Carolina hosts Virginia on Saturday, January 8, at 1 p.m. The Tar Heels are 10-4 overall, 2-1 in the ACC. Virginia is 9-5, 3-1 in league play. The Cavaliers have won two straight ACC road
games at Syracuse and Clemson. Carolina lost, 78-73, at Notre Dame on Wednesday. The Tar Heels rallied from 13 points down to take a 67-66 lead with just under four minutes to play, but the Irish outscored UNC, 12-6, over the final 3:08 for the win.
Armando Bacot led Carolina with 21 points and a career-high 17 rebounds vs. the Irish. Bacot is one of two players in college basketball in the top 11 in the country in double-doubles (second with 10), field goal percentage (eighth at .638) and rebounding (11th with 10.4 per game).
About UNC
- The Tar Heels opened ACC play with three straight away games for the first time since 1983-84 and just the fourth time ever (also 1969-70 and 1977-78).
- Carolina has held the opposition to 65 or fewer points in the Tar Heels’ last seven victories. The 405 combined points are the fewest allowed over seven consecutive wins since the 2006-07 season. UNC allowed 393 points in wins from December 22 to January 17 that year.
- Carolina is 31st in KenPom’s overall rankings. The Tar Heels are 18th in the country in offensive efficiency and 25th in effective field goal percentage.
- Carolina’s strength of schedule is the 39th most difficult in the country and the fourth toughest in the ACC (Syracuse 25, Florida State 33, Notre Dame 38).
- Carolina has shot 50% or better from the floor in the second half in each of the last eight games and 10 times in 14 games this season. The Tar Heels have shot 50% or better three times in the first half this season.
- Carolina is shooting 52.9% from the floor in the second half and holding its opponents to 44%. The opponents are shooting just 37.0% in the second half in Carolina’s 10 victories.
- Purdue, Tennessee, Kentucky and Notre Dame averaged 89.5 points, shot 53% from the floor, 44.9% from three and had 84 assists and 35 turnovers in their wins over UNC.
- Carolina has made 22 more free throws than its opponents have attempted (195 made by UNC vs. 173 attempted by the opponents).
- 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. Caleb Love has five 22-point games, Armando Bacot also has scored 20 or more five times, Dawson Garcia has three 20-point games, and Brady Manek and RJ Davis have two apiece.
- The Tar Heels are shooting 39.7% from three, second best in ACC and ninth in the country.
- Caleb Love has made 30 three-pointers in the first 14 games. Love has improved his three-point percentage from 26.6% as a freshman to 44.1% this season. Love is 9 for 17 from three over the last three games.
- Bacot leads the ACC in field goal percentage (.638) and rebounding (10.4), is sixth in blocks (21) and ninth in scoring (15.6). He leads UNC in all four categories.
About UVA
- UVA owns a seven-game winning streak against the Tar Heels.
- UVA aims for its first three-game ACC road winning streak since defeating Notre Dame, Boston College and Clemson (12/30/20-1/16/21) last season.
- UVA ranks 10th nationally in scoring defense (57.7 ppg), 21st in turnovers per game (10.3), 26th in personal fouls per game (14) and 28th in blocked shots per game (5.4).
- Virginia is 140-11 when scoring at least 70 or more points under Tony Bennett.
- UVA is 4-1 when scoring 70 or more points in 2021-22.
- UVA has forced 16 shot clock violations and averaged 25.7 shot clock violations from 2019-21 (31 in 2018-19).
- The Cavaliers have limited eight opponents to 56 or fewer points (Radford, Coppin State, Georgia, Providence, Lehigh, Pitt, JMU and FDU).
- UVA has limited seven opponents (Radford, Coppin State, Providence, Lehigh, Pitt, FDU & Syracuse) to 40 percent or less field goal shooting and outrebounded five opponents (Radford, Coppin State, Providence, Lehigh and Clemson).
- UVA is led by its returning backcourt of Kihei Clark (9.9 ppg & 4.2 apg) and Reece Beekman (6.9 ppg, 4.4 apg & 2.1 spg), and the additions of transfers Jayden Gardner (15.4 ppg & 7.6 rpg) and Armaan Franklin (12 ppg).
- Clark has played 107 games at UVA and is averaging career-highs in field goal percentage (43.4%) and 3-point percentage (42.1%).
- The Cavaliers added transfers Gardner (East Carolina) and Franklin (Indiana) to fill the void left by standouts Sam Hauser (16 ppg), Jay Huff (13 ppg) and Trey Murphy III (11.3 ppg).
- Gardner averaged 18.5 points and 8.9 rebounds in 79 career games at East Carolina, while Franklin averaged 11.4 points and shot 42.5 percent from 3-point range in 2020-21.
- Kadin Shedrick (6.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg & 2.9 bpg) and Francisco Caffaro (3.1 rpg) anchor the paint, while Kody Stattmann (33.3% 3FGs), Taine Murray (44.4% 3FGs), Igor Miliĉić Jr. (38.1% 3FGs), Carson McCorkle (33.3% 3FGs), Malachi Poindexter and provide perimeter depth.
- Reece Beekman ranks eighth nationally in assist/turnover ratio (3.7) and 52nd in steals (2.1 spg). Kadin Shedrick ranks 20th in blocks shots per game (2.86).
UNC vs UVA
- Carolina is 131-60 against Virginia, including 66-9 in Chapel Hill and 24-6 at the Smith Center.
- The Cavaliers have won seven straight, their longest win streak in series history since winning the first eight games between the schools from 1911-16.
- Virginia has won the last two games in the Smith Center (2/11/2019 and 2/15/2020), the first time UVA ever won consecutive starts in Chapel Hill.
- Carolina’s most recent win over Virginia was in Chapel Hill in 2017.
- The Tar Heels have averaged 53.2 points in their last seven games against Virginia.
- Hubert Davis was 6-4 as a player against the Cavaliers.
- The teams played once last season, a 60-48 Virginia win in Charlottesville on 2/13/2021. No Tar Heel scored in double figures for the first time since the 1966 ACC Tournament. Virginia out-scored UNC, 30-6, from three-point range and Carolina shot 34.5% from the floor (25% in the first half).
- Virginia won the previous matchup in the Smith Center, 64-62, on 2/15/2020 on a game-winning three by Tomas Woldetensae, his sixth of the game, with 0.8 seconds to play. Armando Bacot, then a freshman, had 16 rebounds in the 2020 game.
How to Watch
Time: 1:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN (Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas)
Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas)
Per Release