• UNC and Notre Dame play for the first time since 2/22/2023 with a 63-59 Tar Heel road win.
• The Tar Heels are 23-6, including 15-3 in the ACC. Carolina is ranked 7th in the nation in the Associated Press poll, UNC’s 11th consecutive top 10 ranking and 702nd all-time.
• Carolina leads the ACC, one game ahead of Duke. UNC has clinched a top-2 seed in the ACC Tournament. The Tar Heels begin play in Washington, D.C. in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, March 14 (time TBA).
• Carolina would clinch at least a tie for the ACC regular-season championship with a win over Notre Dame, which would be the Tar Heels’ 33rd championship. UNC has won the regular season title 21 times and shared the title 11 times.
• UNC last won the ACC regular season title in 2018-19, when it went 16-2 and shared the crown with Virginia.
, armando bacot He will play in his 162nd game, which ties the all-time ACC record. Virginia’s Kihei Clark played at 161 from 2018–23.
• Seven Tar Heels will participate in Senior Night ceremonies, which begin at 6:42 p.m. Those players include Bacot, RJ Davis, duve faris, Rob Landry, Creighton Labo, cormac ryan And Paxson Wojcik,
• The Tar Heels are playing their third consecutive game at home. UNC is 13-1 at the Smith Center this season, including 8-1 in ACC games. The win would mark the 14th time UNC has won 14 or more games in a season at the Smith Center in its 39th year as UNC’s home field.
• On March 2, Carolina defeated NC State 79–70, falling behind by a season-high 22 points. Harrison Ingram And elliot cadeau’s 15 points and seven assists. The Tar Heels trailed by eight at halftime and by 10 early in the second half before going on a 26–6 run to take their 10-point lead.
• Ingram has scored 20 or more points five times this season – 22 vs. NC State, 21 vs. Duke and 20 vs. Villanova, Tennessee and UConn.
, RJ Davis Had five assists vs. NC State. He leads the ACC in scoring with 21.7 points per game and has 100 assists this season. Charlie Scott (1967–68), Phil Ford (1977–78), Joseph Forte (2000–01) and Davis are the only Tar Heels to average 20 points and 100 assists in the same season.
• Davis earned his fourth ACC Player of the Week and National Player of the Week awards for his games against Miami and NC State last week. He joins Tyler Hansbrough, Antawn Jamison, Forte. marcus page, Bryce Johnson and Joel Berry II are the only Tar Heels to win ACC Player-of-the-Week honors at least four times in a season. No other player in the league has won the ACC Player of the Week award more than twice this season.
• Davis broke the Smith Center scoring record last Monday with a career-high 42 points and added 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists vs. the Wolfpack.
• Carolina is 15-3 in the ACC, its best 18-game league record since finishing 16-2 in 2018-19.
• Carolina’s best 20-game ACC record in 2021-22 is 15-5, Hubert Davis‘First season as head coach.
• This is the third time UNC has won at least 15 regular season ACC games.
• The Tar Heels have won 23 games, marking the program’s 64th season with 20 or more wins.
, Hubert Davis And Bill Guthridge (1997–2000) is the only Tar Heel head coach to win 20 or more games in each of his first three seasons. Davis led Carolina to 29 wins and a berth in the national championship game in 2022 after posting 20 wins last season.
• The Tar Heels are 5-5 against AP-ranked opponents this season with wins over No. 20 Arkansas, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 16 Clemson and No. 7 Duke (ranked when UNC played those teams). Are ahead of 2. ,
• ESPN ranks UNC’s strength a record 6th in the nation, behind Purdue, Houston, UConn, Tennessee and Iowa State.
• Carolina’s schedule is ranked 17th in the nation by KenPom and 20th by ESPN.
• Of the 26 teams in the country with 23 or more wins, only Purdue and Tennessee have a stronger strength of schedule than UNC, according to ESPN.
• The Tar Heels are No. 6 in the nation in defensive efficiency (94.0 points allowed per 100 possessions) and No. 26 in offensive efficiency (118.0 points allowed per 100 possessions).
• Overall, KenPom ranks UNC No. 9 in the country.
• Carolina is 7-2 this season (all in ACC play).
• The Tar Heels are one of five teams in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC with seven road wins.
• From January 6–22, Carolina won seven consecutive ACC games by double digits, its most since winning 10 consecutive games in 1992–93. UNC has nine of its 15 ACC wins by double digits and has a scoring margin of 9.6 in league play.
• Carolina leads the ACC in scoring and rebounding, is second in scoring margin and field goal defense and third in three-point defense.
• Carolina’s defense has held ACC opponents to 39.8% from the floor and 30.4% from three-point range.
• The Tar Heels have held ACC opponents to 70 points or fewer in 26 of their last 36 games last season.
• Carolina has outscored its opponents in 18 straight games and is plus-166 on the boards in those games, 15 of which were wins.
