MBB Heads To Duke With ACC First Place On The Line

• The best rivalry in college athletics resumes when the seventh-ranked Tar Heels travel to Durham to play No. 9 Duke on March 9, at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN.
• Both teams are 24-6. The Tar Heels are 16-3 in the ACC, one game ahead of Duke.
• For the 29th time in 71 seasons Carolina and Duke play their final regular-season games with first place in the ACC on the line (the teams have played each other in their final game before the ACC Tournament all but twice in the history of the ACC – 1953-54 and 1986-87).
• In the last 20 years, the Tar Heels have played Duke eight times in the regular-season finale when they needed a victory to finish first (outright or a share) and UNC has won all eight games in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2019.
• Carolina defeated Notre Dame on March 5, 84-51, to conclude its home schedule at 14-1.
• UNC has clinched at least a share of the ACC regular-season championship, the Tar Heels' 33rd. UNC has won the regular-season title outright 21 previous times and shared the title 11 times.
• UNC has secured a top-2 seed in the ACC Tournament. The Tar Heels will begin play in Washington, D.C., in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, March 14 (time TBA).
• Carolina wins the regular-season title outright with a victory in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The teams would share the title with a Duke win and seeding for the top two spots in the ACC Tournament would be based on how the Tar Heels and Blue Devils fared against the next highest seed(s) in the ACC standings.
• Prior to this season, UNC last won the ACC regular-season title in 2018-19, when it went 16-2 and shared the crown with Virginia.
• The win over the Irish was Carolina's fifth straight since a loss at Syracuse on Feb. 13.
• The Tar Heels are 7-2 on the road this season (all in ACC play). It is the second time in three seasons head coach Hubert Davis has led UNC to at least seven ACC road wins (7-3 in 2021-22).
• Carolina has allowed just 64.0 points on the road, holding the home teams to 37.8% shooting from the floor, 25.3% from three-point range. Carolina's 54-44 win at Virginia on Feb. 24 was the sixth time the Tar Heels allowed fewer than 70 points on the road. RJ Davis has led the Tar Heels in scoring on the road with 18.8 points per game.
• Carolina defeated the Blue Devils, 93-84, in Chapel Hill on Feb. 3.
• Davis earned his fourth ACC Player of the Week and National Player of the Week awards for his play last week vs. Miami and NC State. He joins Tyler Hansbrough, Antawn Jamison, Forte, Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson and Joel Berry II as the only Tar Heels to win ACC Player-of-the-Week honors at least four times in a season. No other player in the league has won ACC Player of the Week more than twice this season. On March 7, ESPN.com named Davis a first-team All-America.

GAME 31 NOTEBOOK
Carolina is 24-6 overall, 16-3 in the ACC. The Tar Heels secured at least a share of the regular-season championship with an 84-51 win over Notre Dame on March 5.
• The title is Carolina's 33rd regular-season championship in 71 seasons of ACC Basketball. That is the most regular-season titles in ACC history. Duke is second with 20 (and would tie UNC for the title if the Blue Devils beat the Tar Heels).
• Including the Southern Conference this is Carolina's 39th regular-season conference championship. UNC has the third-most in college basketball history behind Kansas (64) and Kentucky (54).

ACC REGULAR-SEASON CHAMPIONSHIPS
33 UNC
20 Duke
11 Virginia
7 NC State
5 Maryland
4 Wake Forest
2 Georgia Tech
2 Miami
1 Clemson
1 Florida State
1 South Carolina

