Tar Heels Host Louisville Wednesday Looking For Seventh Win In A Row

• Fourth-ranked Carolina hosts Louisville at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, January 17. It is the last scheduled 9 p.m. game of the regular season and marks the first time UNC has played consecutive home games since November 29 (Tennessee) and December 2 (Florida State).
• The Tar Heels have won six straight and are 13-3 overall, 5-0 in the ACC. It is the second time the Tar Heels have won at least six straight games under head coach Hubert Davis. In 2021-22 UNC won its final five regular-season games and beat Virginia in the ACC quarterfinals.
• It is the first time Carolina has begun ACC play 5-0 since an 8-0 start in 2015-16.
• This is the 15th time UNC is 5-0 in the ACC.
• The Tar Heels defeated Syracuse, 103-67, on January 13. RJ Davis led five Tar Heels in double figures with 22 points, Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram both had double-doubles and Carolina scored its most points and posted the largest margin of victory (36) in series history.
• Davis led the Tar Heels in scoring for the 12th time this season with his 10th 20-point game of the season. He passed Mitch Kupchak, Hubert Davis, Jawad Williams, Justin Jackson and Eric Montross in career scoring to move up to 24th in UNC history.
• Louisville is 6-10 overall, 1-4 in the ACC. The Cardinals split a pair of games last week, beating Miami in Coral Gables, 80-71, and losing by six at home to NC State.
• Carolina is No. 4 in this week's Associated Press poll, the fourth straight week and sixth time in the last seven the Tar Heels are ranked in the top 10. It is the 88th time UNC is No. 4 in the poll.
• It's the latest in a season the Tar Heels are ranked as high as fourth since being ranked No. 3 in the three polls in 2018-19.
• The Tar Heels are No. 5 in KenPom and No. 7 in the NET. The Tar Heels have five Quad 1 wins; only Purdue (six), Arizona (five) and Kansas (five) have as many.
• 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 behind Purdue, Arizona, Florida A&M, Xavier, Wisconsin, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State.
• The Tar Heels are No. 5 in the country in defensive efficiency (91.9 points allowed per 100 possessions) and No. 16 in offensive efficiency (117.8 points scored per 100 possessions).
• Since Ken Pomeroy began tracking points per possessions in 2001-02 the Tar Heels' highest national finish in defensive efficiency was fourth in 2010-11 (90.4).
• UNC, Arizona, Auburn, Houston and Tennessee are the only schools in the top 20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency.

GAME 17 NOTEBOOK
UNC-LOUISVILLE
• Carolina is 19-7 vs. the Cardinals, including 10-4 since Louisville began competing in the ACC in 2014-15.
• The Tar Heels are 5-1 in Chapel Hill (all in the Smith Center).
• Carolina has won the last four games, including 80-59 at the KFC Yum! Center last season.
• The Tar Heels are 5-1 when UNC is ranked No. 4 or higher in the AP poll.
• Jae'Lyn Withers earned his degree from Louisville and played the last three seasons (and red-shirted in 2019-20) for the Cardinals. He totaled 653 points and 455 rebounds in 81 games for the Cards. The Charlotte native made 64 starts over the previous three seasons for UL.
• Withers totaled 34 points in four games for Louisville against UNC. He played against UNC two times in the Smith Center, including 2/21/22, when he had 10 points and seven rebounds.
• Armando Bacot has averaged 13.2 points and 14.2 rebounds in five previous games against Louisville.
• Bacot has 53 rebounds in his last three games against the Cards. He set his then-career high with 22 in the overtime win at Louisville in 2022, had 15 later that year at home and 16 at the KFC Yum! Center last season.
• Bacot has double-doubles in each of his last three games against Louisville (19/22, 12/15 and 14/16).
• RJ Davis has averaged 13.0 points and 3.8 assists in his four previous games against Louisville. That includes 18 points and five assists in the overtime road win his sophomore season, 16 later that year at home and 12 points, five assists last season.
• Davis has made 10 of 21 three-pointers (.476) against the Cards.
• Cormac Ryan has averaged 8.3 points in four games with a high of 11 last season while playing for Notre Dame. He also had eight assists and three steals in that game, a 76-62 Notre Dame victory.

