148).
• RJ Davis has made 205 three-pointers, eighth most all-time by a Tar Heel ... needs seven to pass Jeff Lebo (211) for seventh.
• Davis has scored 1,608 points...needs four to pass Mitch Kupchak (1,611) for 28th place and eight to pass Hubert Davis (1,615) for 27th.
• Davis has 355 assists...needs 16 to pass John Kuester (370) for 22nd place in UNC history.
• Cormac Ryan made his 100th career start January 10 at NC State (17 at Stanford, 70 at Notre Dame and 13 as a Tar Heel).
• Harrison Ingram has made 99 career three-pointers...needs one for 100.
• Jae'Lyn Withers has 499 career rebounds ... needs one for 500.

DAVIS STARTS WITH 'D'
• Per KenPom, Carolina is No. 8 in defensive efficiency at 92.6 points allowed per 100 possessions. The last time UNC finished in the top 10 in defensive efficiency was 2010-11, when the Tar Heels were fourth at 90.4 points per 100.
• Carolina's 92.6 points allowed per 100 possession are its lowest since 2020-21 (91.7).
• Carolina is 5-1 this season when it scores fewer than 80 points. The Tar Heels went 22-20 when scoring fewer than 80 in the previous two seasons.
• Carolina is holding its opponents to 39.7% shooting from the floor, lowest by the opponents since 2011-12 (39.4%).
• Carolina is holding its opponents to 29.3% shooting from three-point range, on track to be the lowest ever by the opponents in a season (previous low is 30.0% in 2014-15).
• Carolina has held the opponents below 40% from the floor in 18 of 30 halves this season, including the second halves in each of the last four games against Charleston Southern (30.3%), Pittsburgh (26.5%), Clemson (32.3%)and NC State (26.5%).
• The Tar Heels held NC State to 28.1% from the floor in the first half and 26.5% in the second. Those were among four halves this season when UNC held an opponent below 30% in a half.
• The Tar Heels outscored Pittsburgh, Clemson and NC State, 107-76 in the second half. That included a 39-29 half against the Panthers, 31-21 vs. the Tigers and 37-26 in Raleigh.
• Over 15 games this season, Carolina has outscored the opponents by 63 points in the first half and by 131 in the second.
• Hubert Davis uses 42% as a benchmark for the opponents' field goal percentage. Carolina has held the opponents below 42% in 10 of the 15 games and has won eight of those 10 (except Villanova and Kentucky).
• UNC has held each of the last six opponents below 42%, losing only to Kentucky (the first of the six) in that stretch of games.
• The Tar Heels' last four opponents have shot below 40% from the floor, the first time UNC has held four straight teams below 40% since the 2019-20 team. UNC won the first five games that season and held the opponents below 40% in all five games.
• Carolina has held three straight teams under 60 points for the first time since 2010-11 (Rutgers, Saint Francis of Pennsylvania and Virginia). The last time UNC held four straight opponents below 60 points was in 2006-07 (Florida Atlantic, Saint Louis, Rutgers and Dayton).
• The last time UNC held four straight ACC opponents under 60 points was in 1981-82 (Maryland, Wake Forest, Clemson and Duke).
• Carolina has won five in a row and held all five opponents under 70 points (the most were 69 by Oklahoma, which were a season low for the Sooners and 15 points below their average entering the game).
• UNC held six straight opponents below 70 points in the final six games last season.

POLLING
• Carolina is No. 7 in week 10 in the Associated Press poll.
• This is the 946th time the Tar Heels are ranked in the AP poll, the second most in college basketball history.
• This is the fifth time this season (all in the last six weeks) and 694th time (third most all-time) the AP has ranked the Tar Heels in the top 10.
• Carolina has already played the No. 4 (UConn), 5 (Tennessee), 6 (Kentucky), 9 (Oklahoma) and 21 (Clemson) teams in this week's AP poll.
• From November 24-December 20, 2023, 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).