• Carolina’s 75–68 win at Florida State on January 27 was UNC’s 750th regular season ACC win, becoming the first program to win 750.
• Carolina has six players who have started 50 or more college games (more than 160) armando bacotby 114 cormac ryanby 110 RJ Davisby 91 Harrison Ingramby 67 J’Lynn Withers and by 58 Paxson Wojcik,
• The starting lineup against NC State has started UNC’s last 22 games. Elliott Cadeau, Ryan, Davis, Ingram and Bacot have combined for 499 career starts.
• The Tar Heels went 6-1 in November, 3-2 in December, 8-1 in January and a win over Miami in February gave them a 5-2 record.
, Hubert Davis Is one of 15 candidates on the Atlanta Tipoff Club/Naismith Award late-season watch list for national Coach-of-the-Year honors.
UNC-Notre Dame
• Carolina is 29-9 against the Irish, including 13-5 since Notre Dame joined the ACC in 2013-14.
• The Tar Heels are 9-1 in Chapel Hill, including 8-1 in the Smith Center.
• Carolina won both games last year. The Tar Heels have won two in a row, four of five and 11 of the last 13.
• The last time these teams played was at Notre Dame on 2/22/2023, a 63-59 UNC win. The Irish led 27–19 at halftime, as the Tar Heels made only 5 of 27 shots from the floor in the opening 20 minutes. It was Carolina’s lowest percentage in a half since going 0 for 2 in the first half at Duke in 1979.
, armando bacot And caleb love Leads UNC with 16 points. Love hit both of the Tar Heels’ three-pointers (UNC was 2 for 23).
• Carolina outscored the Irish on the glass with a 52-33 rebound margin. Bekot (11), dripping black (10) and pete nance (10) had double-figure rebounds.
• UNC had a season-high 23 offensive rebounds, which led to a season-best 23 second-chance points.
• Last year at Chapel Hill (1/7/2023), Bacot had 21 points and 13 rebounds and Love made three 3FGs and scored 18 in the first half.
• UNC led by 13 at halftime but the Irish pulled within seven before winning 61-54. RJ Davis Doubled the lead by scoring four out of the next seven points.
• UNC graduate student cormac ryan Played last three seasons for Notre Dame. He was team captain each of the last three seasons for the Irish and scored 964 points in 92 games at Notre Dame. Ryan played in five games for Notre Dame against UNC (and one game for Stanford vs. UNC in 2018–19), including twice for the Irish at Smith Center.
milestone watch
, armando bacot Scored 2,216 points, the third-most ever by a Tar Heel… needing 75 to pass Phil Ford (2,290) for second place.
• Bacot passed Wake Forest’s Randolph Childress for 18th in ACC career scoring heading into the NC State game… He passed Georgia Tech’s Matt Harping (2,225) for 17th, and Virginia’s Ralph Sampson (2,228) for 13th. 10 points are needed to reach 16th and 18th to leave. Pass UVA’s Buzzy Wilkinson (2,233) for 15th.
• Bacot has 1,635 rebounds, the most ever by a Tar Heel and second most in ACC history…Bacot ranks 12th in rebounds in NCAA history…passing him for 11th place, Morehead State’s Kenneth Faried 39 are needed to cross (1,673).
• Bacot ranks seventh in NCAA history with 82 double-doubles… Syracuse’s Derrick Coleman and La Salle’s Lionel Simmons (83) are tied for fifth.
• Bacot passed Al Wood in career field goals made by the Tar Heels in the NC State game… Bacot is third with 827… 39 fields ahead of Phil Ford (865) for third place. Need a goal.
, RJ Davis Has scored 1,926 points, 10th in UNC history…needs 49 points to pass Antawn Jamison (1,974) for ninth place.
• Davis needs 74 points to become the eighth Tar Heel to score 2,000 (Bacot did it earlier this season).
• Davis has the third-most points by a Tar Heel guard … he needs 82 to pass Charlie Scott (2,007).
• Davis made 253 three-pointers, third-most ever by a Tar Heel… marcus page first (299) and Joel Berry II (266) is second.
• Davis has 404 assists…needs six to pass Walter Davis (409) for 17th in UNC history.
, Harrison Ingram Requires one steal for 100 career steals.
, cormac ryan 27 points are required for 1,500 career points.
ap poll notes
• Carolina is ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press poll (released March 4) heading into Week 18.
• This marks the 954th time the Tar Heels have been ranked in the AP Poll, the second-most in college basketball history.
• It marked the 13th time this season and 702nd time (third time) the AP ranked the Tar Heels in the top 10.
• Carolina plays the No. 2 (UConn), 4 (Tennessee), 9 (Duke) and 15 (Kentucky) teams in this week’s AP poll.
• From November 24 to December 20, 2023, UNC played five consecutive non-conference games against ranked opponents for the first time in UNC history. The Tar Heels played Arkansas (20th), Tennessee (10th), UConn (5th), Kentucky (14th) and Oklahoma (7th).