LAST SEASON AT LOUISVILLE
• Carolina won, 80-59, a 21-point win that was Carolina's largest ever at Louisville (previous was a 93-76 win on 2/17/2018).
• Armando Bacot, who turned an ankle and played only 1:18 in the previous game at Virginia, tied for the team lead in scoring with 14 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.
• D'Marco Dunn shared UNC scoring honors with Bacot with a career-best 14 points. Puff Johnson scored a season-high 12 points.
• Both teams turned the ball over 14 times. Carolina converted those turnovers into 23 points, while the Cards scored eight points off UNC miscues.
• Carolina had a 17-2 edge in fastbreak points.
• UNC held Louisville to 37.0% from the floor and the Cardinals made one three-pointer in 14 attempts.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Armando Bacot has scored 2,042 points, fifth most all-time by a Tar Heel ... needs six points to pass Lennie Rosenbluth (2,047) for fourth.
• Bacot has blocked 189 shots ... needs two to pass Warren Martin (190) for fourth place.
• Bacot is tied for fifth in games played by a Tar Heel with 148 ... Leaky Black holds the record (155) ... Brice Johnson is also fifth (148) ... Nate Britt and Isaiah Hicks played in 151.
• Bacot has 1,507 rebounds, most ever by a Tar Heel and fifth in ACC history ... needs five rebounds to pass Virginia's Ralph Sampson, a three-time National Player of the Year, for fourth in ACC history.
• RJ Davis has made 209 three-pointers, eighth most all-time by a Tar Heel ... needs three to pass Jeff Lebo (211) for seventh.
• Davis has scored 1,630 points ... needs seven to pass Kenny Smith (1,636) for 23rd place in UNC history.
• Davis has 357 assists...needs 14 to pass John Kuester (370) for 22nd place in UNC history.
• Harrison Ingram has scored 885 points at Stanford and UNC ... needs 15 for 900 career points.

DAVIS STARTS WITH 'D'
• Per KenPom, Carolina is No. 5 in defensive efficiency at 92.0 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 92.0 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 39.5% shooting from the floor, lowest by the opponents since 2011-12 (39.4%).
• Carolina is holding its opponents to 28.9% 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 19 of 32 halves this season.
• The Tar Heels held Syracuse to 29.0% from the floor in the first half as the Tar Heels built a 53-30 lead. It was the fourth time in the last four games the opponents shot under 30% in a half (second half by Pitt, both halves by NC State and the first half by Syracuse).
• The Tar Heels have outscored the opponents by
45 points in the second half in the last four games. That includes 39-29 at Pittsburgh (+10), 31-21 at Clemson (+10), 37-26 at NC State (+11) and 51-37 (+14) vs. Syracuse.
• Over the first 16 games, Carolina has outscored the opponents by 85 points in the first half and by 145 in the second.
• Hubert Davis uses 42% as a benchmark for the opponents' field goal percentage. Carolina has held the opponents below 42% in 11 of the 16 games and has won nine of those 11 (except Villanova and Kentucky).
• UNC has held each of the last seven opponents below 42%, losing only to Kentucky (the first of the seven) in that stretch of games.
• The Tar Heels' last five opponents have shot below 40% from the floor, the first time UNC has held five straight teams below 40% since 2019-20, when the Tar Heels won their first five games and held the opponents below 40% in all five games.
• 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).
• It was the first time Carolina held three straight teams under 60 points since 2010-11 (Rutgers, Saint Francis of Pennsylvania and Virginia).
• Carolina has won six in a row and held all six 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 the opponents below 70 points in the final six games last season and in eight consecutive games from 1/7/23-2/4/23.
• Through five games in conference play the Tar Heels have allowed 60.6 points per game, and the opponents are shooting 34.2% from the floor, including 21.1% from three.

Tar Heels Host Louisville Wednesday Looking For Seventh Win In A Row

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

RJ Davis

D'Marco Dunn

Harrison Ingram

Puff Johnson

Cormac Ryan

Jae'Lyn Withers