MBB Looks To Rebound At Notre Dame Saturday

• Carolina (8-6, 1-1 ACC) travels to Notre Dame (7-6, 1-1) on Saturday, January 4, for a noon tip at Purcell Pavilion on CBS.
• The Tar Heels were outscored 13-1 over the final 5:09 in an 83-70 loss at Louisville on New Year's night.
• Carolina overcame an 11-point deficit to tie the game at 61 on an Ian Jackson three with 8:37 to play, and it pulled within 70-69 on Jackson's three-point play with 5:09 remaining. Carolina then missed its final four field goal attempts and committed three turnovers over the final five minutes.
• Jackson led Carolina in scoring for the third straight game with 23 points. He became just the third Tar Heel freshman to score 23 or more points in three straight games, joining Al Lifson in 1951-52 and Phil Ford in 1974-75.
• The Tar Heels and Cardinals made a combined 10 of 42 three-pointers and were whistled for 50 fouls. Louisville was 25 for 39 from the free throw line, including 16 of 20 by Chucky Hepburn, who led the Cards with 26 points.
• The Irish are coming off a 75-66 loss at Georgia Tech on New Year's Eve. Notre Dame is 6-1 at home this season, including a conference win over Syracuse.
• Carolina is 1-2 on the road with a win at Hawai'i and losses at Kansas and Louisville.
• RJ Davis (2,345 points) needs three points to pass former teammate Armando Bacot for second in career scoring at UNC and ninth in ACC history.

UNC-NOTRE DAME
• Carolina is 30-9 all-time against the Irish, including an 84-51 win (box score on page 5) in Chapel Hill on 3/5/2024 in the only game between the teams last season.
• The Tar Heels are 6-4 at Notre Dame, including a 63-59 win in UNC's most recent visit to Purcell Pavilion on 2/22/2023.
• Carolina has beaten the Irish three straight and 12 of the last 14 games.

JACKSON EMERGING AS KEY SCORER
• Freshman guard Ian Jackson has led Carolina in scoring in each of the last three games, totaling 73 points in the Tar Heels' wins over UCLA (24) and Campbell (26) and the New Year's night loss at Louisville (23).
• He is the first Tar Heel freshman to lead UNC in scoring in three straight games since Cole Anthony did that four consecutive games in 2019-20 and the first to score 20 or more points in three in a row since Anthony.
• The Bronx native is averaging 13.9 points, third most on the team.
• He's made 29 of 53 (54.7%) from the floor in the last four games.
• In the last eight games, Jackson has averaged 17.6 points over 28 minutes (34.3 in the last three).
• Jackson has scored in double figures nine times this season, including seven of the last eight games.
• He shares the team lead with RJ Davis with with four 20-point games (26 vs. Campbell, 24 vs. UCLA, 23 vs. Alabama and 23 at Louisville). • Jackson has made a three in all 13 games in which he has played (DNP vs. American due to a lower leg injury), including multiple 3FGs in each of the last three games.

ACC HONOR FOR IAN
• Jackson was named ACC Rookie of the Week for his 26-point performance on December 29 against Campbell.
• The 26 points were a season high for Jackson, one game following his 24-point game in Madison Square Garden the Tar Heels' 76-74 win over 18th-ranked UCLA.
• Jackson became one of 10 Tar Heel freshmen ever to score 24 or more points in back-to-back games, joining an illustrious list that includes Anthony, Coby White, Harrison Barnes, Tyler Hansbrough, Rashad McCants, Antawn Jamison, J.R. Reid, Phil Ford and Al Lifson.
• Jackson's 24 points against UCLA were the second most ever by a Tar Heel freshman in Madison Square Garden (25 by Rashad McCants vs. Kansas in 2002).

SCHEDULE NOTES
• The Tar Heels went 7-5 in non-conference play.
• Through January 1, the Tar Heels were the only team ranked in the top 50 in the NET that had played eight Quad 1 games.
• UNC has Quad 1 wins over Dayton and UCLA. • Only one (Alabama) of Carolina's eight Q1 games was played in Chapel Hill.
• KenPom ranks Carolina's strength of schedule the sixth-hardest in the country behind Florida A&M, Mississippi Valley State, Jackson State, Memphis and Central Michigan.
• Carolina is one of two teams among the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC whose strength of schedule is ranked in the top 10 – UNC (6) and Purdue (8).
• Seven of Carolina's opponents are ranked in the current AP poll – No. 2 Auburn, No. 4 Duke, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Florida, No. 7 Kansas, No. 15 UCLA and No. 18 Michigan State.
• This season is the second ever in which the Tar Heels played four top-10 opponents prior to New Year's Day. Carolina played at No. 1 Kansas, No. 4 Auburn in Maui, No. 10 Alabama and No. 7 Florida in Charlotte.
• In December 1967 the Tar Heels lost to No. 8 Vanderbilt and defeated No. 4 Kentucky, No. 10 Princeton and No. 7 Utah.

