Carolina enters the 2021 ACC Tournament as the No. 6 seed after finishing the regular season tied for fifth place in the standings with a 10-6 record (.625) in league play. Carolina, 16-9 overall, plays No. 11 seed Notre Dame, an 80-77 winner over Wake Forest in Tuesday’s first round. The Tar Heels defeated Notre Dame, 66-65, in Chapel Hill on January 2.
About UNC
- Sophomore Armando Bacot leads the team in scoring at 11.7 points per game. The last time UNC’s leading scorer averaged less than 12 points was 1946-47 (11.4 by Jim Hamilton).
- Carolina has had 10 different players score in double figures (Baylor is the only Power 5 team that has more with 11), but no player has done so in more than 16 games. Armando Bacot and Garrison Brooks both have reached double figures 16 times, followed by Caleb Love (13), RJ Davis (12), Day’Ron Sharpe (10) and Kerwin Walton (10).
- Carolina is second all-time in ACC Tournament championships (18) and wins (102) and has played in the finals a record 35 times.
- Carolina’s most recent title came in 2016 in Washington, D.C.
- The Tar Heels are 102-48 in the ACC Tournament, including 2-1 in the second round (wins in 2015 and 2018 and a loss in 2020).
- Last season, No. 14 seed UNC defeated No. 11 Virginia Tech, 78-56, in the first round and was beaten, 81-53, by No. 6 Syracuse in the second round. That 28-point margin was Carolina’s largest defeat in an ACC Tournament game. That game was also the final game of the 2020 Tournament, which was canceled the following day due to the pandemic.
About Notre Dame
- Notre Dame is 5-1 all-time – and on a five-game win streak – in the Greensboro Coliseum during ACC Tournament play. Tuesday night’s buzzer-beating win avenged a loss to Wake Forest in the 2014 ACC tournament.
- Notre Dame has won its first game of conference tournament action in 12 of the last 13 seasons, with a 2014 ACC first-round setback to Wake Forest the lone blemish in that run. In the 20 years of conference tournament play under Glenn and Stacey Murphy Head Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Brey, Notre Dame has failed to win its first game (that did not include a first-round bye) just four times.
- Notre Dame has seen eight scheduled games affected by COVID-19 safety guidelines enacted by the opposing team this season. Two games (at Pittsburgh Jan. 30, Syracuse, Feb. 20) were rescheduled while Notre Dame’s postponed home games with Georgia Tech (Jan. 6) and Clemson (Feb. 17) were eventually not provided a make up date and have been cancelled.
- Notre Dame and North Carolina will be meeting for the 35th time overall and third time in the ACC tournament Wednesday night. The Irish defeated the Tar Heels in the 2015 ACC Championship game, then fell to UNC the next season in the semifinals.
- Entering post season play, junior guard Prentiss Hubb was 10th in the country in total assists (145) and 14th in assists per game (6.0).
UNC vs Notre Dame
- Carolina leads the series, 26-8.
- Carolina has won eight of the last nine games.
- The Tar Heels are 10-4 since the Irish joined the ACC in 2013-14.
- UNC is 1-1 against the Irish in the ACC Tournament, losing, 90-82, in Greensboro in the 2015 championship game, and beating Notre Dame a year later, 78-47, in the semifinals in Washington, D.C.
- UNC is 1-1 against Notre Dame in Greensboro. In addition to the 2015 ACC title game, Carolina beat the Irish, 83-76, in a regular-season game in 2017. That game was originally scheduled for the Smith Center, but a water shortage in Chapel Hill resulted in the game being postponed a day and moved to the Greensboro Coliseum.
- Roy Williams is 11-4 against Notre Dame (all while head coach of the Tar Heels).
- On 1/2/2021, Leaky Black banked in the game-winning shot with 9.3 seconds to play in Carolina’s 66-65 win in Chapel Hill. Day’Ron Sharpe had 25 points and 10 rebounds and Kerwin Walton made four threes and scored a dozen points.
How to Watch
Time: 9:00pm
TV: ACCN (Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas)
Stream: Watch ESPN
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas)