Miami Visits Smith Center For Saturday Matinee

Saturday, March 1

Chapel Hill

Noon

North Carolina

Miami

Elliot Cadeau

Photo by: Maggie Hobson

February 28, 2025 | Men's Basketball

UNC Notes Miami Notes Live Stats Watch Listen Game Guide

• Carolina returns to the Smith Center for the first of three games to close out the regular season when it hosts Miami on Saturday, March 1, at noon on ESPN.
• The Tar Heels have won four in a row for the second time this season and the second time in ACC play. A win over the Hurricanes would give UNC its first five-game win streak since the Tar Heels won eight in row last February 17-March 15.
• The win at Florida State was Carolina's 54th ACC regular-season win in Hubert Davis' four seasons as head coach (54-23). Only one other school (Duke with 61) has more wins over the last four seasons. Following Duke and UNC are Clemson 48, Virginia 47, Wake Forest 45, Pitt 39, Miami 37, Syracuse 36, Virginia Tech 36, FSU 34, Notre Dame 31, NC State 29, Boston College 27, Georgia Tech 26 and Louisville 26.
• Carolina improved to 18-11 overall and 11-6 in the ACC with its 96-85 win at Florida State on Monday.
• The Canes fell to Duke on Tuesday. Miami is 6-22, 2-15 in league play having lost four straight since a February 11 home victory over Syracuse.
• Four of Carolina's top-eight performances this season in offensive efficiency, including four of the five-best in ACC games, have come in the last four games (143.3 at Florida State, 139.6 vs. NC State, 126.3 at Syracuse and 124.0 vs. Virginia).
• Carolina is 11-2 in the Smith Center this season, winning four consecutive home starts over Boston College, Pitt, NC State and Virginia. The Canes are 0-8 on the road, all of which have come in conference play.
• Carolina went 5-2 in February. That follows monthly records of 4-3 in November, 4-2 in December and 5-4 in January.
• Carolina dominated the boards in its win in Tallahassee, outrebounding the Seminoles, 35-21, and outscoring them, 24-6, on second-chance points.
• It marked just the third time since at least 1960 the Tar Heels have outrebounded three consecutive ACC opponents by 14 or more (UNC was plus 19 vs. NC State, plus 14 vs. Virginia and plus 14 at FSU). UNC also accomplished this in 1991 and 2011.
• Both teams shot better than 50% – 55.2% by the Tar Heels and 54.0% by Florida State. It was only the fourth time ever UNC beat a team that shot 50% FG, 50% 3FG and 75% FT (Georgia Tech 1/29/1983, Georgia 11/20/1988 and Notre Dame 3/27/2016 in an NCAA regional final.)
• RJ Davis led the Tar Heels with 20 points. He had five assists and no turnovers, the sixth time in his career and third time this season he had at least 20 points and five assists without committing a turnover.
• Davis is now tied for the ACC in free throw percentage, is fifth in assist/turnover ratio, seventh in scoring and ninth in assists.
• Davis is averaging 17.4 points and has 112 assists and 45 turnovers for a ratio of 2.49. The only player in ACC history to average at least 17.4 points and have a better assist/turnover ratio was Duke's Jon Scheyer in 2009-10.
• The 20-point game at Florida State was Davis' 44th career game with 20 or more. The Tar Heels are 34-10 when he scores 20 or more.

CAROLINA-MIAMI
• The Tar Heels have won two in a row and seven of the last nine games and are 28-10 all-time against the Hurricanes.
• Four of the last seven games were decided by four or fewer points.
• Last season, Carolina beat the Canes, 75-72, in Coral Gables and two weeks later rode a 42-point, Smith Center-record performance by RJ Davis to a 75-71 win in the Smith Center.
• Carolina is 13-5 vs. the Canes in Chapel Hill, all of which were played in the Smith Center.
• Davis led all scorers in both games last year, scoring 25 points in Coral Gables and 42 in Chapel Hill. He averaged 5.5 points in his first two games vs. the Canes as a freshman and sophomore and has averaged 30.0 in three games since (23 as a junior and 25/42 last season).
• Elliot Cadeau scored a career-best 19 points and added eight assists and four steals in the win at Miami and had five assists at home.
• Jae'Lyn Withers scored in double figures three times vs. Miami while playing for Louisville. He had 18 points and 11 rebounds at Miami in 2020-21 and averaged 15.0 points in a pair of games vs. the Canes in 2022-23.

