Carolina returns to action after a seven-day break when the Tar Heels host Georgia Tech on Saturday, January 15 at the Dean E. Smith Center. Tip time is 8:05 p.m. The game will be
broadcast on the ACC Network.
UNC is 11-4 overall, 3-1 in the ACC after its 74-58 home win over Virginia on January 8. Georgia Tech is 7-8 overall, 1-4 in the ACC following its 81-76 win at Boston College on Wednesday. RJ Davis scored a game-high 23 points, Armando Bacot had 15 points and 13 rebounds, UNC made 10 of 17 three-pointers and shot a season-best 54.6% from the floor in a 79-62 win over the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta on December 5 in the league opener for both teams. Bacot set career highs in points (29), field goals (12), offensive (9) and total rebounds (22) in UNC’s win over Virginia.
About UNC
- Carolina is second in the ACC and 27th in the country in field goal percentage at .482, which is on pace for its best shooting performance since 2015-16 (also 48.2%).
- In its first four ACC games the Tar Heels are shooting 51.3% from the floor.
- Carolina is 6-0 when shooting at least 50% from the floor this season (UNC was 220-9 when shooting 50% under Roy Williams).
- Carolina has made 25 more free throws than its opponents have attempted (202 made by UNC vs. 177 attempted by the opponents).
- The Tar Heels are shooting 74.8% from the line, their best percentage since 2008-09, when they converted 75.2%.
- UNC has held its opponents to 65 or fewer points in each of its last eight victories. It’s the first time UNC has held the opponents under 70 points in eight consecutive wins since doing that in 2011-12.
- The last time UNC held the opponents to fewer than 70 points in nine or more consecutive wins was 2006-07, when it did that in 15 straight wins.
- 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. Armando Bacot has scored 20 or more six times, Caleb Love has five 22-point games, Dawson Garcia has three 20-point games and Brady Manek and RJ Davis have two apiece.
- The Tar Heels are shooting 40.1% from three, second best in ACC and sixth in the country.
- Carolina has shot 40% or higher in five previous seasons but not since winning the national championship in 2004-05, when it made 40.3% from three-point range.
- Armando Bacot was named the ACC Player of the Week for Jan. 3-9 for his play against Virginia and Notre Dame (game highs with 21 points and 17 rebounds). It was his first ACC Player-of-the-Week award and the first by a Tar Heel since Cole Anthony’s 34-point debut against Notre Dame in November 2019.
- Bacot is one of three players in college basketball in the top 10 in the country in double-doubles (third with 11), rebounding (fifth with 11.2 per game) and field goal percentage (eighth at .642).
- Caleb Love has made 34 three-pointers in the first 15 games. Last year, Love finished his freshman season with 34 threes in 29 games. Love has made the same number of threes as he did a year ago in 51 fewer attempts.
About Georgia Tech
- Tech (7-8, 1-4 ACC) stopped a three-game losing streak and earned its first ACC victory Wednesday night with an 81-76 win at Boston College. The defending ACC champion Jackets had lost at home to Louisville (67-64) and North Carolina and on the road to No. 2 Duke (69-57). Their Dec. 29 game at Syracuse was postponed.
- Tech has shot 76.6 percent from the foul line over its last five games (59-of-77).
- Tech has made 41 threes in its last five games after connecting on 20 in the four games prior. The Jackets are 41-for-118 combined (.347) in its last five games, and 38-for-112 combined (.339) in its five ACC games.
- Tech has outrebounded its last two ACC opponents (40-38 vs. Notre Dame and 35-31 vs. Boston College), despite playing with its small lineup for the vast majority of those two games. The Jackets have been out-rebounded in ACC games by an average of 5.6. For the season, Tech has out-rebounded nine of 15 opponents and has a plus-1.2 margin.
- Tech’s two high games in steals this season have come against North Carolina (11) and Boston College (10).
- The Jackets received a season-high 35 points from its bench, just four points shy of the last three games combined.
- Reigning ACC Tournament MVP Michael Devoe (Orlando, Fla.), the ACC’s second-leading scorer (20.5 points per game), No. 3 three-point shooter by volume (2.57 per game) and No. 2 by percentage (41.4), leads the Jackets along with senior forward Jordan Usher (Canton, Ga.), averaging 14.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
- Georgia Tech is playing its fourth road game of the season and has a 2-1 record after winning at Georgia and Boston College around a loss at Duke. North Carolina is undefeated at home (8-0), including a Big Ten/ACC Challenge win over Michigan.
- Head coach Josh Pastner elected to start a lineup without a true “5” player Wednesday night at Boston College, where Georgia Tech’s tallest starters were Jordan Usher and Khalid Moore, both 6-foot-7. The seventh different lineup used by Tech this season produced the Yellow Jackets’ first ACC win and their most efficient offensive performance in 11 games.
- Senior guard Michael Devoe has dropped to No. 2 in the ACC in scoring average (20.5 ppg) for the first time after leading the conference all season. Alondes Williams of Wake Forest is No. 1 (20.7 ppg). Devoe is No. 2 in the ACC in three-point percentage (41.4) and No. 3 in three-point field goals per game (2.57).
- After beginning the season No. 36 in career points at Tech, Devoe has risen to No. 19 on the Tech career points list with 1,436 points.
- Senior wing Jordan Usher, who posted his fourth double-double this season against Notre Dame (16 points, 14 rebounds) and scored 30 against Georgia State, is averaging 16.3 points and 7.3 rebounds over Tech’s last seven games, having hit 41-of-86 shots from the floor and 13-of-29 threes.
UNC vs Georgia Tech
- Carolina is 70-27 against the Yellow Jackets, including 56-25 since Tech joined the ACC.
- The Tar Heels are 30-6 in Chapel Hill, including 25-5 at the Smith Center.
- In the December win in Atlanta, UNC went on a 22-4 run after trailing 39-38 early in the second half.
- Carolina improved to 17-13 in Tech’s home arena, including 5-2 in McCamish Pavilion since it was renovated prior to the 2013 season. It was Carolina’s 10th win in the last 13 games against the Yellow Jackets.
- The Yellow Jackets won, 96-83, on 1/4/2020 in the most recent meeting in the Smith Center. Carolina missed its first 15 shots from the floor and trailed by 20 at the half, its largest halftime deficit ever in the Smith Center. Garrison Brooks led UNC with a career-high 35 points. He made UNC’s first field goal with 6:50 to play in the first half to make the score 30-8.
- Carolina was 6-3 against the Yellow Jackets in Hubert Davis’s playing career.
How to Watch
Time: 8:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ACCN ((Jay Alter, Malcolm Huckaby)
Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas)
Per Release
