MBB Heads To Kansas For Top-10 Matchup

• Carolina and Kansas, two of the top three programs in all-time college basketball wins, will meet on campus for the first time in 64 years when the ninth-ranked Tar Heels travel to Lawrence to play the top-ranked Jayhawks on Friday, November 8.
• Tip time at Allen Fieldhouse is 7 p.m. Eastern. ESPN2 will televise the game.
• This is Carolina's second game ever in Allen Fieldhouse, and its first since a 78-70 win under head coach Frank McGuire on 12/17/1960. The Jayhawks will be playing in Chapel Hill for the first time next season.
• Both teams won their season openers on Monday and enter the game 1-0. Carolina closed the game on a 21-5 run to beat Elon, 90-76, while the Jayhawks routed Howard, 87-57.
• RJ Davis scored a game-high 24 points with seven assists, Elliot Cadeau had 17 points and eight assists and Seth Trimble netted a career-best 15 points to lead the Tar Heels vs. Elon.
• Kansas has 2,394 wins, second most all-time behind Kentucky, while the Tar Heels are third with 2,373.
• They have combined for 10 championships, 246 wins and 37 Final Fours in 104 combined NCAA Tournament appearances. Carolina is first all-time in NCAA Tournament wins and Final Fours, second in appearances and third in championships; Kansas is third all-time in NCAA Tournament appearances, fourth in wins, fifth in Final Fours and seventh in titles.
• Thirty-two (32) former UNC and Kansas players and coaches are inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Tar Heels and Jayhawks have won a combined 22 National Player-of-the-Year awards and 132 first-team All-America honors.

• 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.
• 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 79-31 record. His 78 wins through 2023-24 were the second most by a Carolina head coach and fourth most 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 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%).

CAROLINA VS. KANSAS
• Carolina is 6-6 all-time against Kansas. The Jayhawks have won the last four games, all of which came in NCAA Tournament play (2008, 2012, 2013 and 2022).
• This is just the second time in 13 games the teas are playing on campus. The teams have never played in Chapel Hill and met in Lawrence only on 12/17/1960. That was during Frank McGuire's final season as UNC's head coach and Dean Smith's third season as an assistant coach. Smith, a Kansas grad, began his 36-year stint as Carolina's head coach the following season.
• The teams have previously played two regular-season games in the state of North Carolina – Dec. 11, 1959, in Raleigh's Reynolds Coliseum, and Nov. 28, 1981, in the Charlotte Coliseum in Michael Jordan's first game as a Tar Heel. The 1959 game was part of a two-night doubleheader that also included host NC State and Kansas State.
• This is the first time both teams are ranked when playing one another since the 2012 Elite Eight in St. Louis.
• This is the first time UNC has played Kansas when the Jayhawks were No. 1 in the AP poll. The previous highest ranking for KU when playing the Tar Heels was No. 2 in the 1957 national championship game and No. 2 in the 2002 Preseason NIT.
• Carolina and Kansas rank in the top three in college basketball history in both wins and winning percentage. UNC is second in winning percentage and third in wins; the Jayhawks are second in wins and third in winning percentage.
• The Tar Heels and Jayhawks last played in the 2022 national championship game in New Orleans, a 72-69 Jayhawk victory. RJ Davis is the only active Tar Heel who played in the game – he had 15 points, a career-high 12 rebounds and two assists. Davis and Armando Bacot led UNC with 15 points apiece.
• Seven of the previous 12 games have come in the NCAA Tournament, including two championship games (1957 and 2022) and three times in the national semifinals (1991, 1993 and 2008). The five UNC-Kansas games in the Final Four are the most frequently-played matchups in Final Four history.
• Dean Smith played for Phog Allen at Kansas, where he was a member of the 1952 NCAA champions and 1953 NCAA finalists, and was head coach for 36 years at UNC, where he won two NCAA titles, led the Tar Heels to 11 Final Fours and retired as the winningest coach in college basketball history. Following his graduation from KU in 1953, Smith began his Hall of Fame coaching career the following season as a volunteer assistant to Allen and Dick Harp.
• Roy Williams was the head coach at Kansas from 1988-2003 and Carolina from 2003-21, leading the two programs to a combined nine Final Fours. Williams won NCAA championships with the Tar Heels in 2005, 2009 and 2017, and is the only coach to win 400 games at two schools (418 at Kansas and 485 at Carolina).
• Larry Brown played for and coached under Smith at UNC and was the head coach of the Jayhawks for five seasons, leading KU to a pair of Final Fours and the 1988 NCAA championship.
• Harp was head coach of the Jayhawks when they played the Tar Heels in a historic triple overtime game for the 1957 NCAA championship and was later a member of Smith's coaching staff in Chapel Hill.
• Brad Frederick played for Smith at UNC and is in his 12th year as a member of the Tar Heel coaching staff. His father, Dr. Bob Frederick, was the director of athletics at Kansas for 14 years and hired Williams, who was an assistant coach at UNC, to be the Jayhawks' head coach in 1988.
• Steve Robinson, Joe Holladay, Jerod Haase, C.B. McGrath, Matt Doherty and Jonas Sahratian were on staff at both Carolina and Kansas, and Haase and McGrath played for Williams at Kansas. Doherty played for the Tar Heels, was an assistant in Lawrence with Williams and was head coach at his alma mater for three seasons.
• Sahratian is in his 21st season as the Tar Heels' director of strength and conditioning.
• Fred Quartlebaum was an assistant coach at UNC from 2000-03 and is in his 12th season at Kansas, where he is the director of basketball operations.

