MBB Set To Host Clemson Tuesday Night

Tuesday, February 6

Chapel Hill

7 PM

North Carolina

Clemson

Tickets

Seth Trimble

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

February 5, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Live Stats UNC Notes Clemson Notes Watch Media Central

• Three days after beating seventh-ranked Duke, 93-84, the Tar Heels host Clemson on Tuesday, February 6, in the Smith Center. The game will tipoff just after 7 p.m. on ESPN.
• Carolina (18-4) leads the ACC at 10-1.
• The Tigers are 14-7 overall and 4-6 in the ACC. Clemson has lost three of its last five games by a total of five points – 93-90 in double overtime to Georgia Tech, 72-71 at Duke and 66-65 at home on Saturday to Virginia.
• On January 6, Carolina held the Tigers to a season-low 55 points in a 10-point win at Clemson. Armando Bacot and RJ Davis both scored 14 points, and Bacot added 16 rebounds.
• The game was tied at 34 at the half. UNC held the Tigers to 32.3% from the floor in the second half and 36.2% for the game. Clemson was just 1 of 18 from three for the game.
• Paxson Wojcik's three with 8:44 to play broke a 45-all tie and gave UNC the lead for good.
• The Tar Heels shot 50% from the floor, had 18 assists and only five turnovers and scored 19 points off Duke turnovers in Saturday's win over the Blue Devils, Carolina's fifth win over a ranked team this season.
• Armando Bacot scored a game-high 25 points, had 10 rebounds and five assists, becoming the second Tar Heel ever with 25/10/5 against the Blue Devils.
• Harrison Ingram had a big night – season-high 21 points, tied his career high with eight field goals, career-high five three-pointers, a game-high 13 rebounds and a career-high equaling four steals.
• It was the first time a pair of Tar Heels ever had 20 points/10 rebounds vs. the Blue Devils.
• Carolina is 10-0 in the Smith Center this season and 37-5 at home in Hubert Davis' three seasons as head coach.
• Carolina is 10-1 in the ACC, its best start in league play since winning its first 11 in 2000-01.
• Carolina is No. 3 in the Associated Press poll for the third week in a row. These are UNC's highest rankings since being ranked third in the final three weeks in 2018-19.
• This is also the 36th season the Tar Heels compiled at least one streak of 10 or more wins (first time since two such streaks in 2015-16).
• RJ Davis is the ACC's leading scorer in all games (21.3 points per game) and ACC games (21.5). Midway through conference play Davis is a leading candidate for national and ACC awards.
• Harrison Ingram was named co-ACC Player of the Week following the Georgia Tech and Duke games. He is the third Tar Heel (with RJ Davis and Armando Bacot) to win the award this season. It's the first time since 2018-19 three different Tar Heels won ACC Player-of-the-Week honors.
• Davis and Armando Bacot made the late-January updated top 20 list for the Wooden Award (UNC and Kansas were the only two teams with multiple players on the list).
• Davis (Jerry West Award), Bacot (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award) and Ingram (Julius Erving Award) were among 10 players, respectively, on the updated lists announced last week for the Basketball Hall of Fame's positional awards.
• The Tar Heels are 5-2 against AP-ranked opponents this season with wins over No. 20 Arkansas, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 16 Clemson and No. 7 Duke (rankings when UNC played those teams).
• ESPN ranks UNC's strength of record No. 5 in the nation behind Purdue, Houston, UConn and Kansas.
• Carolina's schedule is ranked 14th in the country by KenPom and ESPN.
• The Tar Heels are No. 7 in the country in defensive efficiency (93.0 points allowed per 100 possessions) and No. 21 in offensive efficiency (118.4 points scored per 100 possessions).
• Overall, KenPom ranks UNC No. 8 in the country.
• Carolina is 10-1 in the ACC despite having just one player (RJ Davis, who is first) in the top 10 in the league in scoring.
• From January 6-22 Carolina won seven straight ACC games by double digits, most since winning 10 straight in 1992-93.
• Carolina's defense has held ACC opponents to 38.7% from the floor and 26.8% from three-point range.
• Carolina is 32nd nationally and second in the ACC (behind Virginia) in FG defense and 22nd nationally and first in the ACC in three-point percentage defense.
• The Tar Heels have held ACC opponents below 70 points in 21 of the last 29 games.
• Carolina has out-rebounded its opponents in 11 straight games and is plus 130 on the boards in those games, 10 of which were victories.
• Carolina's 75-68 win at Florida State on January 27 was UNC's 750th regular-season ACC win, becoming the first program to win 750.
• Carolina has six players who have started 50 or more college games (153 by Bacot, 107 by Ryan, 103 by Davis, 84 by Ingram, 67 by Withers and 58 by Wojcik).
• Should the Tar Heels start the same lineup it has started the last 14 games (Elliott Cadeau, Ryan, Davis, Ingram and Bacot) that group would have a combined 469 career starts.
• The Clemson game will be Bacot's 155th as a Tar Heel, tying Leaky Black's UNC record for games played. It will be his 154th start, also a UNC record. Deon Thompson played the most in a four-year career (152).

