By Uncle Tom George
3 28 2024
GAME NOTES
https://goheels.com/documents/2024/3/26/37-NCAA3-Alabama.pdf
UNC is 29-7 and No. 1 seed in the West Region.
• The Tar Heels play fourth-seeded Alabama (23-11) in the second regional semifinal at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 28 on CBS. The UNC-Alabama game is expected to tip at approximately 9:40 p.m. Eastern Time, 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Arizona-Clemson game.
• The Tar Heels defeated Wagner and Michigan State in Charlotte to advance to the Sweet 16. The Tide beat College of Charleston and Grand Canyon in Spokane, Wash.
• Carolina is one of four Atlantic Coast Conference teams to win both of its games in the field of 64 to advance to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Six of the ACC’s wins were by double digits and the league compiled an average winning margin of 18.4 points per game.
• The Tar Heels won their first two games by 28 points over Wagner (90-62) and 16 over Michigan State (85-69).
• Hubert Davis has led the Tar Heels to a 7-1 NCAA Tournament record in his first three seasons as head coach (5-1 and an appearance in the title game in 2022 and 2-0 this season).
• Davis has led UNC to NCAA Tournament wins over three coaches who have won NCAA titles (Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Baylor’s Scott Drew and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo) and two others against coaches who have taken teams to the Final Four (Marquette’s Shaka Smart and UCLA’s Mick Cronin).
TAR HEELS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• This is Carolina’s 53rd NCAA Tournament appearance, second most all-time. The Tar Heels are 133-49 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
• Carolina has the most wins in NCAA Tournament history (133), most Final Fours (21), second-highest winning percentage (.731), second-most games (182) and third-most NCAA titles (6).
• The Tar Heels won NCAA titles in 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009 and 2017.
• Carolina played in the national championship game six other times (1946, 1968, 1977, 1981, 2016 and 2022).
• This is Carolina’s 18th No. 1 seed, most all-time. UNC is 65-12 as 1 seed.
• Carolina’s No. 1 seeds include 1979, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2024.
• Carolina advanced to the Final Four as a No. 1 seed 10 times (1982, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2016 and 2017) and won NCAA titles as a No. 1 seed in 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009 and 2017.
• The Tar Heels advanced to the Final Four out of the West Region in 1981.
• This is the eighth time UNC is playing in the West Region: 1978, 1981 (2 seed), 1986 (3 seed), 1988 (2 seed), 1999 (3 seed), 2015 (4 seed), 2018 (2 seed), 2024 (1 seed).
• Carolina is 28-9 in regional semifinals.
TAR HEELS IN LOS ANGELES
• The Tar Heels are 16-8 in California, including 5-6 in Los Angeles.
• Carolina is 3-0 in Palo Alto, 3-4 in the L.A. Sports Arena, 2-0 in Santa Clara, 2-1 at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, 1-0 in Berkeley, Malibu, Long Beach, San Diego, Santa Barbara, 0-1 in Crypto.com Arena (when it was known as the STAPLES Center) and 0-2 in Oakland. The Tar Heels also defeated Michigan State in 2011 on the USS Carl Vinson, when it was docked in San Diego.
• This is Carolina’s first game in Los Angeles since the 2015 NCAA West Regional. The fourth-seeded Tar Heels lost to the top seed Wisconsin, 79-72, in the STAPLES Center. Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky combined for 42 points for the Badgers, who rallied after UNC led by two at the half and by seven points in the second half. Brice Johnson and Justin Jackson led UNC with 15 points apiece.
• Carolina is 2-3 in Los Angeles in the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels beat Ohio State in the 1968 national semifinals and Louisville in the 1972 third-place game, and lost to UCLA in the ’68 title game, Florida State in the ’72 semifinals and Wisconsin in 2015 in the Sweet 16.
• This is Carolina’s first game in California since winning at Stanford on 11/20/2017.
MORE UNC & THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• Carolina is the only team to play in the Final Four and a national championship in nine straight decades (the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s).
• Hubert Davis is the fourth Tar Heel head coach to lead a team to a No. 1 seed (Dean Smith eight times, Roy Williams eight times, Bill Guthridge once).
• The Tar Heels are 33-2 in the round of 64 and 25-8 in the round of 32 since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 and then 68 teams beginning in 1985.
CAROLINA AND ALABAMA
• Carolina is 8-5 all-time against the Tide.
