MBB Opens With Elon Monday Night

Monday, November 4

Chapel Hill

9 PM

North Carolina

Elon

James Brown

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

November 1, 2024 | Men's Basketball

UNC Notes Live Stats Watch Media Central Elon Notes

• Carolina basketball begins its 115th season on Monday, November 4, when the Tar Heels host Elon at 9 p.m. in the Dean E. Smith Center.
• The Tar Heels have won seven national championships (six NCAA Tournament titles), played in a record 21 Final Fours, won a record 133 NCAA Tournament games, played in the NCAA Tournament 53 times, been a No. 1 seed a record 18 times, won a record 33 regular season ACC titles, won 18 ACC Tournament championships and have had 10 former players inducted in the Naismith Hall of Fame.
• The Tar Heels are led by Hubert Davis, who begins his fourth season as head coach at his alma mater. A 2022 National Coach-of-the-Year award winner and the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year has led UNC to a 78-31 record. Those 78 wins are the second most by a Carolina head coach and fourth most at a Power 4 Conference program after his first three years as a head coach.
• Carolina is the only major program in the country whose six coaches all played and are coaching at their alma mater. Davis played for Hall of Famer Dean Smith from 1988-92. Jeff Lebo (1985-89) and Pat Sullivan (1990-95) also played at UNC for Smith, Brad Frederick played for Smith and Bill Guthridge (1996-99) and Sean May (2002-05) and Marcus Paige (2012-16) played for Hall of Famer Roy Williams.
• The Tar Heels went 29-8 last year, winning the program's 33rd regular season ACC title with a 17-3 record and earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA West Regional, where they advanced to the Sweet 16.
• Carolina returns five players, including two starters, from last year, and welcomes 10 newcomers – five freshmen and five transfers.
• The five returnees include unanimous first-team All-America and ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis, All-ACC Freshman honoree Elliot Cadeau, guard Seth Trimble and forwards Jae'Lyn Withers and Jalen Washington.
• Key departures include Armando Bacot, Carolina's all-time leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, Harrison Ingram, a second-round pick by San Antonio and Cormac Ryan, who played 152 college games.
• Bacot, Ingram and Ryan combined to score 46% of UNC's points and grab 76% of the rebounds, while Ingram and Ryan made 140 of the Tar Heels' 301 three-pointers (47%).
• The Elon game is the first UNC will play without Armando Bacot on the roster since an NCAA Sweet 16 game loss to Auburn in Kansas City on 3/29/2019. Bacot played in an ACC-record 169 games and started 168 times over the previous five seasons.
• The Elon game is one of 15 home games scheduled for the Smith Center, including non-conference matchups vs. American (Nov. 15), Alabama (Dec. 4), La Salle (Dec. 14) and Campbell (Dec. 29). The Tar Heels begin ACC play at home vs. Georgia Tech on December 7.

SEASON OPENER
• Carolina is 102-12 in season-opening games, including last year's 86-70 win over Radford.
• The Tar Heels have won 19 consecutive season openers since a loss to Santa Clara in Oakland to begin the 2004-05 national championship season.

HOME OPENER
• UNC has won 22 straight home openers.
• The last time the Tar Heels lost its first home games was against Hampton to begin the 2002-03 season.

CAROLINA VS. ELON
• Carolina is 21-4 against Elon, winning the last 14 games.
• UNC is 4-0 against Elon since 1950, defeating the Phoenix in games played in the 2011-12, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons.
• The Tar Heels won, 80-63, in Chapel Hill on 12/11/2021, in the most recent game vs. Elon. UNC scored 23 points off turnovers and 19 fastbreak points and out-rebounded the Phoenix, 48-24. Caleb Love and Dawson Garcia both scored 22 points for the Tar Heels.

DEAN E. SMITH CENTER
• This is the 40th season the Tar Heels play their home games in the Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center, more commonly known as the Smith Center or the Dean Dome.
• The first game in the Smith Center was a 95-92 win over Duke on 1/18/1986.
• The Tar Heels are 477-87 (.846) in the Smith Center, including 228-18 (.927) against non-ACC teams.
• Carolina has won its last four games in the Smith Center since a loss to Clemson on 2/6/2024.
• Carolina has won 17 straight non-conference games in the Smith Center since a loss to Marquette on 2/24/2022.
• Carolina is 3-0 vs. Elon in the Smith Center.

