Men's BB Heads To Clemson For Big Saturday Matinee

• Carolina continues its three-game road swing to begin the new year with a noon start at Clemson on Saturday, January 6. ESPN2 will televise the game.
• The eighth-ranked Tar Heels are 10-3 overall, 2-0 in the ACC, while No. 16 Clemson is 11-2, 1-1 in league play.
• UNC is 16-3 vs. Clemson when both teams are ranked in the AP poll.
• This is the first time both are ranked since 1/30/2018, when No. 20 Clemson beat No. 19 UNC, 82-78, in Clemson.
• Carolina is in a stretch where it plays only one home game in 42 days (hosted Florida State on December 2 and Charleston Southern on December 29, but doesn't return to the Smith Center until hosting Syracuse on January 13).
• Carolina is No. 11 in KenPom and No. 12 in the NET. The Tar Heels have three Quad 1 wins (through January 4 four teams have four).
• The Tar Heels are 6-0 in Chapel Hill, 3-3 at neutral sites and 1-0 on the road after Tuesday's 70-57 win at Pittsburgh.
• The Panthers are one of two common opponents for UNC and Clemson. Both teams won at Pittsburgh and both defeated Radford on their respective home courts.
• Carolina missed its first 10 field goal attempts and didn't score for more than six minutes but led by three at the half (on a buzzer-beater three by RJ Davis) and never trailed in the second half in the 70-57 win at Pittsburgh on January 2.
• Amando Bacot led UNC with 16 points, added 10 boards for his sixth double-double of the season and 74th of his career and became the seventh Tar Heel to score 2,000 career points in the win at Pittsburgh.
• The win over the Panthers was UNC's third straight road game dating back to last season in which the Tar Heels allowed fewer than 70 points (59 at Notre Dame and 66 at Florida State last season and 59 at Pittsburgh).
• The Clemson game is second of six ACC road games for the Tar Heels 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.
• No. 16 Clemson is the Tar Heels' sixth ranked opponent (AP) this season. UNC played seven ranked opponents in 2022-23 (didn't play its sixth ranked opponent until 2/19/2023).
• 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).
• UNC is 2-0 to start ACC play for the second time under head coach Hubert Davis. UNC last started 3-0 in the ACC in 2015-16.

GAME 14 NOTEBOOK
UNC-CLEMSON SERIES
• Carolina is 135-23 all-time vs. the Tigers with wins in the last two games in the series under head coach Hubert Davis.
• The Tar Heels are 41-18 in Clemson, including 30-15 in Littlejohn Coliseum.
• Carolina and Clemson ranked eighth and 16th, respectively, in the current Associated Press poll.
• UNC is 16-3 vs. Clemson when both teams are ranked in the AP poll.
• The first time both were ranked in the AP poll was 3/7/1975 in the ACC Tournament, when No. 12 UNC beat No. 14 Clemson, 76-71, in overtime, in Greensboro.
• This is the first time both are ranked since 1/30/2018, when No. 20 Clemson beat No. 19 UNC, 82-78, in Clemson.
• Last year, the Tar Heels beat the Tigers, 91-71, in Chapel Hill on 2/11/23. Caleb Love made six of UNC's 15 three-pointers and led UNC with 23 points. Carolina committed only seven turnovers en route to its highest scoring output against the Tigers since the 2011 ACC Tournament. Armando Bacot had 19 points and 11 rebounds and RJ Davis hit four 3FGs (box score on previous page).