• Carolina has won 16 regular-season ACC games for the second time since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1991-92, an 18-game slate in 2012-13 and 20 games in 2019-20. The Tar Heels went 16-2 to tie Virginia for the title in 2018-19.
• UNC is bidding to become the second team to win 17 ACC regular-season games in one year. Since the league went to 18- and then 20-game schedules, Virginia (17-1 in 2017-18) is the only team to win 17 games.
• Carolina's previous best 20-game ACC record was 15-5 in 2021-22, Hubert Davis' first season as head coach.
• The Tar Heels have won 24 games, the program's 64th season with 20 or more wins.
• Hubert Davis and Bill Guthridge (1997-2000) are the only Tar Heel head coaches to win 20 or more games in each of their first three seasons. Davis led Carolina to 29 wins and a berth in the national championship game in 2022 and 20 wins last season.
• A win over Duke would be the Tar Heels' 25th this season, which would extend UNC's NCAA record 25-win seasons to 40.
• 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. 6 in the country behind Purdue, Houston, UConn, Tennessee and Iowa State.
• Carolina's schedule is ranked 21st in the country by KenPom and 26th by ESPN.
• Among the 22 teams with 24 or more wins, only Purdue, Houston and Tennessee have stronger strength of schedules than UNC per ESPN.
• The Tar Heels are No. 6 in the country in defensive efficiency (93.5 points allowed per 100 possessions) and No. 26 in offensive efficiency (118.1 points scored per 100 possessions).
• Overall, KenPom ranks UNC No. 8 in the country.
• Carolina is 7-2 this season on the road (all in ACC play).
• The Tar Heels are one of nine teams in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC with seven or more road wins.
• From January 6-22, Carolina won seven straight ACC games by double digits, most since winning 10 straight in 1992-93. UNC has nine double-digit nine wins in its 15 ACC wins and has a scoring margin of 9.6 in league play.
• Carolina leads the ACC in scoring and rebounding, and is second in scoring margin, field goal defense and three-point percentage defense.
• Carolina's defense has held ACC opponents to 39.3% from the floor and 30.2% from three-point range.
• The Tar Heels have held ACC opponents to 70 points or below in 27 of the last 37 games dating back to last season.
• Carolina has out-rebounded its opponents in 19 straight games and is plus 174 on the boards in those games, 16 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 (161 by Armando Bacot, 114 by Cormac Ryan, 111 by RJ Davis, 91 by Harrison Ingram, 67 by Jae'Lyn Withers and 58 by Paxson Wojcik).
• The lineup UNC started against NC State has started the last 22 games (other than Senior Night vs. Notre Dame when the three senior walk-ons joined Bacot and Davis in the starting lineup). Elliott Cadeau, Ryan, Davis, Ingram and Bacot have a combined 501 career starts.
• The Tar Heels went 6-1 in November, 3-2 in December, 8-1 in January and the win over Miami capped a 5-2 record in February.
• Hubert Davis is one of 15 candidates on the Atlanta Tipoff Club/Naismith Award's late-season watch list for National Coach-of-the-Year honors.

