Pitt Visits MBB Saturday Afternoon

• Carolina returns to action following a week off to host Pitt at the Smith Center on Saturday, February 8, at 4 p.m. on ESPNU.
• The Tar Heels are 13-10 overall, 6-5 in the ACC.
• Pitt is 14-8, 5-6 in league play.
• Carolina is 8-2 at the Smith Center this season, while the Panthers are 3-4 on the road.
• The Tar Heels played at Pitt two games ago, a 73-65 loss on January 28. Carolina led 44-42 at the half but scored just 21 second-half points. Elliot Cadeau's bucket with 3:21 to play gave UNC a 65-64 lead, but the Panthers scored the game's final nine points to secure the victory.
• The Tar Heels made one of their final 11 shots from the floor in the loss at Pitt.
RJ Davis led UNC with 16 points, Seth Trimble had 10 points and 12 rebounds and Cadeau had seven assists. Jaland Lowe led the Panthers with 18 points. Lowe and Zach Austin both made a pair of threes.
• Carolina hit six threes and shot 56.7% the floor in the first half but connected on only one three and made 31.0% from the floor in the second.
• Cadeau, Davis and Ven-Allen Lubin made a combined 11 turnovers. The Panthers converted 14 Tar Heel miscues into 22 points and outscored UNC on the break, 16-11.
• The Tar Heels are coming off an 87-70 loss at Duke, while the Panthers lost, 73-57, at home to Virginia on Monday.
• The Tar Heels have lost four out of their last five games. The only win in that stretch was in overtime at home over Boston College on January 25. That included back-to-back losses against Stanford and Wake Forest and an eight-point loss at Pitt when the Tar Heels took the lead with 3:21 to play but was outscored, 9-0, the rest of the game.
• Carolina has played 11 of its 23 games this season in which the margin was within five points with 5:00 to play. UNC led by five or fewer points three times (beat Georgia Tech and lost to Kansas and Stanford) and trailed by five or fewer points seven times (beat Dayton, UCLA, Notre Dame and Boston College and lost to Louisville, Wake Forest and Pitt). The score was tied once (in the loss to Florida).
• The opponents have scored 41 points off turnovers in the last two games (22 by Pitt and 19 by Duke). For the season, the Tar Heels have scored 34 more points off turnovers. But in the last 12 games, the opponents are a plus 34 in points off turnovers.
• Carolina is 9-4 this season when it scores more points off turnovers and 4-6 when the opponents score more points off turnovers.
• In all games, Carolina is second in the ACC in scoring at 81.2 points per game, trailing only SMU in scoring average. However, in ACC play the Tar Heels are seventh in the conference in scoring offense (73.6 ppg). Carolina is also ninth in points allowed (72.5 ppg) in league play.
• Take out the 102-96 overtime win over Boston College and the Tar Heels are averaging 70.8 points and allowing only 70.1 points per game in ACC play.
• In 11 ACC games, the Tar Heel defense has held the opponents to just 41.4% shooting from the floor, which is fourth best in the league behind Duke, Wake Forest and SMU. However, in the last four games, the opponents have shot a combined 48.0%, including 50% or higher in six of the eight halves.
• In the first seven ACC games (Georgia Tech-Stanford), none of the opponents shot 50% for an entire game and only two (second half by Louisville and second half by NC State) shot 50% in a half against the Tar Heels.
• Carolina attempted more free throws in nine of the first 13 games this season. In the last 10 games, the opponents have shot more free throws six times (UNC is 2-4 in those games). The Tar Heels have shot more free throws in four of the last 10 games– wins over SMU, Cal and Boston College and a loss to Stanford).
• RJ Davis is shooting 41.9% from three in the last five games. Davis has led or co-led UNC in scoring in each of the last five games.
• Carolina is 5-5 this season when Davis is the leading scorer and 5-2 when Ian Jackson tops the Tar Heels.
• Elliot Cadeau is 9 for 21 from three-point range over the last nine games (from Notre Dame-Duke). He has the highest three-point percentage (42.9%) from three among the starters in those nine games.
• Seth Trimble, a 6-3 guard, leads the Tar Heels 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.
• 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).
• Ian Jackson continues to lead Carolina in scoring in ACC games at 15.7 points per game, despite scoring in double figures in one of the last five games. Jackson has averaged 9.8 points in the last five games, fourth highest on the team.

CAROLINA-PITT
• Carolina is 17-9 all-time against the Panthers, including 7-3 in Chapel Hill (6-3 in the Smith Center).
• The Tar Heels hope to prevent a fourth-consecutive home loss in the series. Pitt won here in 2019-20, 2021-22 and 2022-23.
• A Pitt victory would equal the longest win streak by an opponent in the Smith Center. Duke won four in a row from 1999-2002. Wake Forest shares the second-longest streak with Pitt. The Deacons won three in a row from 2002-04.

GAME IN STEEL CITY WAS ANOTHER CLOSE FINISH
• Carolina's 73-65 loss at Pitt wasn't a one-possession game, but the Tar Heels held a one-point lead with fewer than three minutes to play in a game that featured 11 lead changes.
• The win over Boston College also doesn't count as a one-possession game, but the Tar Heels won in overtime by forcing extra time after trailing by four points with under 20 seconds left in regulation.
• The Tar Heels have played nine one-possession games (decided by one, two or three points) this season. That equals 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 Tar Heels' five one-possession wins this season already equal the second most in the three-point era. UNC also won 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).