NOTEBOOK
Road Wins: With the back-to-back wins in road blues at Syracuse and Florida State, the Tar Heels are 23-16 in ACC road games in Hubert Davis' four seasons as head coach (7-3, 4-6, 8-2 and 4-5). Carolina has one road game remaining, March 4 at Virginia Tech.

High-Scoring Heels: The Tar Heels have scored 362 points in the last four games, an average of 90.5 points per game. This is the first time UNC has scored 80 or more in four straight ACC games since a five-game stretch from February 3-17, 2018.
• Prior to this four-game run of 80-plus point games, the Tar Heels had scored more than 75 points just once (102 in an overtime win over Boston College) in seven games from January 18-February 10.
• UNC is third in the ACC in scoring at 81.4 points per game, trailing only SMU and Duke in scoring average. In ACC play, the Tar Heels are fourth in the conference in scoring offense (76.7 ppg) and 12th in points allowed (73.8 ppg).

Lead Time: The Tar Heels led for 30:57 in the win at Florida State and trailed the Seminoles for 5:18, all in the first half. That was the first time Carolina trailed in four games. It led Syracuse for 35:44, NC State for 38:08 and Virginia for 38:43.
• UNC has led for 143:32 and trailed for 5:18 out of a possible 160 minutes in the last four games.
• The Tar Heels have not trailed in the second half in any of the last four games, nor have they been tied in the second half in the last three games (Syracuse and UNC were tied twice for 49 seconds in the second half in the JMA Wireless Dome on February 15).

Halftime Leads: Carolina has led at the half in 14 of its 17 ACC games this season and won 11 of the 14, including the last four games (the three losses when leading at the half were to Stanford, at Wake Forest and at Pitt, games UNC lost by one, one and eight points).
• In all games this season, the Tar Heels are 16-3 when leading at the break and 2-8 when trailing.

Crashing & Converting: The Tar Heels are plus 47 on the glass in the last three games, outrebounding NC State, Virginia and Florida State, the second-tallest team in the country, 110-63.
• Carolina is 13-4 this season when it has more rebounds and just 5-7 when it gets beaten on the boards.
• Through the first 26 games, Carolina scored more than 15 second-chance points twice – 22 in the season opener vs. Elon and 18 vs. Dayton on November 25 – and averaged 10.0 second-chance points per game.
• In the last three games, the Tar Heels have scored 21, 17 and 24 second-chance points, an average of 20.7 per game.
• The Tar Heels have 51 offensive rebounds in the last four games (12.8 per game), nearly three better per than their average for the season (10.0).
• In building a 49-43 halftime lead at Florida State, the Tar Heels shot 54.8% from the floor and made five threes, but also grabbed eight offensive rebounds (two more than FSU's defensive rebounds) and converted those into 16 second-chance points.
• UNC is 10-2 this season when it scores more second-chance points and 7-8 when the opponents score more.
• Ven-Allen Lubin leads Carolina in offensive rebounds with 47, 18 of which have come in the last seven games. Lubin has three offensive boards in each of the last three games and leads the Tar Heels with six games with three or more.
• Seth Trimble, a 6-3 guard, leads UNC in rebounding at 5.4 per game. He is on pace to become the shortest player to lead the Tar Heels in rebounding average since at least 1950. Bud Maddie (1952-53) and Larry Miller (1965-66) were both listed at 6-4.
• Lubin has scored in double figures in each of the last three games, the first time he has done that in his first season as a Tar Heel.
• Trimble has three point/rebound double-doubles this season (27 points and 10 rebounds vs. Dayton, 18 and 12 vs. Boston College and 10 and 12 at Pitt).
• The Tar Heels are fourth in the ACC in league play (and fifth in all games) in rebound margin at plus 3.4 per game.