• On 11/27/22, Alabama beat Carolina, 103-101, in four overtimes in Portland, Ore., in the Phil Knight Invitational.
• Armando Bacot had 20 points, 10 rebounds, six turnovers, three blocks and two assists in that game but injured an ankle in the third overtime and was unable to play in the fourth extra period.
• Caleb Love (34), Bacot (20), RJ Davis (19), Leaky Black (10) and Puff Johnson (10) scored in double figures for the Tar Heels. Mark Sears made 7 of 11 three-pointers and led Alabama’s six in double figures with 24.
• The Tar Heels led by six with under 8:00 to play and had the ball with an opportunity to win the game on the final possessions at the end of the first, third and fourth overtimes. Alabama took the lead for good on a Charles Bediako layup with 26 seconds to play in the fourth overtime.
• Alabama made nine more three-pointers (16-7), outrebounded Carolina, 58-54, and scored seven more points off turnovers (20-13). The Tar Heels were 18 for 20 from the free throw line, outscored the Tide by 14 in the paint and 24-15 on the break.
• The game featured 14 lead changes and 15 ties.
• Bacot also played against Alabama as a freshman in a 76-67 Carolina victory in the Bahamas on 11/27/2019. He had 12 points and 15 rebounds in his third straight double-double in just his fifth game as a Tar Heel.
• Carolina is 2-1 against Alabama in the NCAA Tournament (see above chart). Alabama beat Carolina in 1976 in the first round in Dayton, the Tar Heels edged the Tide in 1982 in Raleigh en route to winning the NCAA title and won a second round matchup in Cincinnati in 1992.
• Hubert Davis led the Tar Heels with 16 points in the ’92 game. James Robinson scored a game-high 22 points, leading an Alabama squad that also had Robert Horry (14 points) and Latrell Sprewell (5).
• Tar Heel assistant coach Pat Sullivan also played in the ’92 game, adding two points, five rebounds and three assists in 10 minutes.
QUICK NOTES FROM CHARLOTTE
• Carolina advanced to Los Angeles for the West Regional with a 90-62 win over Wagner and an 85-69 win over Michigan State at Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
• The Tar Heels won by an average of 22 points, although UNC trailed the Spartans by a dozen midway through the first half.
• Carolina shot 50.8% from the floor, 43.2% from three and 81.0 from the line in the two games and held its opponents to 41.9% from the floor.
• RJ Davis averaged a team-high 21.0 points in the two games, scoring 22 in round one vs. Wagner and 20 vs. the Spartans. Davis shot 53.6% from the floor, including 7 of 14 from three.
• Armando Bacot averaged 19.0 points and 11.0 rebounds, shooting 52.2% from the floor and converting 14 of 17 from the line.
• Cormac Ryan (13.5), Harrison Ingram (13.0) and Jae’Lyn Withers (10.0) also averaged in double figures in the two wins.
• Ingram made 6 of 9 from three, including 5 of 7 vs. Michigan State. The five threes tied his career high.
• Michigan State jumped out to a 26-14 lead and led by 11 with 8:00 to play in the first half. The Tar Heels then went on a 17-0 run to take a six-point lead and took a nine-point advantage to the locker room after Ingram’s third 3FG of the half with eight seconds to play.
• Ryan nailed a three to begin the second half to give UNC its own 12-point lead but the Spartans pulled within two at 48-46 with 15:58 to play. UNC never trailed and the game was never tied in the second half as consecutive buckets by Withers, Elliot Cadeau and Ingram (his fifth three) pushed the margin back to a dozen.
• In round one, Davis scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, Bacot had 20 points and 15 rebounds and Withers, a Charlotte native, scored a season-high 16 points and added 10 rebounds to lead Carolina to its 33rd win in 35 games in the round of 64.
• Bacot tied Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan and Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon with his seventh consecutive double-double in an NCAA Tournament game. It was his sixth NCAA Tournament game in a row with 15 or more rebounds.
2023-24 GENERAL
• Carolina has won 29 games, extending its NCAA-record number of 25-win seasons to 41. It is the 64th season with 20 or more wins. A win over Alabama would give UNC its 14th season with 30 or more wins.
• Carolina was 17-3 in the ACC and won its record 33rd regular-season ACC title (22nd outright). The Tar Heels finished two games ahead of Duke.