SCHEDULE
• Carolina's strength of schedule is No. 11 in the country overall (seventh in non-conference games).
• Carolina's opponents collectively have the sixth-best offensive efficiency and 16th-best defensive efficiency in the nation.
• The Tar Heels have played three of the top five, four of the top 10 and five of the top 11 teams in this week's Associated Press poll.
• Based on the February 3 AP poll, Carolina has already played No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Alabama, No. 6 Florida, No. 9 Michigan State, No. 14 Kentucky and No. 16 Kansas.
• Carolina is No. 40 overall in KenPom and 45th in the NET.

SCORING EFFICIENCY
• The Tar Heels are 35th in the country in scoring at 81.2 points per game and have improved to 299th in scoring defense (76.7).
• Factoring in pace of play and the number of possessions, Carolina is 39th in the country in offensive efficiency and 54th in defensive efficiency.
• The Tar Heels are 9-1 this season when holding opponents below 105 points per 100 possessions. Wake Forest (92.0 ppp) is the only team to beat UNC despite scoring fewer than 105 points per 100 possessions.
• 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.
• The Tar Heels are shooting 32.3% from three, the fourth-lowest percentage in UNC history.
• Carolina is 11-4 this season when it makes 30% or better from three-point range and 2-6 (wins over Georgia Tech and Notre Dame) when it makes less than 30% of its three-point attempts.
• The Tar Heels made 27 of 93 (29%) from three-point range in their last four losses. Carolina made 7 of 24, including 1 of the last 11, in the loss at Pitt.

WINS AND LOSSES
• In Carolina's 13 wins the Tar Heels are shooting 9.8% higher from the floor than their opponents (49.6 to 39.8%). In the losses, the opponents are out-shooting the Tar Heels 46.7 to 43.7%.
• The opponents average 83.7 points in UNC's losses and just 71.3 in the Tar Heels' wins.
• Carolina is plus 6.0 rebounds per game in its wins and minus 2.1 per game on the boards in the losses. The opponents have out-rebounded the Tar Heels in six of the 10 losses.
• Carolina is shooting 35.2% from three in its wins and 28.6% in the losses.
• RJ Davis averages 17.5 points in Carolina's victories and 17.1 in the losses.
• Ian Jackson averages 16.3 points in the wins and 12.0 in the losses.
• Carolina is 7-3 when it makes the same or more three-pointers and is 6-7 when the opponents make more 3FGs.
• The Tar Heels are 9-4 when they attempt 20 or more free throws and 4-6 when attempting fewer than 20.
• UNC is 8-2 when it makes more free throws (losses to Kansas and Stanford) and 5-8 when making an equal amount or fewer free throws.

JACKSON'S PRODUCTION IS KEY
• Ian Jackson is one of 10 players on this week's Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award list and one of 50 on the USBWA's watch list for the Oscar Robertson Trophy.
• He scored a game-high 20 points on January 15 vs. Cal, the sixth time in seven games he scored 20 or more and led UNC in scoring. Jackson joined Phil Ford (in 1975) as the only Tar Heel freshmen to score 20 or more points six times in a seven-game stretch.
• Jackson had previously become the first Tar Heel freshman ever to score 23 or more points in four straight games (24 vs. UCLA, 26 vs. Campbell, 23 at Louisville and 27 at Notre Dame).
• He was the first UNC freshman to score 20 or more in four games in a row since Tyler Hansbrough (2005-06) and the first to lead UNC in scoring in four straight since Cole Anthony (2019-20).
• Jackson and RJ Davis share the team lead with seven 20-point games.
• 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).

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 764-318 all-time in ACC regular-season play. The 764 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.

MORE MILESTONES FOR RJ
• RJ 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 ninth in the ACC in scoring at 17.3 points per game and is ninth in the league in assists at 3.9 per game.
• Davis has played in 161 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 scored 21 points at Wake Forest and 22 in the OT win over Boston College, when he scored seven points in the extra period. He has 42 career 20-point games. The Tar Heels are 32-10 when he scores at least 20 and 13-5 when he drops 25 or more.
• Davis is Carolina's all-time leader and is tied for ninth in ACC history with 322 three-pointers. NC State's Rodney Monroe also made 322. Randolph Childress (Wake Forest) is eighth with 329.
• Davis is averaging 14.3 field goal attempts per game this season. Last year, he averaged 16.4. He is attempting 6.8 threes per game (7.7 per game last season).
• Davis is the second-leading scorer in Carolina history with 2,487 points. He passed Armando Bacot, who also played in five seasons, for second place in the win at Notre Dame on January 4.
• Davis is seventh in ACC scoring. Virginia's Bryant Stith is sixth (2,516).
• He has the highest free throw percentage ever by a Tar Heel (86.1%).
• Davis' 29-point outing vs. Florida on December 17 made him the highest scoring guard in Carolina history, eclipsing the mark held by Phil Ford.
• 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.

SMITH CENTER
• This is the 40th season the Tar Heels are playing in the Dean E. Smith Center.
• Carolina is 8-2 in the Smith Center this season and 485-89 (.845) all-time.
• The Tar Heels are 253-70 against ACC opponents in the Smith Center.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Elliot Cadeau

RJ Davis

Ian Jackson

Ven-Allen Lubin

Seth Trimble