Three-Point Improvement: Carolina has made 40 of 90 three-pointers over its last four games. That's 44.4% in the wins over Syracuse, NC State, Virginia and Florida State for a team that shoots 34% for the season.
• The Tar Heels have made 13, 8, 9 and 10 threes in the last four games since tying their season low with four in the loss at Clemson.
• Including the win at Florida State when UNC made 10 of 26 (38.5%) the Tar Heels are 16-4 this season when they make 30% or better from three-point range and 2-7 when it makes less than 30% of its three-point attempts (wins over Georgia Tech and Notre Dame).
• The Tar Heels have shot better than 40% from three-point range in four of the last six games, something they have done only seven times all season. UNC shot 46.7% from three in beating Pitt on February 8, 46.4% at Syracuse, 40.0% against the Wolfpack and a season-best 56.3% vs. Virginia. The UVA game was the second-highest percentage Carolina has shot from beyond the arc in Hubert Davis' four seasons as head coach.
• The Tar Heels are 6-1 this season when shooting 40% from three. UNC beat Elon (40.6%), lost to Michigan State in overtime (47.8%), and defeated SMU (50%), Pitt, Syracuse, NC State and Virginia.
• Conversely, the Tar Heels have shot 31 for 114 (27.2%) from three-point range in their last five losses.
• Overall, Carolina is shooting 37.7% from three in its 18 wins and 28.0% in the 11 losses.

Big Leads, Close Games: Carolina has led by at least 11 points in each of the last four games. UNC's largest leads in those four games were 11 at Syracuse, 32 vs. NC State, 20 vs. Virginia and 16 at Florida State.
• UNC has led by double digits in 14 of 29 games (six of the last eight games) and trailed by 10 or more 11 times (twice in the last nine games).
• In a season that was notable for playing numerous close games, the average margin in the last four games (four wins and a 20-point loss at Clemson) was 15.2 points.
• The Tar Heels have played 12 games this season in which the margin was within five points with 5:00 to play.
• UNC has led by five or fewer points with 5:00 remaining three times (beat Georgia Tech and lost to Kansas and Stanford) and trailed by five or fewer points eight times (beat Dayton, UCLA, Notre Dame, Boston College and Pitt and lost at Louisville, at Wake Forest and at Pitt). The score was tied once (in the loss to Florida).
• The Tar Heels have played 10 one-possession games (decided by one, two or three points) this season. Those are the most played by the Tar Heels in a season in the three-point era, which began in 1986-87. The 2010-11 team played nine one-possession games and won eight.
• The 10 one-possession games don't include the overtime win against Boston College, which UNC won, 102-96. They also don't include the win at Syracuse, which UNC led by two points with less than a minute to play.
• The Tar Heels' six one-possession wins this season are the second most in the three-point era. UNC won eight in 2010-11, six this season and five in 1998-99 (5-3), 2002-03 (5-2) and 2016-17 (5-1).
• The losses to Stanford and Wake Forest were just the fourth time ever Carolina lost by a point in back-to-back games. The other instances include the 1929-30 season (Loyola Chicago and Duke), 1940-41 (Fordham and St. Joseph's) and 1967-68 (South Carolina and Duke).

Hot Shooting Heels: Carolina is shooting 47.6% from the floor this season, its highest field goal percentage since 2015-16, when it shot 48.2% and played in the national championship game.
• The Tar Heels have shot 48% or better from the floor in four straight games and five of the last six (all five were wins).
• Carolina has shot at least 50% from the floor in six of the last seven halves, including both halves against both NC State and Florida State.
• The Tar Heels have shot 50% in at least one half in eight of the last nine games.
• Carolina is 9-1 this season when it shoots 50% or better and 9-10 when it makes less than 50% from the floor.

Strength of Schedule: The Tar Heels will play the second-most away games against the top-six teams in the current ACC standings (Duke, Clemson, Louisville, SMU, Carolina and Wake Forest), a product of the unbalanced schedule in the 18-team league.
• Duke will play each of the other five teams on the road, while UNC and Wake Forest will play four of the other five on the road. By contrast, Clemson plays only two road games and Louisville and SMU play only once on the road against the other teams currently in the top six in the standings.
• As of Friday, February 28, Carolina is 42nd in KenPom, 45th in the NET, 46th in Wins Against Bubble.
• The average NET of Carolina's 11 losses is 27th in the country.
• Carolina's strength of schedule fell from 11th to 32nd in the country (seventh in non-conference games) after its last four games.
• Carolina's opponents collectively have the 23rd-best offensive efficiency and 34th-best defensive efficiency in the nation.
• The Tar Heels have played the top three teams, five of the top eight and seven of the top 19 teams in the February 24 Associated Press poll.
• Carolina has already played No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Alabama, No. 8 Michigan State, No. 13 Clemson and No. 19 Louisville.
• Kansas was No. 1 in the nation when UNC played the Jayhawks in Lawrence.

Scoring Efficiency: The Tar Heels are 30th in the country in scoring at 81.4 points per game and 302nd in scoring defense (76.6).
• Factoring in pace of play and the number of possessions, Carolina is 22nd in the country in offensive efficiency and 77th in defensive efficiency.
• The Tar Heels are 12-1 this season when holding opponents at or below 105 points per 100 possessions. Wake Forest (92.0 ppp) is the only team to beat UNC despite scoring 105 or fewer points per 100 possessions.
• Carolina has outscored its last three opponents, 130-72, in the paint. UNC is 17-7 when it has equal or more paint points and 1-4 when the opponents have more.
• Carolina is shooting 55.4% from two-point range, its highest two-point percentage since the 1997-98 ACC champion and NCAA East Regional champion Tar Heels shot 56.5% from two-point range.
• Over the last four games Carolina has 26 more assists than turnovers (64 assists/38 turnovers). However, the Tar Heels have converted their opponents' turnovers into only 46 points, four fewer than the opponents have scored off UNC's miscues.
• RJ Davis leads Carolina in plus/minus for the season at plus 127 with Elliot Cadeau second at plus 109.
• Over the last four games, freshman Drake Powell leads at plus 56 (+13 at Syracuse, +15 vs. both NC State and Virginia and +13 at Florida State).
• Davis has the second-best plus/minus over the last four games at plus 50, while Jalen Washington and Jae'Lyn Withers were both plus 33.
• Powell has led UNC in plus/minus eight times this season, most on the team. Six of the eight games he led UNC were ACC games.

Wins & Losses: Carolina is shooting 50.1% from the floor in its 18 wins, which is 8.7% better than its opponents. However, in the losses, the opponents are out-shooting the Tar Heels 47.0 to 43.8%.
• Carolina is 9-1 this season and 229-10 in the last 22 seasons when it shoots 50% from the floor.
• UNC is 15-4 when it shoots 45% or better from the floor.
• The opponents average 83.8 points in UNC's losses and just 72.2 in the Tar Heels' wins.
• Carolina has held ACC opponents below 75 points 12 times and is 9-3 in those games (includes one-point losses to Stanford and Wake Forest and the loss at Pitt).
• Carolina is plus 6.4 rebounds per game in its wins and minus 3.1 per game on the boards in the losses. The opponents have out-rebounded the Tar Heels in seven of the 11 losses.
• RJ Davis averages 17.5 points in Carolina's victories and 17.2 in the losses. in ACC play, Davis is the Tar Heels' leading scorer at 16.2 per game.
• Carolina is 11-3 when it makes the same number or more three-pointers and is 7-8 when the opponents make more 3FGs.
• The Tar Heels are 13-4 when they attempt 20 or more free throws and 5-7 when attempting fewer than 20.
• UNC is 11-2 when it makes more free throws (losses to Kansas and Stanford) and 7-9 when making an equal amount or fewer free throws.