AT THE POLLS
• The Tar Heels enter the season No. 9 in the nation in the Associated Press poll and 10th in the coaches' poll.
• This is the 46th season UNC enters the season or was ranked in the top 10 in the first AP poll (in some seasons in the 1950s there were no preseason polls). In the previous 45 instances when UNC began the year in the top 10 in the first AP poll, the Tar Heels also finished the season in the top 10 on 32 occasions.
• Carolina finished the 2023-24 season No. 6 in the coaches' poll and No. 7 in the AP poll.
• Last year was the 39th time Carolina was ranked in the top 10 in the final AP poll (out of 76 seasons), the third most in college basketball history.
• The No. 9 preseason ranking by the AP is the 958th time the Tar Heels are ranked, second all-time.
• This is the 68th season UNC is ranked at least once in the AP poll (in 77 seasons) and the 60th season UNC has been ranked at least once in the top 10.
• UNC was ranked by the AP in all 21 polls last season.

POLLS SAY SCHEDULE IS A GAUNTLET
• Carolina annually plays one of the most difficult schedules, both in and out of conference play, and the preseason polls indicate 2024-25 will be another challenge.
• Since KenPom began in 2001-02, the Tar Heels' strength of schedule was ranked in the top 10 in the nation 13 times and in the top 25 on 20 occasions.
• Carolina's 2024-25 schedule features at least seven games against top-25 opponents, including No. 1 Kansas (on the road), No. 2 Alabama (home), No. 4 Iowa State or No. 11 Auburn (second day in Maui), No. 7 Duke (home and away), No. 21 Florida (in Charlotte) and No. 22 UCLA (in New York). Third-ranked UConn is on the other side of the bracket in Maui.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES
• Carolina was picked to finish second and RJ Davis was selected the ACC's preseason player of the year at the conference's media day.
• Davis is a National Player of the Year candidate (Naismith and NABC), ranked the No. 2 player in the country (CBS and ESPN) and was tabbed a preseason All-America by numerous media, including the Associated Press, Blue Ribbon Yearbook, Field of 68, CBS, Fox, Sports Illustrated and ESPN's Jay Bilas.
• Davis won the Naismith Hall of Fame's Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year award in 2024. He is on the preseason watch list.
• Sophomore Elliott Cadeau (Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year), freshmen Ian Jackson and Drake Powell (Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year) and junior Cade Tyson (Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year) also are named on the Hall of Fame's preseason positional awards watch lists.
• Davis was the first Tar Heel and second ACC player to win the Jerry West Award.
• Carolina is the only team to win the Cousy Award three times (Raymond Felton in 2005, Ty Lawson in 2009 and Kendall Marshall in 2012).

RJ DAVIS
• Through four seasons, RJ Davis scored the second-most points ever by a Tar Heel guard (2,088 behind only Phil Ford) and the fifth most among all players ever to play at Carolina.

POINTS – CAREER, UNC
Player Years Points
Tyler Hansbrough 2005-09 2,872
Armando Bacot 2019-24 2,347
Phil Ford 1974-78 2,290
Sam Perkins 1980-84 2,145
RJ Davis 2020- 2,088

• RJ Davis scored 784 points last season, the fourth most in Carolina history and the most since Tyler Hansbrough scored 882 in 2007-08.
• Davis' 784 points were the most in a season in Carolina history by a guard.

POINTS – SEASON, UNC
Player Year Points
Lennie Rosenbluth 1956-57 897
Tyler Hansbrough 2007-08 882
Antawn Jamison 1997-98 822
RJ Davis 2023-24 784
Bobby Lewis 1965-66 740

• Should Davis score 784 points again this season he would tie Hansbrough for the most points by a Tar Heel and the most in ACC history.
• Davis made 113 3FGs, breaking the UNC single-season record (Justin Jackson made 105 in 2016-17).
• Davis' 113 threes were the ninth most in ACC single-season history.

MOST THREE-POINTERS — SEASON, UNC
113 RJ Davis, 2023-24
105 Justin Jackson, 2016-17
98 Brady Manek, 2021-22
96 Cameron Johnson, 2018-19
95 Shammond Williams, 1996-97

• Davis averaged 3.05 threes per game, which set the UNC single-season record (previous was 2.71 per game by Shammond Williams in 1996-97).

