Carolina hosts 24th-ranked Michigan on Wednesday, December 1, in the 23rd ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Both teams are 4-2 this season. Carolina is 3-0 at home while the Wolverines are playing on the road for the first time.
The Tar Heels are playing for the first time since defeating UNC Asheville, 72-53, in the Smith Center on November 23, two days before Thanksgiving. Michigan defeated Tarleton State, 65-54, one day later.
About UNC
- UNC averages 83.2 points per game, 40.5 rebounds and 14.5 assists. The Tar Heels are shooting nearly 50 percent (48.7%), in addition to 41.4 percent from deep – which accounts for over a third of the UNC offensive shots
- Armando Bacot scored a game-high 22 points against UNC Asheville. The Richmond, Va., native leads UNC in scoring (15.7 ppg), rebounding (8.7 rpg), blocks (11) and field goal shooting (.667).Bacot leads the Tar Heels with a near double-double average with his 15.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. He has three double-doubles, leads with 11 blocks and is shooting 66.7 percent.
- Sophomore Caleb Love is posting 15.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and a team-best 4.2 assists. Graduate Brady Manek, who was a four-year starter at Oklahoma, posts 14.8 points, 6.3 rebounds. Manek is tied for the team lead with 13 3-pointers with sophomore R.J. Davis (13.7 points and 4.0 assists).
- Sophomore guard RJ Davis was named to the all-tournament team at the Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament. The White Plains, N.Y., native averaged 16.0 points and 4.0 assists in the two games against Purdue and Tennessee.
- Carolina lost back-to-back games in November for the first time since losing to Minnesota and Vanderbilt in Puerto Rico in the 2010-11 season.
- Carolina scored a season-low 72 points in each of its last two games, an 89-72 loss to Tennessee and a 72-53 win over UNC Asheville. The Bulldogs’ 53 points were the fewest allowed this season by the Tar Heels, who also held their in-state visitors to 26.5 percent from the floor. That was the lowest field goal percentage by an opponent since Evansville shot 25.8 percent on 12/6/2012.
- Five different Tar Heels have led UNC in scoring in the first six games with Bacot the only player to do so twice (career-high 24 at Charleston and 22 vs. UNC Asheville). Caleb
Love (Loyola), RJ Davis (Brown), Dawson Garcia (Purdue) and Brady Manek (Tennessee) also have led UNC in scoring in one game apiece.
- Those five Tar Heels are averaging double figures in scoring this season. The last time five Tar Heels averaged 10 or more points was 2017-18.
- Five different Tar Heels also have scored 20 or more points in a game this season. Bacot has three 20-point games, Love has two 22-point games this season (he scored 20 twice in 29 contests as a freshman), Manek had 20 vs. Loyola Maryland and 24 against Tennessee, Davis had 26 against Brown and Garcia netted 26 vs. Purdue.
- UNC is averaging 8.8 threes per game, which is ahead of the school record for a season (8.7 per game in 2018-19).
- The Tar Heels are shooting 41.4 percent from three-point range over the first six games. That is on pace for the fourth-best percentage by UNC and the highest since 1987-88.
- Bacot (+57) and senior Leaky Black (+55) lead the Tar Heels in plus/minus through six games.
- Carolina’s opponents have scored 19 points off UNC turnovers in each of the last four games.
- Carolina has trailed at the half in four of the first six games. UNC is 2-2 in those four games, defeating Brown after trailing by three at the half and Charleston after heading to intermission down, 42-36.
- Carolina is 10-12 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, including 1-1 vs. Michigan.
- UNC has lost three straight in this event – at seventh-ranked Michigan, home to sixth-ranked Ohio State and at No. 3 Iowa.
- No. 24 Michigan is the 19th ranked opponent to play UNC in the 23-year history of the ACCBig Ten Challenge.
About Michigan
- Michigan is led by third year coach Juwan Howard. After spending 25 years in the NBA, 19 as a player and six as an assistant (all with the Miami Heat), Howard embarked on his first head coaching journey with his alma mater.