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 (2,390) 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 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year has led UNC to a 96-42 record.
• Davis is 54-23 in regular season ACC games.
• 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.
• Lennie Rosenbluth is one of eight honorees in the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024. Rosenbluth, star forward on the 1957 undefeated NCAA championship team, will become the 15th Tar Heel player or coach inducted in the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

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 769-319 all-time in ACC regular-season play. The 769 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.
• 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.

RJ Making History: Grad student RJ Davis has played in 167 games over five seasons. He is second in games by a Tar Heel behind Armando Bacot's ACC-record 169. Davis and Bacot played five seasons due to Covid-19.
• The White Plains, N.Y., native is averaging a career-high 3.9 assists this season. His previous season bests were 3.6 per game in 2021-22 and 3.5 last season.
• Davis, Duke's Cooper Flagg and Pitt's Jaland Lowe are the only players in the top 10 in the ACC in both scoring and assists.
• Davis leads Carolina and is seventh in the ACC in scoring at 17.5 points per game and is ninth in the league in assists at 3.9 per game.
• Davis is Carolina's all-time leader and is tied with Scott Wood (NC State) for sixth in ACC history with 334 three-pointers. Trajan Langdon (Duke) is fifth with 342.
• Davis is UNC's second-leading scorer with 2,592 points and is third in ACC career scoring. He passed Dickie Hemric of Wake Forest (2,587) with his 44th career 20-point game in the win at Florida State.
• Davis is tied with Pitt's Lowe for the ACC lead this season in free throw shooting at 87.6%. He has the highest free throw percentage ever by a Tar Heel (86.2%), ninth best in ACC history.
• Davis led the ACC in free throw percentage in 2022-23 and was third last season. No Tar Heel has ever led the ACC in free throw shooting twice.
• Davis' career scoring average is 15.5, 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.

Smith Center: Carolina is 11-2 in the Smith Center this season and 488-89 (.846) in 40 seasons.
• The Tar Heels are 256-70 against ACC opponents in the Smith Center.
• Carolina is averaging 85.6 points and allowing 71.6 per game this season at home. RJ Davis leads UNC at 17.8 points per game.
• The Tar Heels are plus 75 in assist/turnovers at home (203 assists, 128 turnovers).

Tar Heels Add General Manager: Earlier this week, Carolina named Jim Tanner, founder and president of Tandem Sports + Entertainment the executive director and general manager of the men's basketball team.
• Tanner has represented more than 70 NBA players over a 28-year career. The High Point, N.C., native will, among other things, help manage the construction of the roster, negotiate contracts, identify and hire new scouting and analytics staff and spearhead player development programs.
• A 1990 Carolina graduate, Tanner has represented 40 first-round NBA Draft picks, including 12 top-five selections, and six inductees in the Naismith Hall of Fame (UNC's Vince Carter, Ray Allen, Tamika Catchings, Tim Duncan, Grant Hill and Dominique Wilkins) and has negotiated more than a billion dollars in contracts for his clients.
• He has represented 17 former Tar Heels in their professional careers, including Carter; Final Four Most Outstanding Players Joel Berry II, Wayne Ellington and Sean May; All-Americas Raymond Felton, Tyler Hansbrough, John Henson, Justin Jackson and Luke Maye; and top-10 first-round draft picks Marvin Williams and Brandan Wright.

November Signees: Isaiah Denis of Concord, N.C., and Derek Dixon of Vienna, Va.
• Denis is a 6-5 guard at Davidson Day HS 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 HS in Washington, D.C. He also plays AAU for Team Takeover.