By Annabella Ramirez
UNC GAME NOTES
https://goheels.com/documents/2024/11/24/05-Dayton.pdf
DAYTON GAME NOTES
https://goheels.com/documents/2024/11/23/05opp-Dayton.pdf
Carolina (3-1) plays Dayton (5-0) on Monday in the quarterfinals of the Maui Invitational at 6:30 p.m. Hawaiian Time, 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN2.
• The Tar Heels defeated Hawai’i, 87-69, on Friday in Honolulu, then flew to Maui on Saturday.
• RJ Davis (18), Elliot Cadeau (17) and Seth Trimble (13), Carolina’s top three scorers through four games, combined for 48 points and 12 assists vs. the Rainbow Warriors.
• UNC raced out a 13-2 lead, Hawai’i pulled with three at 35-32 before back-to-back threes by Davis and Ian Jackson gave UNC a seven-point halftime lead. The Tar Heels opened the second half a 19-6 run to open a 20-point lead.
BIG PICTURE
• 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 (.734) and third-most wins (2,375) 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 the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year has led UNC to a 81-32 record.
• 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.
• The Tar Heels went 29-8 last year, winning the program’s 33rd regular season ACC title with a 17-3 record and earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA West Regional, where they advanced to the Sweet 16.
• Carolina returned five players this season, including two starters, and welcomed 10 newcomers – five freshmen and five transfers.
• The five returnees include unanimous first-team All-America and ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis, All-ACC Freshman honoree Elliot Cadeau, guard Seth Trimble and forwards Jae’Lyn Withers and Jalen Washington.
• Key departures from a year ago include Armando Bacot, Carolina’s all-time leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, Harrison Ingram, a second-round pick by San Antonio and Cormac Ryan, who played 152 college games.
TAR HEELS IN HAWAI’I
• This is the 15th season in which Carolina is playing in Hawai’i and the first since 2016-17.
• Overall, Carolina is 35-5 in Hawai’i (including games in Honolulu and Maui).
• The Tar Heels are playing in the Maui Invitational for the ninth time, including the 2020-21 season when the tournament was played in Asheville, N.C. due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
• Carolina has won the Maui Invitational four times – 1999-2000, 2004-05, 2008-09 and 2016-17.
• Carolina’s four Maui titles are the second most in the tournament’s history (Duke has five).
• The Tar Heels are 22-4 in all games in the Maui Invitational, including 18-3 in Lahaina.
• Joseph Forte (1999), Raymond Felton (2004), Ty Lawson (2008) and Joel Berry II (2016) have won MVP honors in the Maui Invitational.
• Including Friday’s win over the University of Hawai’i, the Tar Heels are 17-1 in Honolulu, including 3-0 in the Stan Sheriff Center.
CAROLINA-DAYTON
• The Tar Heels are 1-2 all-time vs. the Flyers. This is Carolina’s first game vs. Dayton since a 79-68 loss in Madison Square Garden on 4/1/2010, in the NIT championship game.
• Dayton beat UNC, 76-62, in a 1967 national semifinal in Louisville.
• The Tar Heels won the only on-campus game in the series, 81-51, in the Smith Center on 12/31/2006.
POLLING
• The Tar Heels were ranked No. 10 by the Associated Press in the November 18 poll. The new poll will be announced the morning of the game vs. Dayton.
• Carolina was ranked in the AP’s top 25 for the 24th straight poll.
• UNC was ninth in the AP’s preseason poll. This is the 46th season UNC entered the season or was ranked in the top 10 in the first AP poll (in some seasons in the 1950s there were no preseason polls). In the previous 45 instances when UNC began the year in the top 10 in the first AP poll, the Tar Heels also finished the season in the top 10 on 32 occasions.
• Carolina finished the 2023-24 season No. 6 in the coaches’ poll and No. 7 in the AP poll.
• Last year was the 39th time Carolina was ranked in the top 10 in the final AP poll (out of 76 seasons), the third most in college basketball history.
• The November 18 ranking by the AP was the 960th time the Tar Heels were ranked, second most all-time.
• This is the 68th season UNC is ranked at least once in the AP poll (in 77 seasons) and the 60th season UNC has been ranked at least once in the top 10.
PLAYING THE TOP TEAMS
• Carolina annually plays one of the most difficult schedules, both in and out of conference play, and the early polls indicate 2024-25 will be another challenge.
