Carolina hosts Syracuse in its final home of the season at 7 p.m. on Monday, February 28 (ESPN). The Tar Heels are 21-8 overall, 13-5 in the ACC. UNC has won its last three games,
including road wins at Virginia Tech and NC State and a home win a week ago over Louisville.
Senior game ceremonies honoring Leaky Black, Brady Manek and Ryan McAdoo are set to begin at 6:40 p.m. Carolina is in third place in the ACC at 13-5, two games behind Duke and a game behind Notre Dame. The Tar Heels have clinched a bye on day one of the ACC Tournament and would clinch a top four seed and a double bye with a win over Syracuse.
About UNC
- The Tar Heels are coming off an 84-74 win at NC State on Saturday. Carolina has eight wins in its last nine games against the Wolfpack at PNC Arena.
- Armando Bacot had 28 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks (all game highs), becoming the first Tar Heel ever to compile at least 20 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks in a game.
- Brady Manek scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half and made his 299th and 300th career three-pointers.
- Puff Johnson played a career-high 29 minutes and scored a career-high 16 points (12 in the second half).
- Johnson saw extra time as Leaky Black hyper-extended his right knee late in the first half and did not return to the game.
- Caleb Love played all 40 minutes for the second game in a row, the first Tar Heel to do so since Ed Cota in the 2000 NCAA Tournament.
- ACC Player-of-the-Year candidate Armando Bacot is on pace to lead the ACC in field goal percentage and rebounding for the ninth time in 69 seasons and in field goal percentage, rebounding and double-doubles for just the sixth time ever (with Duke’s Marvin Bagley in
2018, Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan in 1997, Clemson’s Dale Davis in 1990, Clemson’s Horace Grant in 1987 and Virginia’s Ralph Sampson in 1983).
- Brady Manek leads the team with 65 threes. Manek is third in percentage at .385, which is .002 ahead of his previous career-best .383 as a freshman at Oklahoma.
- Sophomores RJ Davis and Caleb Love have started every game in the backcourt this season. Both are averaging more than 32 minutes per game. Davis and Love have combined for 28.5 points and 7.0 assists per game.
About Syracuse
- Syracuse (15-14 overall, 9-9 ACC) will conclude the road-game portion of its regular season at North Carolina (21-8 overall, 13-5 ACC) on Monday.
- Syracuse looks to bounce back from a its 97-72 loss to #7/6 Duke on Saturday. Monday will mark the Orange’s fifth game in 10 days.
- Syracuse was beaten in its last two contests by the top two teams in the ACC Standings.
- The Syracuse bench produced its highest scoring performance of the season in the game against Duke. Bourama Sidibe, who played a season-high 26 minutes, produced 11 points, four rebounds and three assists. Benny Williams also contributed season highs of 14 points and six rebounds in his 30 minutes of work.
- Senior Buddy Boeheim has scored in double digits in 25 of 29 contests. He had 23 in the loss to Duke.
- Buddy Boeheim is 5th in division one basketball and first in the ACC in minutes played, averaging 37.55 minutes per game.
- Syracuse has averaged 6.0 turnovers per game over the last three outings.
UNC vs Syracuse
- Carolina is 14-6 against the Orange, including 10-3 since Syracuse joined the ACC.
- The Tar Heels are 5-0 in the Smith Center, including last season’s 81-75 win on 1/12/21.
How to Watch
Time: 7:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN (Dan Shulman, Cory Alexander, Andraya Carter)
Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas)
Per Release