MOST THREE-POINTERS PER GAME — SEASON, UNC
3.05 RJ Davis, 2023-24 (113 in 37 games)
2.71 Shammond Williams, 1996-97 (95 in 35 games)
2.67 Cameron Johnson, 2018-19 (96 in 36 games)
2.63 Justin Jackson, 2016-17 (105 in 40 games)
2.62 P.J. Hairston, 2012-13 (89 in 34 games)

• Davis enters the season having made 274 career three-pointers, the second most all-time by a Tar Heel. Marcus Paige is first with 299.
• Davis is Carolina's all-time leader in free throw percentage. He has made 422 of 492 for 85.8%. Shammond Williams is second at 84.8%.

HIGHEST FT PERCENTAGE — CAREER, UNC
Name (Years Played) Made Att. Pct.
RJ Davis (2020-) 422 492 .858
Shammond Williams (1994-98) 291 343 .848
Marvin Williams (2004-05) 138 163 .847
Danny Green (2005-09) 202 239 .845
Marcus Paige (2012-16) 347 411 .844

• Davis became the 19th Tar Heel to earn consensus first-team All-America honors. Those 19 players have won consensus first-team All-America honors a total of 28 times.
• Davis joined Lennie Rosenbluth in 1957, Phil Ford in 1978, Michael Jordan in 1983 and 1984, Kenny Smith in 1987, Jerry Stackhouse in 1995, Antawn Jamison in 1998, Joseph Forte in 2001 and Tyler Hansbrough in 2008 and 2009 as the only Tar Heels to make first-team All-America on each of the teams the NCAA recognizes to determine consensus first-team All-America.

DAVIS LED ACC IN SCORING
• Davis led the ACC in scoring at 21.2 points per game. He was the first Tar Heel to lead the ACC in scoring since Tyler Hansbrough in 2007-08.
• Davis is the 11th Tar Heel to lead the ACC in scoring (Billy Cunningham did it twice).

CAROLINA'S ACC SCORING LEADERS
Year Player PPG
2023-24 RJ Davis 21.2
2007-08 Tyler Hansbrough 22.6
2003-04 Rashad McCants 20.0
1997-98 Antawn Jamison 22.2
1983-84 Michael Jordan 19.6
1969-70 Charlie Scott 27.1
1965-66 Bobby Lewis 27.4
1964-65 Billy Cunningham 25.4
1963-64 Billy Cunningham 26.0
1959-60 Lee Shaffer 18.2
1957-58 Pete Brennan 21.3
1955-56 Lennie Rosenbluth 26.6

• It was the 10th time in the last 50 seasons a Tar Heel averaged 20 or more points.

Year Player PPG
2023-24 RJ Davis 21.2
2008-09 Tyler Hansbrough 20.7
2007-08 Tyler Hansbrough 22.6
2003-04 Rashad McCants 20.0
2000-01 Joseph Forte 20.9
1997-98 Antawn Jamison 22.2
1991-92 Hubert Davis 21.4
1985-86 Brad Daugherty 20.2
1982-83 Michael Jordan 20.0
1977-78 Phil Ford 20.8

• Davis' career scoring average is 15.1, the eighth-highest by a Tar Heel guard.

SCORING AVERAGE – CAREER, UNC GUARDS
Player Years PPG
Charlie Scott 1967-70 22.1
Bobby Lewis 1964-67 22.1
Joseph Forte 1999-2001 18.7
Phil Ford 1974-78 18.6
York Larese 1958-61 17.9
Michael Jordan 1981-84 17.7
Coby White 2018-19 16.1
RJ Davis 2020- 15.1
Wayne Ellington 2006-09 14.7
Caleb Love 2020-23 14.6
Al Lifson 1951-55 14.6

• Davis was the 15th Tar Heel to win ACC Player-of-the-Year honors, the first since Justin Jackson in 2016-17. It is the 16th time a Tar Heel has won the award (Larry Miller won twice).