• Since KenPom began in 2001-02, the Tar Heels’ strength of schedule was ranked in the top 10 in the nation 13 times and in the top 25 on 20 occasions.
• Carolina’s schedule features at least seven games against top-25 opponents in the November 18 poll, including No. 1 Kansas (on the road), No. 4 Auburn or No. 5 Iowa State (second day in Maui), No. 7 Alabama (home), No. 12 Duke (home and away) and No. 21 Florida (in Charlotte). Second-ranked UConn is on the other side of the bracket in Maui.
PRESEASON ACCOLADES
• Carolina was picked to finish second and RJ Davis was selected the ACC’s preseason player of the year at the conference’s media day.
• Davis is a National Player of the Year candidate (Naismith, NABC and Wooden), ranked the No. 2 player in the country (CBS and ESPN) and was tabbed a preseason All-America by numerous media, including the Associated Press, Sporting News, Blue Ribbon Yearbook, Field of 68, CBS, Fox, Sports Illustrated and ESPN’s Jay Bilas.
• Davis won the Naismith Hall of Fame’s Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year award in 2024. He is on the preseason watch list.
• Sophomore Elliott Cadeau (Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year), freshmen Ian Jackson and Drake Powell (Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year) and junior Cade Tyson (Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year) also are named on the Hall of Fame’s preseason positional awards watch lists.
• Davis was the first Tar Heel and second ACC player to win the Jerry West Award.
• Carolina is the only team to win the Cousy Award three times (Raymond Felton in 2005, Ty Lawson in 2009 and Kendall Marshall in 2012).
• Davis and Seth Trimble are listed among the early season watch list for the Lute Olson National Player of the Year award.
RJ DAVIS
• Davis has scored the second-most points ever by a Tar Heel guard (2,159). He trails only 1978 Wooden Award winner Phil Ford, and Davis has scored the fourth most among all players ever to play at Carolina.
• His 18-point game at Hawai’i moved Davis past Sam Perkins for No. 4 in UNC history.
• Davis scored 784 points last season, the fourth most in Carolina history and the most since Tyler Hansbrough scored 882 in 2007-08.
• Davis’ 784 points were the most in a season in Carolina history by a guard.
• Should Davis score 784 points again this season he would tie Hansbrough for the most points by a Tar Heel and the most in ACC history.
• Davis’ career scoring average is 15.2, the eighth-highest by a Tar Heel guard. Over the last three seasons, he has averaged 18.9 per game.
• Davis made 113 3FGs last season, breaking the UNC single-season record (Justin Jackson made 105 in 2016-17).
• Davis has made 281 career three-pointers, the second most all-time by a Tar Heel. Marcus Paige, currently an assistant coach at UNC, is first with 299.
• Davis is also Carolina’s all-time leader in free throw percentage. He has made 22 of 25 from the line in the first three games this season and has converted 444 of 517 in his career for 85.9%. Shammond Williams is second at 84.8%.
• 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).
• Davis was the fifth Tar Heel guard to win the award with Phil Ford, Michael Jordan, Joseph Forte and Ty Lawson.
• Elliot Cadeau made the ACC All-Freshman team. He was the first Tar Heel to make the ACC All-Freshman team since Caleb Love and Day’Ron Sharpe in 2021.
• Cadeau joined Ed Cota, Raymond Felton, Bobby Frasor, Ty Lawson, Kendall Marshall, Marcus Paige, Coby White, Cole Anthony and Love as Tar Heel point guards to earn All-Freshman team honors.
• Hubert Davis was named ACC Coach of the Year by the ACC panel and the Associated Press.
• Davis was the fifth Tar Heel to win ACC Coach-of-the-Year honors (a total of 13 times), joining Frank McGuire, Dean Smith (eight times), Bill Guthridge and Roy Williams (2006 and 2011).
ELLIOT ON POINT
• Elliot Cadeau leads Carolina in plus/minus in the first four games at plus 88, including a career-best plus 38 vs. American.
• He is averaging 16.0 points and 6.8 assists in the first four games. He has scored at least 17 points in three of the first four games and double figures in all four.
• He tied his career high with seven field goals in eight attempts at Hawai’i.
• He made a career-high three 3FGs vs. Elon. It was the third time in his career he made multiple three-pointers in a game.
• Last year, he led Carolina with 150 assists, the most by a Tar Heel freshman since Marcus Paige‘s 161 in 2012-13.
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