• Three of the five teams the Tar Heels played home-and-home in ACC play (Clemson, Duke and NC State) are also playing in the Sweet 16.
• The 17 wins tied Virginia (17-1 in 2017-18) for the most in a season in ACC history and were the most since the league went to a 20-game schedule in 2019-20.
• Carolina won 17 regular-season ACC games for the first time since the league went to an 18-game slate in 2012-13 and 20 games in 2019-20. UNC’s previous high for wins was in 2018-19, when it went 16-2 to tie Virginia for the title.
• UNC is the second team to win 17 ACC regular-season games in one year. Virginia (17-1 in 2017-18) is the only other team to win 17 games since the ACC went to 18- and then 20-game schedules.
• Carolina’s previous best 20-game ACC record was 15-5 in 2021-22, Hubert Davis‘ first season as head coach.
• The Tar Heels were No. 4 on the NCAA seed list and No. 5 in the AP and USA Today/Coaches polls entering the NCAA Tournament.
• Five was the highest Carolina entered the NCAA Tournament in the AP poll since 2019, when the Tar Heels were No. 3 in the final AP Poll (which up until this year was the final AP poll).
• The Tar Heels are 9-4 vs. teams in the 2024 NCAA Tournament (2-0 vs. Duke, 2-1 vs. NC State, 1-0 vs. Michigan State, Tennessee, Virginia and Wagner, 1-1 vs. Clemson and 0-1 vs. UConn and Kentucky).
• Hubert Davis has 78 wins in three seasons, the second-most wins by a Carolina head coach in his first three seasons (Bill Guthridge won 80 from 1997-2000).
• Davis and Guthridge are the only Tar Heel head coaches to win 20 or more games in each of their first three seasons.
• The Tar Heels are 6-2 against AP-ranked opponents this season with wins over No. 20 Arkansas, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 16 Clemson, No. 7 Duke and No. 9 Duke (rankings when UNC played those teams).
• The Tar Heels lead the ACC in rebounding, offensive rebounds and rebound margin.
• Prior to the Michigan State game, Carolina had outrebounded its opponents in 24 straight games (+245), which included 20 wins.
• Carolina led by double digits 19 times in 23 ACC games (regular season and Tournament). Overall, UNC has led by double figures in 29 of 36 games and is 28-1 in those games (led by 11 in the loss at Georgia Tech on Jan. 30).
• The Tar Heels secured at least a share of the ACC regular-season championship with an 84-51 win over Notre Dame on March 5 and won the title outright with an 84-79 victory at Duke four nights later.
• 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.
• Including seven Southern Conference first-place finishes, this was Carolina’s 40th regular-season conference championship. UNC has the third-most in college basketball history behind Kansas (64) and Kentucky (54).
• Carolina’s 75-68 win at Florida State on Jan. 27 was UNC’s 750th regular-season ACC win, becoming the first program to win 750.
• Carolina went 8-2 this season on the road (all in ACC play).
• The Tar Heels were one of five teams in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC with eight or more road wins (UNC, UConn, Creighton, South Carolina and Tennessee).
• UNC’s road winning percentage (.800) was the highest among teams in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC.
• From January 6-22, Carolina won seven straight ACC games by double digits, most since winning 10 straight in 1992-93. UNC had 10 double-digit nine wins in its 17 ACC wins and had a scoring margin of 10.5 in league play, the highest in the conference.
• Carolina has six players who have started 50 or more college games (167 by Armando Bacot, 120 by Cormac Ryan, 117 by RJ Davis, 97 by Harrison Ingram, 67 by Jae’Lyn Withers and 58 by Paxson Wojcik).
• The lineup UNC started vs. Michigan State has started the last 28 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 531 career starts.
• The Tar Heels went 6-1 in November, 3-2 in December, 8-1 in January, 5-2 in February and 7-1 thus far in March.
AP POLL NOTES
• Carolina was No. 5 in week 20 in the Associated Press poll (released on March 18). Note: this is the first time the AP will release its final poll after the NCAA Tournament.
• It was the 956th time the Tar Heels were ranked in the AP poll, the second most in college basketball history.
• It was the 15th time this season and 704th time (third most) in the AP top 10.
• It was the sixth time this season the Tar Heels were ranked in the top five (442nd top-five rankings all-time, second most in college basketball history).
