Carolina travels to Atlanta to resume its season after the Christmas break where the Tar Heels play at Georgia Tech on Wednesday, December 30. Tipoff is 8 p.m. on the Regional Sports Network, which includes Fox Sports South in North Carolina. UNC is 5-3 overall, 0-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tar Heels lost, 79-76, at NC State on December 22. The Yellow Jackets are 4-3, 0-1. They last played on December 20, a 97-69 win over Delaware State. The teams have one common opponent this season. UNC beat Kentucky, 75-63, in Cleveland on December 19; Tech beat the Wildcats, 79-62, in Atlanta on December 6.
About Carolina:
- Carolina’s loss to NC State resulted in the Tar Heels dropping to 28th in the AP poll.
- NC State led UNC, 46-29, with 3:56 to play in the first half in the Wolfpack’s 79-76 win on December 22. It was the sixth time in the first eight games the Tar Heels dug a double-digit deficit in the first half. The game in Raleigh was the first of those six in which UNC did not later take the lead, although the Tar Heels closed to within a point.
- Sophomore forward Armando Bacot leads the team in field goal percentage at 74.5 percent. Bacot would easily lead the ACC, but makes 4.4 field goals per game, shy of the minimum (5.0) required to be recognized in the league statistics. He has made 6.0 per game over the last three contests, when he made 18 of 24 shots from the floor.
- No Tar Heel has scored 20 points in a game this season. Bacot’s 19 points against NC Central are the season high. Eight games is the deepest into a season in the Roy Williams era that no Tar Heel has scored at least 20 points.
- Carolina shot 51.5 percent from the floor in the first half at NC State. The Tar Heels have shot better than 50 percent from the floor in at least one half in each of the last four games (and in four of the last seven halves after making 50 percent in just one of the first nine halves this season).
- KenPom ranks Carolina as the 312th mostnexperienced team in the nation. Six of UNC’s 10 rotation players are freshman. Those freshmen have played 50.4 percent of all minutes played (806 of 1600).
- Carolina was scheduled to play at home just twice in the first nine games. That’s the first time UNC was scheduled to play only two home games in its first nine games since the 2007-08 season. The Tar Heels played six consecutive neutral site or away games in November-December that season.
- UNC is 3-3 in those six games in which it trails by 10 or more points in the first half (wins over UNLV, NC Central and Kentucky, losses to Texas, at Iowa and at NC State).
About Georgia Tech:
- Tech is playing its first game in 10 days, a holiday break made longer by the cancellation of its game at UAB on Dec. 23.
- Tech ranks third in the ACC in scoring average (82.71 points per game), much of that a product of its 123-120, four-overtime loss to Georgia State. However, the Jackets scored 77 in regulation of that game, and have scored more than 70 points in six games this season, including 97 in their last game against Delaware State.
- All five Tech starters are averaging in double figure points for the season.
- The three highest scoring games by individuals in the ACC this season belong to Georgia Tech players – Moses Wright (31 points) vs. Georgia State and Jose Alvarado (29 points each vs. Georgia State and Delaware State).
- Tech moved 6-9 senior Moses Wright, who has played the “4” position most of his career, into the “5” spot and started 5-10 senior Bubba Parham against Kentucky. The re-alignment has worked as the Jackets have shot 48.6 percent from the floor, hit 7.8 three-point field goals per game (35.9 percent), turned the ball over just 46 times and forced 79 in its last five games. Tech also has assisted on 62.5 percent of its field goals in that stretch.
- Six of Tech’s top seven scorers have positive assist/turnover ratios. The seventh, Michael Devoe, is even (24/24) for the season but is 18/14 over the past five games. The Jackets rank second in the ACC and No. 38 nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.39).
- Tech has three of the top 13 players in the ACC in average minutes played (Jose Alvarado, Moses Wright, Michael Devoe), while Bubba Parham lurks just outside the top 15.
UNC vs Georgia Tech:
- Carolina is 69-26 against Georgia Tech, including 22-14 in Atlanta (16-12 in McCamish
Pavilion/Alexander Memorial Coliseum).
- UNC has won four of its last five games at McCamish Pavilion, including a 77-54 win on 1/19/19.
- The Tar Heels have won nine of the last 11 games against the Yellow Jackets.
- Roy Williams is 16-10 as a head coach vs. Georgia Tech, including 15-10 as head coach of the Tar Heels.
The Last Meeting:
- Carolina missed its first 15 shots from the floor in Georgia Tech’s 96-83 win at the Smith Center on 1/4/20. Garrison Brooks made UNC’s first field goal with 6:50 to play in the first half.
- Brooks scored a career-high 35 points and made a career-best 17 of 18 from the free throw line. His free throw percentage of .944 was the second best in a game in UNC history for players with 18 or more attempts.
- The Yellow Jackets led 47-27 at halftime, UNC’s largest deficit at the half in Smith Center history.
- Tech’s 96 points were the most it scored against UNC since Carolina’s 107-100 win in double overtime in Atlanta in 1998 and equaled the most Tech scored in Chapel Hill (1994).
- The 13-point margin was Tech’s largest win in Chapel Hill (previous was 92-83 in overtime on 2/10/1996).
- Tech shot 59.0 percent from the floor, scored 58 points in the paint and 21 points off turnovers.
- Carolina shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half, when it scored 56 points (in winning the half by seven).
- Carolina missed 18 shots in the first half (16 field goal attempts and two free throws) but did not score a second-chance point. The Tar Heels did score 19 second-chance points in the second half (UNC missed 22 shots in the second half).
How to Watch:
Time: 8:00pm
TV: Regional Sports Network (Tom Werme, Brian Oliver); Fox Sports Affiliates (South, Arizona, Florida, Midwest+, North+, Southwest, Southwest+, West, Wisconsin+), Marquee Sports, Mid-Atlantic Sports, NESN and Yes Networks
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas, Dave Nathan)