UNC-DUKE
• Carolina is 144-117 all-time against Duke.
• The Tar Heels have won five of the last eight games, including 93-84 in Chapel Hill on Feb. 3.
• The Tar Heels are 50-56 on the road, including 39-47 in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
• Carolina had won two in a row in Cameron prior to last year's 63-57 Blue Devil victory.
• This is the 50th meeting when UNC and Duke are both ranked in the AP top 10. Carolina is 25-24 in those games. No other teams have played that many times as top-10 opponents.
• In the last 20 years, Carolina has played Duke eight times in the regular-season finale when the Tar Heels needed a victory to finish first (outright or a share) and UNC has won all eight games.
• In 2005, UNC beat Duke to finish one game ahead of Wake Forest; In 2007 and 2019, UNC won to tie Virginia for first; in 2008, 2011 and 2012, UNC won to edge Duke by a game; in 2009, UNC won to finish two games ahead of Duke; and in 2016, UNC won to beat Virginia by a game.
• Carolina and Duke are No. 1 and 2 all-time in the ACC in wins, ACC regular-season wins, ACC Tournament wins, NCAA Tournament wins, Final Fours and NCAA championships.
• Carolina has won the ACC regular-season title 33 times. The Blue Devils are second with 20.
• Carolina and Duke have played in the Final Four a combined 27 times in the last 43 seasons.
• The Tar Heels and Blue Devils have combined to win 10 national championships in the previous 43 seasons – five by Carolina and five by Duke.
• Armando Bacot has averaged 16.1 points and 9.5 rebounds and has blocked 15 shots in 10 games against the Blue Devils. He has four five-doubles, including each of the last four games. He scored 25 points, had 10 rebounds and had five assists in the Feb. 3 win, becoming the second Tar Heel ever and first since Charlie Scott to have 25/10/5 against the Blue Devils.
• Carolina is 5-5 in Bacot's 10 games against Duke.
• Bacot has scored in double figures in all 10 games and has scored 20 or more twice – 25 in Chapel Hill last month and 23 in the win at Duke in 2022, when he made 10 of 11 field goals.
• Bacot grabbed 21 rebounds in the 2022 victory in the national semifinals in New Orleans.
• RJ Davis has scored in double figures in the last six games against Duke. He's averaged
15.8 points in those six games, including scoring 21 in the 2022 win at Duke. He had 18 points and four assists in the Final Four win and scored 17 in each of the last two games vs. the Blue Devils.
• Cormac Ryan scored a then-career-high with 28 points at Cameron while playing for Notre Dame in 2021. He was 10 for 16 from the floor and made four three-pointers in that game.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Armando Bacot broke the ACC games played record in his final home game on March 5 vs. Notre Dame. It was Bacot's 162nd game, passing the mark set by Virginia's Kihei Clark from 2018-23 (the NCAA record is 178 by Iowa's Jordan Bohannon).
• The Duke game will be Bacot's 163rd game and 162nd start. Bacot will have started more games than any other player in ACC history has played.
• Bacot has scored 2,230 points, third most all-time by a Tar Heel ... needs 61 to pass Phil Ford (2,290) for second.
• Bacot passed Georgia Tech's Matt Harpring and Virginia's Ralph Sampson in the Notre Dame game and has the 16th-most points in ACC history ... needs four points to pass UVA's Buzzy Wilkinson (2,233) for 15th and 26 to pass Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney (2,255) for 14th.
• Bacot has 1,640 rebounds, most by a Tar Heel and second most in ACC history ... Bacot is 12th in rebounds in NCAA history ... he needs 34 to pass Morehead State's Kenneth Faried (1,673) for 11th and 40 to pass Morehead State's Steve Hamilton (1,675) for to move into the top 10.
• Bacot is seventh in NCAA history with 82 double-doubles ... Syracuse's Derrick Coleman and La Salle's Lionel Simmons (83) are tied for fifth.
• Bacot is third in UNC history with 831 field goals ... needs 35 field goals to pass Phil Ford (865) for third.
• RJ Davis has scored 1,948 points, which is 10th in UNC history ... needs 27 to pass Antawn Jamison (1,974) for ninth.
• Davis needs 52 points to become the eighth Tar Heel to score 2,000 (Bacot did that earlier this season).
• Davis has the third-most points by a Tar Heel guard ... he needs 60 to pass Charlie Scott (2,007) for second.
• Davis has made 257 three-pointers, the third most all-time by a Tar Heel ... Marcus Paige is first (299) and Joel Berry II is second (266).
• Davis is tied with Cameron Johnson for the third-most 3FGs in a season by a Tar Heel with 96 ... he needs three to pass Brady Manek (98) for second and 10 to break Justin Jackson's single-season record (105).
• Davis has 410 assists ... needs seven to pass Theo Pinson (416) for 16th in UNC history.
• Cormac Ryan needs 13 points for 1,500 career.

AP POLL NOTES
• Carolina is No. 7 in week 18 in the Associated Press poll (released on March 4).
• It is the 954th time the Tar Heels are ranked in the AP poll, the second most in college basketball history.
• It was the 13th time this season and 702nd time (third most) the AP ranked the Tar Heels in the top 10.
• Carolina has played the No. 2 (UConn), 4 (Tennessee), 9 (Duke) and 15 (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).

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

RJ Davis

Harrison Ingram

Cormac Ryan

Jae'Lyn Withers

Paxson Wojcik

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