TAR HEELS AND THE ACC
• Carolina is a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• This is the 72nd season of ACC men's basketball.
• UNC has won the regular-season championship 33 times, including the 2023-24 season, when the Tar Heels went 17-3 to win the title outright for the 22nd time. Duke is second with 20 regular-season titles.
• The Tar Heels are 759-314 all-time in ACC regular-season play. The 759 wins are the most by any team.
• RJ Davis was the 2024 ACC Player of the Year and Hubert Davis was the Coach of the Year.
• RJ Davis is the first Player of the Year to return the following season since UNC's Tyler Hansbrough won the award in 2008 and came back for his senior season in 2009, when he led the Tar Heels to an NCAA title.

SECOND-HALF COMEBACKS
• Carolina's loss to Louisville included another second-half comeback from a double-digit deficit. The Cards led by 11 early in the half before the Tar Heels rallied to tie the game at 61 with more than eight minutes to play.
• It was the eighth time in 14 games UNC has faced a deficit of 10 or more points and the sixth time UNC has stormed back to either pull even or take the lead.
• In two of those games the Tar Heels came back to win, beating Dayton, 92-90, after trailing by 21 and UCLA, 76-64, after trailing by 16.
• On December 21 in New York, the Tar Heels trailed UCLA, 59-43, with 12:35 to play. The Tar Heels closed within five with 7:06 remaining, within a point 90 seconds later and finally drew even at 72 on Jalen Washington's second-chance bucket with 1:32 to play.
• Carolina took its first and only lead of the second half with 13.6 seconds to go on a pair of free throws by RJ Davis.
• The UCLA game was the seventh time the Tar Heels fell behind by double digits in the first half.
• This is the first time since 2011 the Tar Heels have rallied for two wins when trailing by at least 15 points. In 2011, UNC overcame a 19-point deficit to Miami and a 16-point deficit against Virginia Tech.
– Kansas took its first double-digit lead with 9:27 left in the first half, extended the lead to 20 later in the half and led by 15 at the break. Led by three 3FGs by Jae'Lyn Withers, Carolina took its first lead of the second half with 7:09 to play and led, 87-83, with 3:15 to play. The Jayhawks closed the game on a 9-2 run to win, 92-89.
– Carolina led Dayton, 18-17, nine minutes into the game. The Flyers out-scored UNC, 34-15, over the final 11 minutes of the half for an 18-point lead, which Dayton extended to 21 points early in the second half. The Tar Heels still trailed by double figures with 11 minutes to play, took their first lead on an RJ Davis three with 1:52 remaining and won the game on a three by Drake Powell with 1:13 left.
–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).
– Two days later in Maui, Michigan State raced to a 10-2 lead, pushed the margin to 14 with 3:05 left in the half and led by nine at the break. The Tar Heels took their only lead of the second half on a Powell drive with 13:25 to play. Seth Trimble's three with four seconds to play sent the game to overtime, where the Spartans prevailed, 94-91.
– Florida jumped out to an early 16-6 lead and led by as much as 17 in the first half before Carolina scored the final four points of the opening period to cut the lead to a dozen. The Tar Heels opened the second half on an 11-0 run, took a 70-68 lead on a Trimble three-point play with 7:50 to play and led by four (81-77) at the 4:00 timeout. The Gators then outscored UNC 13-3, including eight second-chance points, for a 90-84 win.

