MBB Heads To Charlotte For No. 7 Florida In Jumpman Invitational

Tuesday, December 17

Charlotte, N.C.

7 PM

North Carolina

Florida

Seth Trimble

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

MBB Heads To Charlotte For No. 7 Florida In Jumpman Invitational

December 16, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Live Stats UNC Notes UF Notes Watch Media Central

• Carolina plays a top-10 opponent for the fourth time in its first 11 games when the Tar Heels visit Charlotte to take on the seventh-ranked Florida Gators in the third Jumpman Invitational. ESPN will televise the game, which is scheduled for 7 p.m.
• The Tar Heels are 6-4 overall, 1-0 in the ACC, having won their last two games, home victories over Georgia Tech and La Salle.
• The Gators are undefeated in 10 starts, coming off a 17-point win over Arizona State in Atlanta. Florida has won its 10 games by an average of 21.1 points.
• This is the second time ever the Tar Heels will have played four top-10 opponents in one season prior to New Year's Day. Carolina has previously played at No. 1 Kansas, No. 4 Auburn in Maui and No. 10 Alabama in Chapel Hill.
• In 1967, all in the month of December, the Tar Heels lost to No. 8 Vanderbilt and defeated No. 4 Kentucky, No. 10 Princeton and No. 7 Utah.

JUMPMAN 3.0
• The Tar Heels are 2-0 in the Jumpman Invitational, defeating Michigan, 80-76, on 12/21/22, and Oklahoma, 81-69, on 12/20/23.
• This is the second consecutive year the Tar Heels are playing the seventh-ranked team in the AP poll in the Jumpman Invitational (Oklahoma was 10-0 and No. 7 last season).

TAR HEELS IN CHARLOTTE
• The Tar Heels are 168-27 in Charlotte.
• That includes an 18-2 record in the Spectrum Center from 2006-24.
• UNC went 3-0 in the Spectrum Center last season, beating Oklahoma in the Jumpman Invitational and Wagner and Michigan State in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

TAR HEELS AND GATORS
• UNC is playing Florida for just the third time in the last 26 seasons and the seventh time ever.
• Carolina is 4-2 vs. the Gators.
• Hubert Davis is the fourth different UNC coach to coach against the Gators in the last four games.
• This is the first game between the teams since a 75-64 Tar Heel victory in The Bahamas on 11/28/2014. Kennedy Meeks (18) and Marcus Paige (16) led five Tar Heels in double figures in the win.
• This is the fourth time the teams have played in the state of North Carolina and the second time in Charlotte. Dean Smith's Tar Heels defeated the Gators, 66-59, in the Charlotte Coliseum on 12/18/1965.
• Junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin tied his career high with 25 points and had 11 rebounds vs. Florida in the second-to-last game last season, when he was playing for Vanderbilt. He also had 15 points and seven boards against the Gators last year in Gainesville.

CAROLINA BASKETBALL
• 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 (.733) and third-most wins (2,378) 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 an 84-35 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.
• 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.

POLLING
• The Tar Heels fell out of the top 25 in last week's Associated Press poll (12/9/24).
• Carolina had been ranked in the AP top 25 in the previous 26 polls.
• The Tar Heels have been ranked 962 times in the AP poll, second most all-time.
• Nine of Carolina's opponents are ranked in this week's poll – No. 2 Auburn, No. 4 Kentucky, No. 5, Duke, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Florida, No. 8 Kansas, No. 18 UCLA, No. 20 Michigan State, No. 22 Dayton and No. 25 Clemson.
• KenPom ranks Carolina's schedule the 11th-most difficult in the country.
• The four teams the Tar Heels have lost to are a combined 33-7.

