MBB Set For #4 Auburn In Maui Semis

• Freshman Drake Powell hit the go-ahead 3FG with 1:13 to play and Carolina rallied from a 21-point deficit with under 18 minutes to play to edge Dayton, 92-90, Monday in the quarterfinals of the Maui Invitational.
• The 12th-ranked Tar Heels play No. 4 Auburn in a semifinal on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Hawaiian Time (11 p.m. Eastern) on ESPN. This is Carolina's third straight game that begins at or after 11 p.m. Eastern.
• Carolina improved to 9-0 all-time in the quarterfinals in the Maui Invitational and 19-3 in all games in Maui.
• The comeback tied the largest second-half comeback in UNC history (Florida State in 1993) and equaled the second largest in any game (22 vs. Wake Forest in 1992).

COMEBACK FOR THE AGES
• Carolina trailed, 56-35, before out-scoring the Flyers, 57-34, over the final 17:36.
• The 21-point comeback tied the second largest in UNC history and equaled the largest second-half comeback in UNC history.
• It was the largest comeback since trailing Florida State by 21 (in the second half) on 1/27/1993.
• The largest comeback in UNC history was 22 against Wake Forest on 2/8/1992 (trailed by 22 in the first half). Hubert Davis scored 30 and the Tar Heels won on a Brian Reese jumper in the lane as time expired.
• The win over Dayton was the first time UNC came back to win when trailing by at least 20 since 2/15/2006, when Georgia Tech led, 50-30, but UNC came back for an 82-75 win behind freshman Tyler Hansbrough's 40 points.
• Dayton led by 18 at halftime (51-33). It was the first time UNC rallied from a double-figure halftime deficit to win since trailing Florida State by 12 (29-41) in a 78-70 win on 2/27/2021.

TAR HEELS IN HAWAI'I
• This is the 15th season in which Carolina is playing in Hawai'i and the first since 2016-17.
• Overall, Carolina is 36-5 in Hawai'i (including games in Honolulu and Maui).
• The Tar Heels are playing in the Maui Invitational for the ninth time, including the 2020-21 season when the tournament was played in Asheville, N.C. due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
• Carolina has won the Maui Invitational four times – 1999-2000, 2004-05, 2008-09 and 2016-17.
• Carolina's four Maui titles are the second most in the tournament's history (Duke has five).
• The Tar Heels are 23-4 in all games in the Maui Invitational, including 19-3 in Lahaina.
• UNC is 9-0 in the quarterfinals (8-0 in Maui) and 7-1 in the semifinals (6-1 in Maui with a loss to Butler in 2012).
• Joseph Forte (1999), Raymond Felton (2004), Ty Lawson (2008) and Joel Berry II (2016) have won MVP honors in the Maui Invitational.

CAROLINA-AUBURN
• The Tar Heels are 3-1 all-time against Auburn.
• UNC and Auburn are playing for the first time since a 97-80 Tigers' win in Kansas City in the Sweet 16 in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
• This is only the third meeting since 1932.
• UNC beat Auburn in Birmingham, Ala., in the Sweet 16 in 1985.
• Auburn is No. 4 in the AP poll, the first time UNC has played the Tigers as a top-five team. Auburn was No. 14 when the teams played in 2019.
• The teams are two or the top five in the country in KenPom's offensive efficiency. The Tigers are second with 123.8 points per 100 possessions, while the Tar Heels are fifth at 121.2.

POLLING
• The Tar Heels are No. 12 in the Associated Press' November 25 poll.
• Carolina is ranked in the AP's top 25 for the 25th 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.
• The November 25 ranking was the 961st time the Tar Heels were 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 top-25 opponents in the November 25 poll, including No. 1 Kansas (on the road), No. 4 Auburn (today in Maui), No. 9 Alabama (home), No. 11 Duke (home and away) and No. 18 Florida (in Charlotte).