ACC PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Lennie Rosenbluth 1957
Pete Brennan 1958
Lee Shaffer 1960
Billy Cunningham 1965
Larry Miller 1967, 1968
Mitch Kupchak 1976
Phil Ford 1978
Michael Jordan 1984
Antawn Jamison 1998
Joseph Forte 2001 (co-winner)
Tyler Hansbrough 2008
Ty Lawson 2009
Tyler Zeller 2012
Justin Jackson 2017
RJ Davis 2024

• Davis was the fifth Tar Heel guard to win the award with Phil Ford, Michael Jordan, Joseph Forte and Ty Lawson.
• Elliot Cadeau made the ACC All-Freshman team. He was the first Tar Heel to make the ACC All-Freshman team since Caleb Love and Day'Ron Sharpe in 2021.
• Cadeau joined Ed Cota, Raymond Felton, Bobby Frasor, Ty Lawson, Kendall Marshall, Marcus Paige, Coby White, Cole Anthony and Love as Tar Heel point guards to earn All-Freshman team honors.
• Hubert Davis was named ACC Coach of the Year by the ACC panel and the Associated Press.
• Davis was the fifth Tar Heel to win ACC Coach-of-the-Year honors (a total of 13 times), joining Frank McGuire, Dean Smith (eight times), Bill Guthridge and Roy Williams (2006 and 2011).
• Hubert Davis was a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year trophy.

ACC COACHES OF THE YEAR
Frank McGuire 1957
Dean Smith 1967, 1968, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1988, 1993
Bill Guthridge 1998
Roy Williams 2006, 2011
Hubert Davis 2024

• It was the first time Carolina won both the ACC player- and coach-of-the-year awards in the same season since Antawn Jamison and Bill Guthridge in 1997-98.

ELLIOT ON POINT
• Elliot Cadeau led Carolina with 150 assists, the most by a Tar Heel freshman since Marcus Paige's 161 in 2012-13.
• Cadeau was the 11th Tar Heel freshman with 100 or more assists in a season and had the fourth-highest assist/turnover ratio (2.24) among those 11 players.
• He scored a season-high 19 points and had eight assists in the win at Miami on Feb 10.
• The West Orange, N.J., native had a season-best 10 assists and no turnovers in the win over Tennessee.

ASSIST/TURNOVER RATIO
UNC FRESHMAN WITH 100 OR MORE ASSISTS
Player Year Assists TOs A/TO
Jeff Lebo 1985-86 137 46 2.98
Ty Lawson 2006-07 213 83 2.56
Kendall Marshall 2010-11 230 92 2.50
Elliot Cadeau 2023-24 150 67 2.24
Ed Cota 1996-97 234 124 1.89

MILESTONE WATCH
• Ty Claude has scored 944 points ... needs 56 for 1,000.
• RJ Davis has made 274 three-pointers, second most all-time by a Tar Heel ... needs 26 to pass Marcus Paige (299).
• Davis has scored 2,088 points, fifth most by a Tar Heel ... needs 58 to pass Sam Perkins (2,145) for fourth.
• Cade Tyson has scored 912 points ... needs 88 for 1,000.
• Ven-Allen Lubin has 288 rebounds and 494 points ... needs 12 rebounds for 300 and six points for 500.
• Jae'Lyn Withers has 588 rebounds ... needs 12 for 600.

PRESEASON GAMES
• Carolina played a Blue-White scrimmage in the Smith Center on October 12 and played exhibition games against Memphis (October 15 at Memphis) and Johnson C. Smith (October 27 at home).
• RJ Davis suffered a bruised lower back when he fell during the Blue-White scrimmage and did not play in Carolina's 84-76 win three days later at Memphis. He was held out as a precaution.
• Seth Trimble led UNC with 33 points at Memphis. Elliot Cadeau had 13 assists and Jalen Washington scored 17 points and grabbed six boards. Cade Tyson (nine) and Jae'Lyn Withers (eight) combined for 17 boards.
• UNC had 21 assists but also committed 21 turnovers. The Tar Heels also forced 22 turnovers.
• Memphis outrebounded the Tar Heels by one (41-40).
• On October 27, Carolina shot better than 60% from the floor in both halves in a 127-63 win over Johnson C. Smith.
• Freshman Ian Jackson scored a game-high 21 points to lead seven Tar Heels in double figures.
• Ven-Allen Lubin had 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, RJ Davis had 15 points and Elliot Cadeau had eight assists and no turnovers.

HURRICANE HELENE RELIEF
• Carolina Basketball is contributing more than $121,000 to Hurricane Helene relief efforts as a result of the devastating storm that hit the western part of the state in September.
• The Tar Heels had been slated to play a Blue-White scrimmage at Harrah's Resort in Cherokee on October 13 but the storm necessitated the scrimmage be moved to the Smith Center.
• More than 7,000 fans purchased tickets and the basketball program donated $50,000 from the sale of autographed basketballs to the state to support relief efforts.