- Overall, the Wolverines will look to play at a fast-paced, “read-and-react” off ense with several ball screen actions as the primary mainstay in their off ensive sets. However, U-M constantly adjusts to its personnel with more cutting, downhill attacks and taking the open shot at a much higher level.
- Howard’s Wolverines have continued to develop into a “position-less” team as several players will rotate and play multiple spots during a game.
- Defensively, U-M primarily runs a man-to-man defense, however, they will incorporate some zone packages.
- No. 20 Michigan rebounded followings its loss to Arizona, with a 65-54 win over Tarleton State in the Wolverines pre-Thanksgiving game at Crisler Center. Caleb Houstan posted his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while classmate and roommate Moussa Diabate came off the bench for 14 points of his own, with seven rebounds.
- U-M’s Tarleton State game was just the third home game of the early season, as well as the fourth game over an eight day period. In fact, the Wolverines wrapped up a five game stretch over an 11 day stretch, with road trips to Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas.
- Michigan has used a starting line-up of DeVante’ Jones, Eli Brooks, Caleb Houstan, Brandon Johns, Jr. and Hunter Dickinson.
- Terrance Williams II, Moussa Diabate, Kobe Bufkin and Frankie Collins have come off the bench in Juwan Howard’s rotation.
- Hunter Dickinson has started 29 straight games; played in all 34 career games. DeVante’ Jones has started 63 straight games. Brandon Johns, Jr. has played in 55 straight games.
- Scoring in double figures in all six games, Eli Brooks leads the Wolverines with 15.7 points per game. He is shooting 42.9 percent from long range (12-for-28) and is 20-for-22 (90.9%) from the free throw line.
- Brooks is 60-for-66 over (90.9%) over the last two seasons. For his career, Brooks is an 80 percent free throw shooter (79.6%; 106-for-133).
- Hunter Dickinson leads the Wolverines with 8.2 rebounds per game. Jones is second with 5.8 per game, while Moussa Diabate grabs 5.7 per game.
- Dickinson (15) and Diabate (15) combine for nearly half of the Wolverines offensive rebounds.
- Brooks (12) and Caleb Houstan (8) lead U-M with 20 of U-M’s 32 3-pointers. Jones leads the Wolverines with 4.0 assists per game. Dickinson (8) and Diabate (6) have 14 of U-M’s 22 blocks.
UNC vs Michigan
- Carolina is 4-4 all-time against the Wolverines, including 1-0 in Chapel Hill.
- The teams have both won at home in previous ACC-Big Ten Challenge games.
- Michigan has won the last two games, which were played in Ann Arbor and The Bahamas.
- The Wolverines made 11 threes and shot 50 percent from the floor in a 73-64 win in The Bahamas in the previous meeting on 11/28/2019. Cole Anthony led UNC with 22 points, but Michigan opened the second half on a 21-2 run. Eli Brooks nailed four threes and led four Wolverines in double figures with 24.
- Junior forward Luke Maye scored 27 points and Theo Pinson had a game-high six of UNC’s 24 assists in an 86-71 win over Michigan on 11/29/2017. That was the only previous UNC-Michigan game in Chapel Hill.
- Hubert Davis was a freshman on the 1989 Tar Heel squad that lost to Michigan in the NCAA Sweet 16 (Davis did not play).
- Juwan Howard was 1-1 as a player against the Tar Heels.
- Michigan beat UNC in Honolulu in the 1992 Rainbow Classic and the Tar Heels defeated Michigan four months later in New Orleans in the 1993 national championship game.
- On 2/22/2001, Davis and Howard were part of an eight-player NBA trade. Davis was one of five Washington Wizards (including Christian Laettner) dealt to Dallas in exchange for Howard and two other Mavericks.
How to Watch
Time: 9:20 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN (Bob Wischusen, Dick Vitale, Kris Budden)
Stream: Watch ESPN
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas)
Per Release
UNC Continues to Shine into the Final Stretch