The Tar Heels play their fourth ACC road game of the season when they travel to Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday, January 16 to play Florida State. Carolina has won three in a row and is 8-4 overall, 3-2 in the ACC. UNC is 1-2 in ACC road games this season, winning by two points at Miami and losing by three at NC State and five at Georgia Tech.
Carolina is coming off an 81-75 home win over Syracuse on Tuesday. The Tar Heels grabbed a season-high 24 offensive rebounds and scored 24 second-chance points in the win. Florida State is 6-2, 2-1 in the ACC. The Seminoles beat NC State, 105-73, at the Tucker Center on January 13. That was FSU’s first game since a 10-point loss at Clemson on December 29.
About Carolina:
- UNC started the same five players in the first eight games, then featured a different group of starters in each of the last four contests.
- Carolina leads the nation in offensive rebounds per game (16.7), is second in offensive rebound percentage (.419) and is averaging 18.3 second-chance points per game.
- The opponents have outscored UNC by a combined 16 points in the first half, but the Tar Heels have outscored the opponents by 80 points in the second half.
- UNC shot 39.7 percent from the floor against the Orange, marking the third straight game the Tar Heels won despite shooting under 40 percent from the floor. That’s the third time in the ACC era Carolina has won three consecutive games when shooting under 40 percent.
- Carolina’s five ACC games have been decided by three, five, one, two points and six points.
- Armando Bacot leads UNC in scoring at 11.3 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).
- Bacot and Garrison Brooks (10.7) are averaging in double figures. The last time only two Tar Heels averaged 10 or more points was 2009-10.
- Six different Tar Heels have led UNC in scoring in the first 12 games. Bacot has led a team-high four times. Garrison Brooks had 16 points vs. Syracuse, his third high-point game of the season. Caleb Love has led twice, and Leaky Black, RJ Davis and Day’Ron Sharpe have each led one game.
- Sharpe leads Carolina in scoring (11.6 ppg) and rebounding (8.8 rpg) in Carolina’s five ACC games.
About Florida State:
- Florida State shot .707 percent from the field (41 of 58), .667 percent from the 3-point line (12 of 18) and were perfect (11 of 11) from the free throw line in defeating NC State by a 105-73 margin on Wednesday night in Tallahassee. The Seminoles’ shooting percentage from the field (.707) ranks sixth in school history and is the highest field goal shooting percentage in an ACC game in school history. Florida State’s shooting percentage from the 3-point line (.667) was also the sixth highest in school history and tied for second in school history in an ACC games. The Seminoles were perfect from the free throw line (11 of 11) on 10 or more shots for the third time in their ACC history.
- Has totaled 22 steals and 20 blocked shots. The Seminoles blocked eight shots against Clemson on December 29 and totaled eight steals in its victory over Gardner-Webb on December 21.
- Florida State enters Saturday’s game against North Carolina having won 19 consecutive ACC games at the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee. The Seminoles’ ACC winning streak in their home building began with a 77-68 win over Clemson on January 22, 2019. Their most recent ACC victory at home came as a 105-73 win over NC State on Wednesday in Tallahassee.
- Florida State is 31-10 (.756 winning percentage) in ACC regular season play since the start of the 2018-19 season. The Seminoles finished 13-5 in 2019, 16-4 in 2020 and are 2-1 this season.
- Florida State is 61-15 (.803 winning percentage) since the start of the 2018-19 season. The Seminoles finished 29-8 in 2018-19, 26-5 in 2019-20 and are 6-2 this season. Since defeating Clemson on December 8, 2019, the Seminoles have won nearly 85 percent of their games with a record of 23-4 (.852 winning percentage).
- With two Seminoles playing at 7-0 or taller (Balsa Koprivica and Tanor Ngom) and a third at 6-11 (Quincy Ballard), Florida State is one of the top five tallest teams (by average height in inches) in Division I Basketball for the 2020-21 season. The Seminoles’ run of having at least one player who is 7-0 or taller is now at 14 consecutive seasons and dates to the 2007-08 season when Solomon Alabi joined the team as a freshman.
- Senior M.J. Walker, who enters Saturday’s game against North Carolina as the ACC leader in free throw shooting percentage, is looking to become the first Seminole in ACC history to lead the ACC in free throw shooting percentage.
- Freshman Scottie Barnes is averaging 13.7 points scored per game in the first three ACC games of his career with double figure scoring coming against each of the three ACC opponents the Seminoles’ have faced so far this season. He has shot at least 600 percent from the field in each of his first three ACC games and is shooting .630 from the field against Georgia Tech, Clemson and NC State.
- Redshirt junior Anthony Polite is shooting a career-high .500 from the field (28 of 56) and a career-high .536 from the 3- point line (15 of 28). He entered the season shooting .399 from the field (after shooting .406 as a redshirt sophomore during the 2019-20 season) and shooting .317 from the bonusphere (after shooting .354 as a redshirt sophomore during the 2019-20 season).
The Last Meeting:
UNC led, 37-35, with 15:49 to play, but made only five free throws over the next 10:25, falling behind by 10 points en route to a 65-59 loss. Carolina led, 28-20, but the Seminoles scored the final nine points of the first half to lead, 29-28, at the break. In the second half, UNC missed 17 consecutive field goal attempts and finished the half 11 of 39 from the floor. Florida State made 11 of 22 field goal attempts in the second half. Cole Anthony led UNC with 16 points. Leaky Black had 10 points and added five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Armando Bacot and Garrison Brooks combined for four field goals and 11 points. Florida State out-rebounded UNC, 43-37, and blocked 10 shots.
The Series:
- Carolina is 50-14 against the Seminoles, including 17-7 in Tallahassee.
- Carolina has won eight of the last 10 games in the series.
- Roy Williams is 21-7 against FSU (20-7 at Carolina, 1-0 at Kansas). The Tar Heels are 8-4 under Williams against FSU in Tallahassee.
- The Seminoles have won the last two games at the Tucker Center – 81-80 in 2019 and 65-59 a season ago.
How to Watch:
Time: 12:00pm
TV: ACC Network (Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas)
Stream: Watch ESPN
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas, Dave Nathan)