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 (2,189). He trails only 1978 Wooden Award winner Phil Ford, and Davis has scored the fourth most among all players ever to play at Carolina.
• His 18-point game at Hawai'i moved Davis past Sam Perkins for No. 4 in UNC history.
• Last night's win over Dayton was Davis' sixth career 30-point game and his first of the season.
• He made a season-high four three-pointers, the 29th time he made at least four in a game.
• Davis scored 20 of his game-high 30 points against the Flyers in the second half as the Tar Heels rallied from 21 down for the victory.
• Davis had seven rebounds and five assists in addition to 30 points vs. Dayton. It was the fourth instance in the last 40 years when a Tar Heel had at least 30 points, seven rebounds and five assists, joining Brad Daugherty vs. Wake Forest in 1985-86, Joseph Forte vs. Tulsa in 2000-01 and Cole Anthony vs. Notre Dame in 2019-20.
• 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 15.3, the eighth-highest by a Tar Heel guard.
• The White Plains, N.Y., native's scoring average has progressed from 8.4 as a freshman in 2020-21 to 13.5, 16.1, 21.2 and 20.2 as a grad student.
• Davis has scored 101 points through the first five games this season. Last year, he scored 79 points in the first five games.
• Davis made 113 3FGs last season, breaking the UNC single-season record (Justin Jackson made 105 in 2016-17).
• Davis has made 285 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 32 of 36 from the line in the first five games this season and has converted 454 of 528 in his career for 86.0%. Shammond Williams is second at 84.8%.
• Davis made 10 of 11 from the line against Dayton. It was the third time in his career he made 10 or more free throws in a game – he converted 14 of 14 against NC State in 2023 and 10 of 10 against Arkansas last November in the Bahamas.
• 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 ON POINT
• Elliot Cadeau is averaging 14.8 points and 6.4 assists. He has scored at least 17 points in three of the first five games and double figures in all five.
• He tied his career high with seven field goals in eight attempts at Hawai'i.
• 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.
• He is 26 of 34 from the free throw line, an average of 6.8 attempts per game. Last year, he attempted 2.5 per game.
• Cadeau also leads the Tar Heels with 11 steals.
• Last year, he led Carolina with 150 assists, the most by a Tar Heel freshman since Marcus Paige's 161 in 2012-13.
• Cadeau made the 2024 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.

ANOTHER CAREER HIGH FOR TRIMBLE
• Junior guard Seth Trimble set a career scoring high in each of the first two games (15 vs. Elon and 19 at Kansas) and surpassed those with a 27-point double-double in the comeback win over Dayton.
• Trimble made a career-high 10 field goals in 14 attempts, including a pair of threes and went 5 from 5 from the free throw line.
• In one stretch in the second half, Trimble scored 13 of UNC's 23 points as the Tar Heels cut a 14-point deficit to three.
• Trimble has scored in double figures in five straight games for the first time in his career (previous best was two in a row).
• At Kansas, Trimble became the first player on the roster to lead the Tar Heels in scoring other than RJ Davis (who has done so 48 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 made one of six from three-point range as a freshman and is 21 of 46 (.457) since.

MISCELLANEOUS
• The Tar Heels made 14 of their final 18 field goal attempts vs. Dayton and shot 59.4% from the floor in the second half. It was the fourth straight game UNC has shot 50% or better in the second half. The Tar Heels shot 50.0% in the second half at Kansas, 62.9% vs. American, 57.7% at Hawai'i and 59.4% in erasing an 18-point halftime deficit vs. the Flyers.
• Carolina came into Monday's quarterfinal averaging 7.8 turnovers, the fewest per game in the country. However, UNC committed a dozen in the first half that the Flyers converted into 19 points.
In the second half, the Tar Heels turned the ball over just three times that led to only two points.
• Carolina enters the Auburn game averaging 9.2 turnovers, 15th in the country. The Tar Heels have committed fewer than 10 in three of their first five games. Last year's team ended the season on a five-game run in which it committed fewer than 10 in each game.
• The Tar Heels are third in the country in free throws made per game (24.4), sixth in free throw percentage (.819) and seventh in free throw attempts (29.8).
• Carolina is eighth nationally in scoring at 93.0 points per game.
• 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 952 points ... needs 48 for 1,000.
• RJ Davis has made 285 three-pointers, second most all-time by a Tar Heel ... needs 15 to pass Marcus Paige (299).
• Davis has scored 2,189 points ... needs 11 for 2,200.
• Cade Tyson has scored 936 points ... needs 64 for 1,000.

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Players Mentioned

Elliot Cadeau

Ty Claude

RJ Davis

Ian Jackson

Drake Powell

Seth Trimble

Cade Tyson