Carolina and NC State play for the 242nd time when the Tar Heels make the drive to Raleigh for a 2 p.m. game at PNC Arena on Saturday, February 26 (ESPN). The Tar Heels are 20-8 overall, 12-5 in the ACC. UNC won their last two games at Virginia Tech by eight and at home over Louisville by seven.
Carolina is tied with Miami for third in the ACC at 12-5, two games behind Duke and a game behind Notre Dame. NC State is 11-17 overall, 4-13 in the ACC. The Pack is 7-9 at home this season.
About UNC
- Carolina is 6-3 on the road, including 5-3 in ACC play. A win at NC State would clinch a winning record in ACC road games for the 43rd time in 69 seasons.
- Brady Manek made three three-pointers and led four Tar Heels in double figures with 17 points and Armando Bacot grabbed 15 rebounds for the second game in a row in the win over the Cardinals. It was the third time this season Bacot had consecutive games with 15 or more rebounds.
- Bacot is averaging an astounding 14.1 rebounds over the first 17 ACC games. That is the highest average in league play since Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan averaged 14.9 in 1996-97.
- Bacot leads Carolina in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and blocks. He also led
UNC in those categories last season. No Tar Heel has ever led in those four categories in consecutive seasons.
- Sophomores RJ Davis and Caleb Love have started every game in the backcourt this season. Both players are averaging more than 32 minutes game.
- Davis and Love have combined for 28.8 points and 7.1 assists. A year ago as freshmen, they combined for 18.9 points and 5.5 assists. They have made a combined 112 three-pointers.
- Davis leads the team in three-point percentage (.408) and is second in free throw shooting (.805); Love leads the team at the FT line (.846) and is second from three (.399).
- Love is making 39.9% of his three-point attempts, up from 26.6% a year ago. Davis has improved from 32.3 to 40.8%.
- In Carolina’s 20 wins, Love and Davis are shooting 44.8% and 44.4%, respectively from three. In the eight losses, Davis made 30.0% and Love 26.2% from three.
- Leaky Black became the sixth Tar Heel to amass 500 career points, 400 rebounds, 200
assists, 100 steals and 50 blocks. Carolina is 11-0 this season when the senior has three or more assists.
- The Tar Heels are third in the ACC in scoring offense (77.5 points per game) and 13th in scoring defense (72.07 ppg).
- Carolina leads the ACC in total rebounds per game (39.32) and rebound margin at 7.1 per game. Duke is second in rebound margin at 4.9 per game.
- Carolina is second in the ACC behind Virginia Tech and 24th in the country in three-point
percentage (.376). Carolina made a season-high 15 three-pointers on January 29 against NC State and is averaging 8.4 per game, on pace for the second highest average in UNC history.
- The Tar Heels lead the ACC and are 15th in the country in rebound margin at plus 7.1 per game. UNC also leads the league and is 27th nationally in rebounds per game (39.3).
About NC State
- NC State fell to Boston College, 69-61, Wednesday night inside PNC Arena. The Pack turned it over 17 times, its most against an ACC opponent this season, which led to a 23-9 points off turnovers advantage for the Eagles.
- Freshman guard Terquavion Smith led NC State with 21 points against Boston College. It’s the fifth time in the last seven games that Smith has led the Pack in scoring. During the game, Smith hit four three-pointers to pass Maverick Rowan for the most three-pointers by a freshman in program history.
- Smith has 83 three-pointers this season and leads the ACC with an average of 2.96 three-pointers per game.
- Smith was named ACC Freshman of the Week on Monday, his third FOW honor this season. The Greenville, N.C. native is the second-highest scoring freshman in the ACC at 15.6 points per game. He is the highest-scoring freshman in ACC-only games, averaging 17.2 points per game. His scoring average is the second-best in program history for a freshman.
- Redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds at Georgia Tech. It was the 11th double-double of the season for the Norfolk, Va., native.
- Seabron has now led NC State in scoring 12 times this season, in rebounding 22 times, assists 17 times and steals eight times. He leads the Pack in all four statistical categories.
- Seabron is one of only just five DI players and three Power-five players (Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis and USC’s Isaiah Mobley) to lead their team in points, rebounds, assists and steals.
- Saturday is Senior Day for the Pack. NC State will honor seniors Thomas Allen and Jericole Hellems in pregame ceremonies.
- Hellems has played four seasons for the Pack and will be playing in his 121st career game in an NC State uniform on Saturday. The Saint Louis, Mo., native signed with NC State in November of 2017, eight months after Kevin Keatts had been hired as head coach. Hellems currently ranks in a tie for 42nd on NC State’s all-time scoring list with 1,181 career points. He has also grabbed 445 rebounds, passed out 138 assists, had 90 steals and blocked 38 shots in his time in Raleigh.
- Allen is in his third-year with the program after transferring from Nebraska. The Raleigh native sat out his first season at NC State because of NCAA transfer rules and unfortunately has now had both of his last two seasons cut short because of injury. Allen has appeared in 43 games in an NC State uniform and made 21 starts, scoring 226 points for the Pack.
- NC State ranks second in the ACC this season in turnover margin at +2.54. The Tar Heels rank 14th in the ACC with an average turnover margin of -1.86. In the Kevin Keatts era, NC State is 74-38 (66.1%) when it has the same or fewer turnovers than its opponent and just 16-26 when it has more turnovers than its opponent.
- In its 17 losses this season, NC State’s opponents are shooting a combined 50.0 percent from the field and 38.3 percent from threepoint range. NC State is 1-11 this season if its opponent shoots over 50 percent from the field. In the Pack’s wins, opponents are shooting 41.6 percent from the field and 34.2 percent from three-point range.
UNC vs NC State
- The Tar Heels lead the series, 162-79, winning 34 of the last 39 and 51 of the last 63 games against the Wolfpack.
- UNC is 67-47 at NC State, including 17-5 in PNC Arena. Carolina also has four NCAA Tournament wins (two each in 2008 and 2016) for a 21-5 overall record at PNC Arena.
- Carolina had won seven straight games at NC State prior to a 79-76 NC State win on 12/22/20.
- NC State is 6-1 all-time against North Carolina when the game is held on NC State’s Senior Day.
- Carolina rallied from a 17-point deficit in the first half to pull within a point at 63-62, fell behind again by 13, cut the lead to two with 10 seconds to play and had two three-point attempts in the final seconds that could have tied the game. UNC had been on a 9-0 run, but
missed its final seven field goal attempts over the last 2:19.
- Armando Bacot (16 points on 7 of 9 from the floor) led UNC in scoring.
- NC State made eight threes, while the Tar Heels were 2 for 12 from three-point range.
How to Watch
Time: 4:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN (Wes Durham, Cory Alexander)
Stream:Â WatchESPN
Radio:Â Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas)
Per Release
UNC Continues to Shine into the Final Stretch