NOTABLE
• The Tar Heels are 14th in the country in scoring at 86.8 points per game, but 326th in scoring defense (78.7).
• Carolina is 21st in the country in offensive efficiency and 38th in defensive efficiency.
• The Tar Heels have allowed only 66.0 points per game in the last two games, wins over Georgia Tech and La Salle.
• Carolina has allowed 21.0 more points in its four losses (91.3) than the opponents have averaged in UNC's six wins (70.3).
• Carolina is attempting 23.7 three-pointers per game, which is on pace for the second most in UNC single-season history. In 2028-19, a team that featured Coby White, Cameron Johnson and Luke Maye, the Tar Heels averaged 23.94 three-point attempts, the most in UNC history and the only season in which Carolina attempted more per game than this year.
• The Tar Heels made 11 of 23 three-pointers (47.8%) against Michigan State but made 20 of 83 (24.1%) in the last three home games vs. Alabama, Georgia Tech and La Salle.
• Carolina is averaging 20.3 made free throws in its six wins and 21.8 free throw attempts in the four losses.
• RJ Davis leads Carolina in scoring at 17.6 points per game. Davis is the only Tar Heel that has scored in double figures in all 10 games.
• Davis and freshman Ian Jackson are the only players to make a three in every game in which they played (all 10 of Davis and nine for Jackson).
• Davis is averaging 15.9 field goal attempts per game. Last year, he averaged 16.4.
• Carolina's top four scorers are guards – Davis (17.6), Seth Trimble (15.4), Elliot Cadeau (11.5) and Jackson (10.8).
• Trimble earned all-tournament honors in Maui after scoring 27, 17 and nine points, respectively. His three-pointer with 4.3 seconds to play sent the third-place game against Michigan State to overtime.
• Trimble is scoring 10.2 more points per game than he did last season, which equals the sixth-highest increase from one season to the next in UNC history.
• Trimble set a career scoring high in each of the first two games this season (15 vs. Elon and 19 at Kansas) then surpassed those with a 27-point double-double in the comeback win over Dayton.
• Freshmen led UNC in scoring against Michigan State and Alabama. Drake Powell had 18 points in Maui against the Spartans, and Ian Jackson scored 23 vs. the Crimson Tide. It was the first time freshmen led UNC in scoring in back-to-back games since the 2021 ACC Tournament (RJ Davis vs. Virginia Tech and Caleb Love vs. Florida State).
• Powell (18) and Jackson (14) both scored in double figures against Michigan State, the first time two UNC freshmen scored in double figures in the same game since Caleb Love and Kerwin Walton vs. Florida State in the 2021 ACC Tournament.
• When Cade Tyson scored a game-high 23 points against La Salle, he became the seventh different Tar Heel to lead UNC in scoring this season. Last year, only four Tar Heels led Carolina in scoring.
• Tyson's 23-point effort was his 12th career 20-point game. He made five three-pointers, one more than he made in the first nine games this season. It was the 11th time in his career he made at least four in a game and the eighth time he made five or more.
• Tyson's five three-pointers vs. La Salle were the most by a Tar Heel this season.
• It was the third time in UNC's last four games a non-starter led the Tar Heels in scoring (Powell vs. Michigan State and Jackson vs. Alabama).
• Carolina scored 49 bench points vs. La Salle, the most this season. UNC's non-starters outscored the starters, 49-44, the first time the non-starters outscored the starters since a 2021 home loss to Marquette.
• Junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin leads Carolina in offensive rebounds with 17 while averaging 15.5 minutes per game, eighth most on the team.
• The loss to Michigan State was Carolina's first when it shot 50% from the floor in a game since 2/15/2020 against Virginia. Prior to the 94-91 overtime loss to the Spartans, Carolina had won the previous 33 games in which it shot 50% or better from the floor.
• UNC had also won the previous 13 times it scored 90 or more points.
• Carolina has scored 101 more points in the second half than in the first (10.1 more per game).
• UNC committed 31 turnovers in the first four games (7.8 per game) and 78 in the last six games (13.0 per game).
• Carolina is 13th nationally in fastbreak points, averaging 17.1 per game.
• The Tar Heels allow 5.3 fastbreak points in their six wins. The opponents in the four losses have averaged 12.5 fastbreak points.
• Dayton, which is now No. 22 in the AP poll, led Carolina by 18 at the half and by 21 early in the second half before the Tar Heels rallied for a 92-90 win in the quarterfinals in Maui.
• The comeback win from 21 down tied the largest second-half comeback in UNC history (21 vs. Florida State in 1993) and was one point shy of the largest comeback win in any game in UNC history (22 vs. Wake Forest in 1992).

RJ DAVIS
• Davis has scored the second-most points ever by a Tar Heel guard (2,264). He trails only 1978 Wooden Award winner Phil Ford. Davis has scored the fourth-most points among all players ever to play at Carolina.
• 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. He came into this season 784 points from tying Tyler Hansbrough for the all-time ACC and UNC records.
• Davis' career scoring average is 15.3, the eighth-highest by a Tar Heel guard.
• Davis has made 293 career three-pointers, 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 45 of 52 this season (86.5%) and 467 of 544 in his career for 85.8%. Shammond Williams is second at 84.8%.
• 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).

SMITH CENTER
• This is the 40th season the Tar Heels are playing in the Dean E. Smith Center.
• Carolina is 4-1 in the Smith Center this season and 481-88 (.845) all-time.
• The Tar Heels are 231-19 all-time against non-ACC opponents in the Smith Center (.924). Carolina's 19-game winning streak against non-conference teams in the Smith Center ended with the 94-79 loss to Alabama on December 4.

NOVEMBER SIGNEES
• Carolina signed Isaiah Denis of Concord, N.C., and Derek Dixon of Vienna, Va.
• 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.
• 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.