Carolina hits the road for the third time in its first four ACC games when the Tar Heels play at Miami on Tuesday, January 5. Tip time is 8 p.m. on ESPN. Carolina is 6-4 overall, 1-2 in the ACC, after its 66-65 win over Notre Dame at the Smith Center on January 2. The Irish were added to the schedule on New Year’s Eve after UNC’s original opponent for 1/2/21, Syracuse, was unable to play due to Covid-19 safety protocols.
About Carolina:
- Freshman Day’Ron Sharpe led UNC with 25 points and 10 rebounds and Leaky Black scored the winning basket on a drive with 9.1 seconds to play as the Tar Heels beat the Irish for the eighth time in nine tries.
- Sharpe earned ACC Freshman of the Week honors for his performance vs. the Irish.
- Armando Bacot leads UNC in scoring at 11.4 points per game. The last time a Tar Heel led the team in scoring with less than 12 points a game was 1946-47 (Jim Hamilton 11.4 ppg).
- Carolina has scored 80 points (at Iowa) one time this season. In 18 seasons under Roy Williams UNC has scored 80 or more points 346 times in 629 games (55 percent).
- Carolina has led at the half just four times in the first six games (3-1 when it leads; 3-3 when it trails at the half, including wins over Stanford, Kentucky and Notre Dame).
- The opponents have outscored UNC by a combined 18 points in the first half, but the Tar Heels have outscored the opponents by 64 points in the second half.
- The Tar Heels are averaging 44.9 rebounds per game, including 16.2 offensive. UNC is third nationally in rebounds and fourth in offensive rebounds.
About Miami:
- The Hurricanes are 4-4 overall, 0-3 in league play. Miami lost, 66-65, at home to Clemson on January 2.
- Three of Miami’s four losses are by a total of seven points, 3 with the last two, both in ACC play, by a combined three.
- Miami’s four returning senior starters have totaled eight–of a possible 32–outings in which they were available start to finish. Chris Lykes hurt his left ankle late in game two and missed the next six contests. Kameron McGusty injured his hamstring early in game four and missed the next three affairs. Rodney Miller Jr., missed two games with different injuries and is out for the year with a right knee injury. Sam Waardenburg hurt his left foot in October and will not play all season. In addition, freshman guard Earl Timberlake, a top-40 recruit, missed five games with a right ankle injury.
- Sam Waardenburg, who led Miami in rebounds (6.0) and blocks (1.1) per game in 2019-20, is out for the entire season due to a left foot injury sustained in practice in late October.
- Before its current four-game skid, Miami won six (6) of its prior nine games against North Carolina from 1/10/13 to 2/27/18.
- Miami, Duke and Virginia are the only schools with at least six total wins or three-plus road wins over North Carolina since 2011-12, when Jim Larrañaga arrived at Miami. Those three join Louisville as the lone teams with at least three 10-point victories over the Tar Heels since then, with Miami and Louisville the only ones with two wins by 15-plus.
The Series:
- Carolina leads the series, 25-8, including wins in each of the last four games.
- UNC is 9-3 at Miami, including 7-3 at the Watsco Center.
- UNC won, 85-76, on 1/19/2019, the last time the teams played in Coral Gables.
- Carolina beat Miami, 94-71, in Chapel Hill on 1/25/2020.
- The 23-point margin of victory was UNC’s largest of the season.