VERSUS NO. 1
• Carolina is 14-20 against teams ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll.
• The 14 wins are the most wins vs. No. 1 by any program in college basketball history.
• This is UNC's first game against No. 1 since Luke Maye scored 30 points to lead the Tar Heels past Duke, 88-72, in Cameron Indoor Stadium on 2/20/2019.
• Carolina is 6-7 in true road games vs. No. 1.
• Kansas is the 13th different opponent the Tar Heels have played as No. 1 (Cincinnati, UConn, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, NC State, Oklahoma, Syracuse, Temple and Virginia).

UNC'S 14 WINS OVER AP NO. 1-RANKED TEAMS
Date #1 team Site Score
1/14/59 NC State A 72-68
1/12/80 Duke A 82-67
11/21/87 Syracuse SPR 96-93 (ot)
1/18/89 Duke A 91-71
3/17/90 ^ Oklahoma AUS 79-77
2/5/92 Duke H 75-73
2/3/94 Duke H 89-78
2/5/98 Duke H 97-73
3/8/98 * Duke GBO 83-68
1/17/04 Connecticut H 86-83
4/4/05 ^ Illinois STL 75-70
3/4/06 Duke A 83-76
12/4/13 Michigan State A 79-65
2/20/19 Duke A 88-72
* ACC Tournament
^ NCAA Tournament

POLLING
• The Tar Heels entered the season No. 9 in the nation in the Associated Press poll and 10th in the coaches' 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 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
• Davis has scored the second-most points ever by a Tar Heel guard (2,112, trailing only 1978 Wooden Award winner 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- 2,112

• 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).

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). He made three 3FGs in the Tar Heels' season opener vs. Elon.
• Davis has made 277 career three-pointers, the second most all-time by a Tar Heel. Marcus Paige is first with 299.
• Davis is also Carolina's all-time leader in free throw percentage. He went 7 for 7 from the line against Elon and has made 429 of 499 in his career for 86.0%. Shammond Williams is second at 84.8%.
• 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

• 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.

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- 15.2
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 scored 17 points and had a game-high eight assists in the win over Elon.
• Cadeau was a plus 28, the highest plus/minus in his career (previous was plus 27 in a 36-point win over Syracuse last season).
• 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.
• 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.

HIGH MARKS FOR TRIMBLE
• Junior guard Seth Trimble scored a career-high 15 points against Elon. His previous high was a dozen, a number he matched in the first half of the win over the Phoenix.
• 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 RJ Davis) to make three three-point field goals. Those were career highs for both Trimble and Cadeau.
• Trimble made one of six from three-point range as a freshman and is 16 of 35 (.457) since.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Ty Claude has scored 944 points ... needs 56 for 1,000.
• RJ Davis has made 277 three-pointers, second most all-time by a Tar Heel ... needs 23 to pass Marcus Paige (299).
• Davis has scored 2,112 points, fifth most by a Tar Heel ... needs 34 to pass Sam Perkins (2,145) for fourth.
• Cade Tyson has scored 914 points ... needs 86 for 1,000.
• Ven-Allen Lubin has 295 rebounds and 498 points ... needs five rebounds for 300 and two points for 500.
• Jae'Lyn Withers has 598 rebounds ... needs two for 600.

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 478-87 (.846) in the Smith Center, including 229-18 (.927) against non-ACC teams.
• Carolina has won its last five games in the Smith Center since a loss to Clemson on 2/6/2024.
• Carolina has won 18 straight non-conference games in the Smith Center since a loss to Marquette on 2/24/2022.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Elliot Cadeau

Ty Claude

RJ Davis

Harrison Ingram

Ian Jackson

Ven-Allen Lubin

Drake Powell

Cormac Ryan

Seth Trimble

Cade Tyson

Jalen Washington

Jae'Lyn Withers