#10 Tar Heels Visit Hawai'i Late Friday Night

• Following a second-straight weeklong layoff the Tar Heels return to action on Friday, November 22, when Carolina plays at Hawai'i in Honolulu.
• Gametime is 7:30 p.m. Hawai'ian time, which is 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time Saturday morning.
• UNC traveled to Honolulu on Wednesday. The team will fly to Maui on Saturday to compete November 25-27 in the Maui Invitational.
• The Tar Heels are 2-1 with home wins over Elon and American bracketed around a three-point loss at top-ranked Kansas.
• The Rainbow Warriors are 4-0 overall with four home wins. Hawai'i will be playing for the first time since a 73-68 win over Weber State on November 17.
• Carolina spotted American an 18-13 lead through eight minutes last Friday, then outscored the Eagles, 94-37, for its largest margin of victory (52 points) since the 2008-09 season.
• The Tar Heels are led in scoring by a trio of guards. R.J. Davis (17.7 ppg), Elliot Cadeau (15.7) and Seth Trimble (15.7) have combined for more than 49 points per game.
• Davis is off to slow start from three-point range, but is 18 for 20 from the free throw line and is averaging 3.3 more points per game than he did in the first three games last season. Davis leads UNC with 53 points, 10 more than he scored in the first three contests a year ago.
• Like Davis, Cadeau and Trimble have also scored in double figures in all three games, which is the first time either Cadeau or Trimble have done that as Tar Heels.
• Carolina is averaging 95.3 points per game, is a plus 9.0 on the boards, has shot better than 80% from the free throw line in all three games and has a 2.0 assist/error ratio (51 assists/26 turnovers).

BIG PICTURE
• This is the 115th season of Carolina Basketball.
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.
• Carolina has the second-highest winning percentage (.734) and third-most wins (2,374) in college basketball history.
• The Tar Heels are led by Hubert Davis, in his fourth season as head coach at his alma mater. The 2022 National Coach-of-the-Year winner and the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year has led UNC to a 80-32 record.
• Davis' 78 wins through 2023-24 were the second most by a Carolina head coach and fourth most ever at a Power 4 Conference program after three years as a head coach.
• Carolina is the only major program in the country whose six coaches all played 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 returned five players this season, including two starters, and welcomed 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.

TAR HEELS IN HAWAI'I
• This is the 15th season in which Carolina Basketball is playing in Hawai'i and the first since 2016-17.
• The Tar Heels are 16-1 in Honolulu, including 2-0 in the Stan Sheriff Center.
• No. 1 UNC beat Hawai'i, 88-76, on 12/22/1994, and fifth-ranked Carolina defeated the Rainbow Warriors, 83-68, on 11/18/2016, in the Sheriff Center.
• In 2016, Isaiah Hicks led five Tar Heels in double figures with 16 points and freshman Tony Bradley had 10 points and 13 boards. Carolina shot 63% from the floor in the second half.
• Overall, Carolina is 34-5 in Hawai'i (including games in Honolulu and Maui).

POLLING
• The Tar Heels are ranked No. 10 in the Associated Press poll for the second consecutive week.
• Carolina is ranked in the AP's top 25 for the 24th straight poll.
• UNC was ninth in the AP's preseason poll. This is the 46th season UNC entered 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.
• This week's No. 10 ranking by the AP is the 960th time the Tar Heels are ranked, second most 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.

PLAYING THE TOP TEAMS
• Carolina annually plays one of the most difficult schedules, both in and out of conference play, and the early 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 schedule features at least seven games against current top-25 opponents, including No. 1 Kansas (on the road), No. 4 Auburn or No. 5 Iowa State (second day in Maui), No. 7 Alabama (home), No. 12 Duke (home and away) and No. 21 Florida (in Charlotte). Second-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, NABC and Wooden), 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, Sporting News, 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).
• Davis and Seth Trimble are listed among the early season watch list for the Lute Olson National Player of the Year award.

RJ DAVIS
• Davis has scored the second-most points ever by a Tar Heel guard (2,141). He trails only 1978 Wooden Award winner Phil Ford, and Davis has scored the fifth most among all players ever to play at Carolina.
• Davis needs five points to pass Sam Perkins for No. 4 in UNC history.
• 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.
• 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' career scoring average is 15.2, the eighth-highest by a Tar Heel guard. Over the last three seasons, he has averaged 18.9 per game.
• Davis made 113 3FGs, breaking the UNC single-season record (Justin Jackson made 105 in 2016-17).
• Davis has made 279 career three-pointers, the second most all-time by a Tar Heel. Marcus Paige, currently an assistant coach at UNC, is first with 299.
• Davis is also Carolina's all-time leader in free throw percentage. He has made 18 of 20 from the line in the first three games this season and has converted 440 of 512 in his career for 85.9%. Shammond Williams is second at 84.8%.
• The Kansas game was the fifth in which Davis attempted 10 or more free throws in a game in his career. He was 9 for 10 vs. Baylor in the 2022 NCAA second round, 14 for 14 vs. NC State in 2023, 10 for 10 vs. Arkansas and 9 for 10 at Virginia last season and 9 for 11 vs. the Jayhawks.
• Last year, 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 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).
• 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).