NOTABLE
• Junior guard Seth Trimble has missed the last two games due to an upper body injury he suffered in practice on December 28.
• Carolina has scored 154 more points in the second half than in the first (11.0 more per game).
• The Tar Heels have scored more points in the second half in each of the last 13 games. The win over Elon in the season opener is the only game to date Carolina scored more points in the first half (51-39).
• The Tar Heels are averaging 36.9 first-half points (while allowing 38.9) and 47.9 in the second half (allowing 39.9).
• Including the Louisville game, Carolina has shot a higher field goal percentage in the second half than it did in the first in 13 of the first 14 games (only against Georgia Tech did UNC shoot better in the first half).
• Carolina shot 32.4% in the first half at Louisville and 50% in the second.
• Carolina has shot 50% from the floor four times in the first half (vs. American, Michigan State, La Salle and Campbell) and 10 times in the second half (vs. Kansas, American, Hawai'i, Dayton, Michigan State, La Salle, Florida, UCLA, Campbell and at Louisville). That includes three second-half performances when UNC shot better than 62% from the floor (vs. American, Florida and Campbell).
• The Tar Heels have shot a combined 54.8% from the floor in the second halves of their last five games (La Salle, Florida, UCLA, Campbell and Louisville). UNC has made 87 of 149 field goal attempts in the second half in those five games.
• The Tar Heels are 20th in the country in scoring at 85.4 points per game but 329th in scoring defense (79.6).
• However, factoring in the number of possessions, Carolina is 26th in the country in offensive efficiency and 66th in defensive efficiency.
• Carolina's two lowest offensive efficiency games have come in its two ACC starts – a season-low 89.2 in the win over Georgia Tech and 93.0 in the loss at Louisville. For the season, the Tar Heels average 117.9 points per 100 possessions.
• Carolina has allowed 17.6 more points in its six losses (89.7) than the opponents have averaged in UNC's eight wins (72.1).
• UNC has allowed 90 or more points four times in 14 games. Opponents had only scored 90 or more six times in the previous three seasons. Four is the most in a season since 2001-02 (five times).
• Carolina is attempting 23.7 three-pointers per game, the second-most attempts 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.
• Over the last six games UNC is 47 for 178 (26.4%) from three-point range.
• Carolina is averaging 20.1 made free throws in its eight wins and 21.5 free throw attempts in the six losses.
• RJ Davis leads Carolina in scoring at 18.4 points per game. Davis is the only Tar Heel that has scored in double figures in all 14 games.
• Davis and freshman Ian Jackson are the only players to make a three in every game in which they played (all 14 for Davis and 13 for Jackson).
• Davis is averaging 15.5 field goal attempts per game. Last year, he averaged 16.4.
• Carolina's top four scorers are guards – Davis (18.4), Seth Trimble (14.8), Jackson (13.9) and Elliot Cadeau (10.7).
• Trimble set career scoring highs 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.
• 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.

MORE MILESTONES FOR RJ
• RJ Davis is the third-leading scorer in Carolina's illustrious history with 2,345 points. He needs three points to pass Armando Bacot, who also played in five seasons, for second.
• He broke the UNC career record for three-pointers (304) and has the highest free throw percentage ever by a Tar Heel (85.8%).
• RJ Davis' 29-point outing vs. Florida on December 17 in Charlotte moved him into third place in UNC career scoring and first place all-time among guards.
• Not only did he break the career mark for threes against Campbell, he also moved into 10th place all-time in ACC scoring.
• He finished his fourth season as the fifth-leading scorer in Carolina history and has passed Sam Perkins and Phil Ford thus far this season.
• Davis' career scoring average is 15.4, the eighth-highest by a Tar Heel guard.
• 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 5-1 in the Smith Center this season and 482-88 (.845) all-time.
• The Tar Heels are 232-19 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.

ROSENBLUTH A COLLEGE HALL OF FAMER
• Lennie Rosenbluth, a prolific scorer who led the 1956-57 Tar Heels to a 32-0 record and UNC's first NCAA Tournament championship, is one of eight individuals elected to join the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in the Class of 2024.
• Rosenbluth is the 15th Tar Heel to become a member of the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, joining Dean Smith (inaugural class in 2006), Larry Brown, Ben Carnevale, Billy Cunningham, Bob McAdoo, Frank McGuire, James Worthy and Roy Williams (all in the Class of 2007), Phil Ford (2012), Charlie Scott (2015), Sam Perkins (2018), Antawn Jamison (2021), Larry Miller (2022) and Tyler Hansbrough (2023).
• Rosenbluth set the ACC career scoring record with 2,045 points (since broken) and still maintains single-season UNC records for points (897) and scoring average (28.0), both set in 1956-57. He easily holds the highest career scoring average by a Tar Heel at 26.9 points per game, set in 76 games over three seasons from 1954-57.
• Joining Rosenbluth in the Class of '24 are six players and one coach (Jack Hartman, most notably at Kansas State). The players include Dave Meyers (UCLA), Sihugo Green (Duquesne), Wayne Estes (Utah State), Sam Lacey (New Mexico State), John Rudometkin (USC) and Tom Stith (St. Bonaventure).

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Elliot Cadeau

RJ Davis

Ian Jackson

Drake Powell

Seth Trimble

Cade Tyson

Jalen Washington

Jae'Lyn Withers

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