UNC-CLEMSON
• Carolina is 136-23 all-time against the Tigers, including the 65-55 win at Littlejohn Coliseum on January 6.
• Carolina is 60-1 in Chapel Hill, including 29-1 in the Smith Center.
• The Tar Heels had won the first 59 times the teams played in Chapel Hill until the Tigers ended the NCAA-record streak with a 79-76 overtime win on 1/11/20.
• Last season, Carolina beat the Tigers in Chapel Hill, 91-71. Caleb Love made six of the Tar Heels' 15 three-pointers, Armando Bacot had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Leaky Black played sensational defense and was a plus 25.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Armando Bacot has scored 2,115 points, fourth most all-time by a Tar Heel ... he needs 31 to pass Sam Perkins (2,145) for third.
• Bacot has 1,553 rebounds, most ever by a Tar Heel and fourth most in ACC history ... he passed Virginia's Ralph Sampson, a three-time National Player of the Year, for fourth in the win over Louisville ... he needs 18 to pass Wake Forest's Tim Duncan (1,570) for third.
• Bacot is 20th in rebounds in NCAA history ... he passed Louisville's Wes Unseld (1,551) and Detroit's Dave DeBusschere (1,552) in the win over Duke ... Penn's Ernie Peck (1,557), Seattle's Elgin Baylor (1,559) and NC State's Ronnie Shavlik (1,567) are next in line.
• Bacot passed Perkins and Antawn Jamison for fifth in UNC history in field goals with 789 ... needs 17 to pass Charlie Scott (805) for fourth.
• Bacot has blocked 199 shots ... needs one for 200 ... he made his 100th steal in the win at Florida State ... he would become the only Tar Heel with 2,000 points, 1,500 rebounds, 200 blocks and 100 steals.
• RJ Davis has made 226 three-pointers, the fifth most all-time by a Tar Heel ... Wayne Ellington is fourth (229) and Shammond Williams is third (233).
• Davis is 16th in UNC history with 1,772 points ... needs 19 points to pass Michael Jordan (1,788) for 15th.
• Davis has 379 assists, 21st most in UNC history ... needs four to pass Steve Bucknall (382) for 20th.

DAVIS STARTS WITH 'D'
• Dating back to last season, the Tar Heels have held ACC teams (regular season and ACC Tournament games) under 70 points 21 times in the last 29 games.
• The opponents are averaging 69.9 points, their lowest average since 2020-21 (also 69.9).
• Carolina is 7-2 this season when it scores fewer than 80 points. The Tar Heels went 22-20 when scoring fewer than 80 in the previous two seasons.
• Carolina is holding its opponents to 40.3% shooting from the floor, lowest by the opponents since 2014-15 (39.8%).
• Carolina is holding its opponents to 29.7% shooting from three-point range, best in the ACC. That is the lowest ever by the opponents in a season (previous low was 30.0% in 2014-15).
• ACC opponents are shooting 26.8% from three-point range. Opponents have shot under 30% in seven of the 11 conference games (UNC 7-0) and better than 40% four times (UNC 3-1 with wins over Florida State twice and Louisville and a loss to Georgia Tech).
• In six of the seven games when the opponents shot under 30%, Carolina actually held those teams below 25% from three-point range – 5.6% by Clemson, 10.0% by NC State, 15.0% by Wake Forest, 17.2% by Pittsburgh, 17.6% by Boston College and 21.1% by Syracuse.
• The Tar Heels are 13-1 this season (loss to Villanova) when they make more three-pointers, including the win over Duke, when UNC made nine and the Blue Devils connected on five 3FGs.
• Carolina has held the opponents below 40% from the floor in 25 of 44 halves and 10 of 22 games this season. That includes seven of the last 11 games.
• Carolina has held ACC opponents under 30% shooting in a half five times.
• The Tar Heels have outscored the opponents by
a combined 83 points in the second half in the last 10 games. That includes 39-29 at Pittsburgh (+10), 31-21 at Clemson (+10), 37-26 at NC State (+11), 51-37 (+14) vs. Syracuse, 42-35 (+7) at Boston College, 52-30 (+22) against Wake Forest and 39-27 at FSU (+12).
• Carolina is allowing only 62.3 points in six ACC road games and has won five of the six.
• The 67-54 win at NC State was Carolina's third straight game holding the opponents under 60 points, the first time it did that in three straight road wins since 1998-99 (72-54 win at Florida State, 59-56 win at NC State and 52-40 win at Wake Forest).
• Carolina's last six opponents have combined to score 23 fastbreak points. That includes 12 by Duke, one more than the previous five opponents combined to score.
• UNC has held six teams without a fastbreak point (UNI, Villanova, Charleston Southern, Clemson, Louisville and BC). Five other teams (Radford, Lehigh, UC Riverside, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech) scored three or fewer fastbreak points.

(A)POLLING
• Carolina is ranked No. 3 in week 14 in the Associated Press poll (released February 5).
• This week marks the first time UNC lost a game during the previous week but remained at the same spot in the AP poll since February 2019. That season, UNC was No. 8, lost to No. 4 Virginia but beat Wake Forest to remain eighth in the next week's poll.
• This the 36th different season Carolina has earned a top-three ranking at some point in the season.
• It is the 950th time the Tar Heels are ranked in the AP poll, the second most in college basketball history.
• It is the ninth time this season and 698th time (third most all-time) the AP ranked the Tar Heels in the top 10.
• It is the 87th time the Tar Heels are ranked third, one of 440 times UNC has earned a top-five ranking.
• Carolina has already played the No. 1 (UConn), 6 (Tennessee), 9 (Duke) and 17 (Kentucky) teams in this week's AP poll.
• From November 24-December 20, 2023, UNC played five consecutive non-conference games against ranked opponents for the first time in UNC history. The Tar Heels played Arkansas (20th), Tennessee (10th), UConn (5th), Kentucky (14th) and Oklahoma (7th).