MILESTONE WATCH
• Armando Bacot has scored 2,003 points, seventh most all-time by a Tar Heel ... needs five points to pass Charlie Scott (2,007) for sixth and 13 to pass Al Wood (2,015) for fifth.
• Bacot has made 508 free throws...he is one of seven Tar Heels to make 500...needs five to pass Bobby Lewis (512) for fifth place.
• Bacot has blocked 185 shots ... needs six to pass Warren Martin (190) for fourth place.
• RJ Davis has made 199 three-pointers, ninth most all-time by a Tar Heel ... needs two to pass Caleb Love (200) for eighth.
• Davis has scored 1,578 points...needs 34 to pass Mitch Kupchak (1,611) for 28th place and 38 to pass Hubert Davis (1,615) for 27th.
• Davis has 351 assists...needs 20 to pass John Kuester for 22nd place in UNC history.
• Cormac Ryan scored his 1,300th career point when he scored 10 points at Pittsburgh...Ryan has 1,306 points.
• Harrison Ingram has made 96 career three-pointers...needs four for 100.
• Jae'Lyn Withers scored his 700th career point when he scored six points at Pittsburgh...Withers has 701 points.

POLLING
• Carolina is No. 8 in week nine in 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.

RJ LEADS THE ACC
• Senior guard RJ Davis leads the ACC in scoring at 21.1 points per game and free throw shooting at 94.9%.
• 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 (38) and assists (48) and is second in three-point percentage (.396) and steals (17).
• Davis is on pace for the highest scoring average by a Tar Heel since Hansbrough averaged 22.6 in 2007-08. Davis' 21.1 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 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 86.5%. 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 through 13 games with 1,578 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 (.949).

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.

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 NOTES
• 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, 98 by Ryan, 94 by Davis, 75 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 (1,475), offensive rebounds (518), double-doubles (74) and games with 10 or more rebounds (82).
• Through 13 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 2,003 points. Charlie Scott (sixth with 2,007) and Al Wood (fifth with 2,015) are the next two Tar Heels ahead of Bacot on the all-time scoring list.
• Bacot has six double-doubles this season and 74 in his career. He is third in ACC history behind only Tim Duncan and Ralph Sampson.
• Bacot has 74 double-doubles in 145 games (double-doubles in 51% 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.
• Bacot led UNC with 16 points in the win at Pittsburgh, the fourth time this season and 41st time as a Tar Heel he led the team in scoring.

STAT STUFF
• Per KenPom, Carolina is 11th in the country in offensive efficiency (118.4 points per 100 possessions), 12th in turnover percentage, 21st best at getting to the free throw line and 27th in defensive efficiency (94.9).
• UNC is one of 13 teams in the top 30 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Duke is the other ACC team in the top 30 in both.
• Carolina is third in the nation (behind Tulane and Denver) in free throws made per game at 20.2.
• Carolina is second in the ACC in scoring behind Miami at 85.0 points per game and is fourth 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).
• Seth Trimble made one three-pointer and scored in double figures once as a freshman. This season, he is 6 for 11 from three and has scored 10 or more points four times, including the last two games against Charleston Southern (12) and Pittsburgh (10), the first time he did that in consecutive games as a Tar Heel.
• 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 1.8 this season (24 in 13).
• Ingram has improved his three-point percentage from .313 and .319 his freshman and sophomore seasons to .429 through 13 games this season. He is ninth in the ACC in three-point accuracy.
• UNC has committed fewer than 10 turnovers in each of the last three games and in seven of 13 games this season. UNC is 13th in the country in turnover percentage and 33rd in turnovers per game.
• The last time UNC committed fewer than 10 turnovers in four consecutive games was the last two games in 2022 (Final Four games vs. Duke and Kansas) and the first two games last season.
• UNC is 8-0 when it scores more points off turnovers than its opponents and 2-3 when the opponents score more points off turnovers.
• The Tar Heels are committing 10.1 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 26-18 (59%) when it commits more turnovers than its opponents.
• RJ Davis leads UNC in plus/minus at +159. 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.
• Carolina is shooting 77.1% from the free throw line, which is on pace for the second-highest percentage in school history.
• RJ Davis (.949) and Cormac Ryan (.912) 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).
• Carolina has never had two players shoot 90% from the free throw line in the same season.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

RJ Davis

Zayden High

Harrison Ingram

Caleb Love

James Okonkwo

Cormac Ryan

Seth Trimble

Jae'Lyn Withers

Paxson Wojcik