ELLIOT ON POINT
• Elliot Cadeau leads Carolina in plus/minus in the first three games at plus 71. He was plus 28 against Elon, plus five at Kansas and a career-best plus 38 vs. American. The Elon game had been the highest plus/minus in his career (highest last season was plus 27 in a 36-point win over Syracuse).
• He is averaging 15.7 points and 7.7 assists in the first three games. He scored 17 points and had a game-high eight assists in the win over Elon and had 18 points and eight assists vs. American.
• He is the first Tar Heel to score a dozen or more points and have seven or more assists in each of the first three games since Ed Cota in 1999-2000.
• He made a career-high three 3FGs vs. Elon. It was the third time in his career he made multiple three-pointers in a game.
• Last year, he led Carolina with 150 assists, the most by a Tar Heel freshman since Marcus Paige's 161 in 2012-13.
• He scored a career-high 19 points and had eight assists in the win at Miami.
• The West Orange, N.J., native's career high is 10 assists (and no turnovers) in last year's win over Tennessee.

BACK-TO-BACK BESTS FOR TRIMBLE
• Junior guard Seth Trimble set a career scoring high in each of the first two games and has scored in double figures in three straight games for the first time in his career. He began the season scoring 15 points against Elon. His previous high was a dozen, a number he matched in the first half of the win over the Phoenix.
• At Kansas, Trimble set another career high with 19 points, becoming the first player on the current roster to lead the Tar Heels in scoring other than RJ Davis (who has done so 46 times).
• On October 15 in an exhibition game victory at Memphis, Trimble made 11 of 17 field goals and scored a game-high 33 points.
• Trimble was one of three Tar Heels (with Elliot Cadeau and Davis) to make three three-point field goals vs. Elon. Those were career highs for both Trimble and Cadeau.
• Trimble made one of six from three-point range as a freshman and is 18 of 40 (.450) since.

GOOD START FOR J-WIT
• Fifth-year grad student Jae'Lyn Withers leads the Tar Heels in rebounding with 8.7 per game. That included nine at Kansas, where he also hit three 3FGs and scored 11 points.
• Withers has made five 3FGs, one more than he made last season.

MISCELLANEOUS
• Carolina is shooting 85.2% from the free throw line, in part because guards RJ Davis (UNC's all-time FT percentage leader), Elliot Cadeau and Seth Trimble have attempted 56 of the 81 attempts from the stripe. Davis has converted 18 of 20 and Trimble has made 12 of 13.
• The Tar Heels are second in the country in free throw percentage and seventh in FTs made per game (23.0).
• Carolina's "bigs" are also 17 for 19 from the line.
• UNC has shot 81.3, 90.3 and 82.4 from the line in the first three games. It's the first time since a five-game stretch in February 2022 UNC made 80% or better in three straight games.
• Carolina is 14-21 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams (AP) after the 92-89 loss at Kansas.
• The game in Lawrence was UNC's second ever in Allen Fieldhouse and the first since 12/17/1960.
• Tar Heel fans raised more than $70,000 for Hurricane Helene relief by attending the team's Blue-White scrimmage in the Smith Center on October 12. UNC Basketball contributed an additional $50,000 to the cause from its annual sale of autographed basketballs.
• Vince Carter and Water Davis were inducted in the Naismith Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in October. They are the 13th and 14th Tar Heels inducted, the second most among all college basketball programs (Kansas).
• They were the seventh and eighth inducted as players, which is more than any other college's alumni in the Hall's history.
• They were the ninth and 10th individuals who played collegiately for Dean Smith. No other coach has more former players inducted in the Naismith Hall of Fame.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Ty Claude has scored 951 points ... needs 49 for 1,000.
• RJ Davis has made 279 three-pointers, second most all-time by a Tar Heel ... needs 21 to pass Marcus Paige (299).
• Davis has scored 2,141 points, fifth most by a Tar Heel ... needs four to pass Sam Perkins (2,145) for fourth.
• Cade Tyson has scored 925 points ... needs 75 for 1,000.

NOVEMBER SIGNEES
• Earlier this month, Carolina signed Isaiah Denis of Concord, N.C., and Derek Dixon of Vienna, Va.
• "Both players are what we wanted and needed in our class of 2026," says UNC's fourth-year head coach Hubert Davis.
• Denis is a 6-5 guard at Davidson Day High School in Davidson, N.C. His parents are Nancy Denis and Frantz Denis, and he plays AAU for CP3.
• "Isaiah is an athletic wing that can score on all three levels and will immediately give us the versatility needed out there on the floor. He's a great student and it means something to him to play in his home state.
• Dixon, the son of John and Kari Dixon, is a 6-3 guard at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. He also plays AAU for Team Takeover.
•"Derek is a complete basketball player that will make an immediate impact on the court, off the court and in the classroom. He has the ability to shoot, pass and defend at an elite level.

TURKEY DAY 2025 IN FLORIDA
• UNC and Michigan State will play on Thanksgiving next year in Fort Myers, Fla., in the Fort Meyers Tip-Off.
• The game is part of a four-team, two-day event hosted at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida SouthWestern State College.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Elliot Cadeau

Ty Claude

RJ Davis

Harrison Ingram

Ian Jackson

Drake Powell

Cormac Ryan

Seth Trimble

Cade Tyson

Jalen Washington

Jae'Lyn Withers