• Carolina has played the No. 1 (UConn), 6 (Tennessee), 12 (Kentucky) and 13 (Duke) teams in current AP poll.
• From November 24-December 20, 2023, UNC played five consecutive non-conference games against ranked opponents for the first time in its history. The Tar Heels played Arkansas (20th), Tennessee (10th), UConn (5th), Kentucky (14th) and Oklahoma (7th).
MILESTONE WATCH
• Armando Bacot broke the ACC record for games played in his final home contest vs. Notre Dame, passing the 161-game mark set by Virginia’s Kihei Clark from 2018-23 (the NCAA record is 178 by Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon).
• The Alabama game will be Bacot’s 169th game and 168th start. Bacot has started more games than any other individual in ACC history has played.
• Bacot has scored 2,328 points, passing Phil Ford for the second most all-time by a Tar Heel. Tyler Hansbrough is first and the ACC record-holder with 2,872.
• With 18 points against Michigan State, Bacot passed NC State’s David Thompson, Virginia’s Jeff Lamp and Duke’s Mike Gminski for ninth in ACC career scoring … Duke’s Kyle Singler (2,392) is eighth.
• Bacot has 1,703 rebounds, most by a Tar Heel, second most in ACC history and eighth in NCAA history … needs 14 to pass UConn’s Art Quimby (1,716) for seventh … Bacot has the most rebounds by any player in college basketball since 1964.
• Bacot is second in ACC history and tied for third all-time with 86 double-doubles … Tim Duncan leads the ACC and is second all-time with 87 … Morehead State’s Kenneth Faried is tied with Bacot for third all-time with 86.
• Bacot has seven double-doubles in NCAA Tournament games (17/10 vs. Marquette in the 2022 first round, 15/16 vs. Baylor in the second round, 14/15 vs. UCLA in the Sweet 16, 20/22 vs. Saint Peter’s in the Elite 8, 11/21 vs. Duke in the national semifinal, 15/15 vs. Kansas in the championship game and 20/15 vs. Wagner in the 2024 first round).
• Bacot needs one double-double to tie Antawn Jamison (8) for the UNC record for most career double-doubles in NCAA Tournament games.
• RJ Davis has scored 768 points this season, the 13th 700-point season in UNC history, the first since Justin Jackson scored 731 in 2016-17 and the fourth most in Carolina history … the 768 points are the most since Tyler Hansbrough scored 882 in 2007-08.
• Davis’ 768 points are the most in a season in Carolina history by a guard.
• Davis has made 274 career three-pointers, the second most by a Tar Heel … assistant coach Marcus Paige is first with 299.
• Davis’ 113 threes are the ninth most in ACC single-season history … Georgia Tech’s Dennis Scott is eighth with 116 in 1988-89.
• Davis has broken the UNC single-season record for three-pointers. Davis has 113 3FGs this season, eight more than Jackson made in 2016-17.
• Davis is averaging 3.14 threes per game, which would eclipse the previous record of 2.71 per game set by Shammond Williams in 1996-97.
NAISMITH FINALIST
• RJ Davis, Purdue’s Zach Edey, Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht and Houston’s Jamal Shead are the finalists for the Naismith Trophy, a National Player of the Year award presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
• All four finalists are competing this week in the Sweet 16.
• Three Tar Heels – Michael Jordan (1984) , Antawn Jamison (1998) and Tyler Hansbrough (2008) – have won the Naismith.
ALL-AMERICA HONORS
• RJ Davis is 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.
• A consensus selection is one that made a majority of the NCAA’s four recognized All-America teams, and Davis was named by all four this year: Sporting News, Associated Press, NABC (coaches) and USBWA (media).
• Davis joins 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.
• The Associated Press, USBWA, NABC and Sporting News have determined consensus All-Americas each year since 1997.
• The 19 Tar Heels are tied for the fifth most in NCAA history and the 28 total consensus first-team All-America seasons are second-most behind Kansas’ 32.
• Davis is the 40th Tar Heel to earn first-team All-America honors (a total of 64 times).
• He is UNC’s first consensus All-America since Justin Jackson in 2016-17.
• The USBWA named Armando Bacot a third-team All-America. He also earned third-team All-America honors by the AP, USBWA and Sporting News in 2023.
• Bacot is the first Tar Heel to earn at least third-team All-America honors by one of the major teams in consecutive seasons since Tyler Zeller in 2011 and 2012.
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