ARMANDO & RJ ON MID-SEASON LISTS
• Armando Bacot and RJ Davis are among the 25 players named this week to the mid-season watch list for the John R. Wooden National Player of the Year award.
• Carolina is one of three teams (with Kansas and Kentucky) with multiple players on the Wooden list.
• Davis was also on the mid-season list for the Lute Olson NPOY award.

MORE ACCOLADES FOR ARMANDO
• Armando Bacot, the most prolific rebounder in Carolina Basketball history, added several more awards for his play in the Tar Heels' road wins last week over Pittsburgh and Clemson.
• The 6-11 graduate student from Richmond, Va., earned his eighth career ACC Player-of-the-Week award and was named National Player of the Week by the Naismith Trophy and NCAA.com (Andy Katz).
• Bacot averaged 15.0 points, 13.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks, made 11 of 21 from the floor and 8 of 10 free throws. He anchored a defense that held the Panthers and Tigers to a combined 33.3% from the floor and only 56.0 points on their home courts. He helped limit Clemson standout center PJ Hall to 10 points, 10.0 below his season average.
• 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 to begin the season against Radford and Lehigh.
• The ACC award for Pittsburgh/Clemson was the eighth of his career, the third most by a Tar Heel.

RJ LEADS THE ACC
• Senior guard RJ Davis leads the ACC in scoring at 20.3 points per game and free throw shooting at 95.1%.
• The last Tar Heel to lead the ACC in scoring was Tyler Hansbrough in 2007-08. Davis led the ACC in free throw accuracy in 2022-23.
• Davis also leads Carolina in three-pointers (44) and is second in assists (51), three-point percentage (.396) and steals (19).
• Davis is on pace for the highest scoring average by a Tar Heel since Hansbrough averaged 22.6 in 2007-08. Davis' 20.3 points per game are on pace to be the highest average by a UNC guard since Joseph Forte averaged 20.9 en route to Co-ACC Player-of-the-Year honors in 2000-01.
• Davis has made multiple three-pointers in 12 straight games. Should he make two or more 3FGs vs. Syracuse, he would tie Marcus Paige (twice), Shammond Williams and Donald Williams at 13 for the second-longest streak by a Tar Heel. Justin Jackson made multiple 3FGs in 15 consecutive games in 2016-17.
• 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 since Kendall Marshall at Duke in 2012.
• Davis led UNC in scoring in eight straight games from Villanova through Charleston Southern – 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. CSU.
• He was the first Tar Heel to lead in scoring eight straight games since Hansbrough, who led 13 games in a row in 2007-08.
• Davis scored 20 or more in eight straight games, the first to accomplish that since Hansbrough had a streak of nine consecutive games in 2008-09.
• Davis is the only current Tar Heel to score 30 points in a game, and he has done so twice – against Baylor in the 2022 NCAA second round and this season against Arkansas.
• 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. Scott scored 26 or more in 12 consecutive games in 1969-70, Lennie Rosenbluth had a streak of 10 games over a two-year span from 1955-57 and Bobby Lewis did it seven straight games from 1964-66.
• Davis is UNC's all-time leader in free throw percentage at 86.6%. He began the season with the 19th-highest percentage in ACC history and has moved up to ninth.
• 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 19 spots to 29th with 1,608 points. 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, J.R. Reid and Jeff Lebo. Mitch Kupchak is 28th with 1,611 and Hubert Davis is 27th with 1,615.
• Davis is shooting career-high percentages from three-point range (.396) and the free throw line (.951).

PAIR OF ACC HONORS FOR DAVIS
• RJ Davis has won ACC Player-of-the-Week honors twice this season. He won the award following the Battle 4 Atlantis in November and Carolina's December 20 win over Oklahoma.
• Davis had 23 points, five assists, five three-pointers and no turnovers in UNC's 81-69 win over No. 7 Oklahoma on December 20.
• Davis 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 was one of the USBWA's National Players of the Week for his play vs. Oklahoma and Dick Vitale's National Player of the Week after the Charleston Southern game on December 29 when he became the first Tar Heel ever to have 20 points, 10 assists, five steals and no turnovers in a game.