Tar Heels Head To Pitt For Saturday Noon Matchup

Saturday, January 18

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Noon

North Carolina

Pittsburgh

Pitt beat the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill 10 days ago.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

January 16, 2020 | Men's Basketball

Watch Listen Live Stats UNC Notes Pitt Notes

North Carolina will look to snap its three-game losing streak on Saturday when it visits Pittsburgh at noon. ESPN will televise the game nationally.

GAME 17 NOTEBOOK
• Carolina is 8-8 overall, including 1-4 in ACC play. The Tar Heels have lost three conference home games in a row to Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh and Clemson.
• Pittsburgh is 11-6, 2-4 in the ACC. The Panthers have lost two straight at Miami and home to Louisville.
• The Panthers defeated the Tar Heels, 73-65, in Chapel Hill on Jan. 8. More info on that game later in the notes.
• The Tar Heels are 1-2 on the road with a win at UNCW and losses at Gonzaga and Virginia.
• Pittsburgh is 7-4 at home, including 1-2 in the Petersen Center in ACC play. The Panthers opened the season with a home win over Florida State, which is No. 9 in the AP poll.
• Carolina has lost eight of its last 11 games since beginning the season with wins in its first five games.
• The Tar Heels are 2-5 since leading scorer Cole Anthony was sidelined with a right knee injury.
• Carolina started its sixth different lineup of the season in the 79-76, overtime loss to Clemson on Jan. 11. Last season, the Tar Heels used two starting lineups – one for 35 games and one for a single game.
• The six starting lineups are the most by the Tar Heels in a season since 2013-14 when they used seven (including Senior Day).
• Sophomore Leaky Black became the fourth Tar Heel to start at the point this season when the Tar Heels played Clemson. Cole Anthony (nine games), K.J. Smith (three), Jeremiah Francis (three) and Black have each started at the point. In 2007-08, Roy Williams stareted three players at the point (Ty Lawson, Quentin Thomas and Bobby Frasor), the previous high in the Williams Era (2003-present).
• Seven different Tar Heels have combined to miss a total of 50 games due to injury thus far this season: Sterling Manley (all 16 games– left knee surgery on 12/12/19); Anthony Harris (11– including the first eight games due to left knee injury from high school, and three games after right knee surgery on 1/4/2020); Jeremiah Francis (nine games– the first eight due to a left knee injury from high school and the Clemson game due to soreness in the left knee); Cole Anthony (last seven games– right knee surgery on 12/16/19); Brandon Robinson (first four games– right ankle); Andrew Platek (two games– left ankle) and Leaky Black (one game– turf toe, right foot).
• Carolina's eight losses in its first 16 games are the most since the 2001-02 team went 5-11 (and 6-11 in the first 17).

BROOKS-ROBINSON
• Carolina's .500 record shouldn't over-shadow the overall fine play of its two most experienced players, junior forward Garrison Brooks and senior guard Brandon Robinson.
• Brooks leads Carolina in field goal percentage (.534) and rebounding (8.9) and is second in scoring (14.3). Robinson leads the team in three-pointers (30) and assists (39) and is third in scoring (12.1).
• In the seven games without injured point guard Cole Anthony, Brooks is averaging 17.9 points and 10.0 rebounds in more than 35 minutes; Robinson is averaging 14.3 points and 3.6 assists and has made 23 threes.
• Brooks netted a career-high 35 points on Jan. 4 vs. Georgia Tech and has double-doubles in each of the last four games.
• Robinson scored a career-high 20 poionts against Yale on Dec. 30 and surpassed that with a 27-point performance against Clemson on Jan. 11.
• Robinson has averaged 18.0 points over the last four games.
• Brooks is third in the ACC in field goal percentage and offensive rebounds, fourth in rebounding and 15th in scoring, while playing the sixth-most minutes in the league.
• Robinson is seventh in the ACC in three-pointers made (2.5 per game) and three-point accuracy (.349).
• Brooks was UNC's defensive player of the game against Pittsburgh, his team-leading seventh award of the season and the 27th of his career. He was UNC's defensive player of the year as a sophomore in 2018-19.
• Robinson has made 20 three-pointers in the last five games (three vs. UCLA, five vs. Yale, four vs. Georgia Tech, three vs. Pitt and five vs. Clemson). His 30 threes this season are already the most in a season in his collegiate career (23 last year).
• On Jan. 11, Robinson was in a two-car accident. He was not cited, but the other driver was charged with impaired driving DWI. Robinson is questionable for Saturday's game.

REBOUNDING LEADERS ONCE AGAIN
• The Tar Heels lead the nation in rebounds per game (43.6), are fourth in offensive rebounds per game (14.3) and eighth in rebound margin (+9.1). Carolina has led the nation in rebounds per game in each of the previous three seasons.
• Carolina is scoring 14.3 second-chance points per game. UNC averaged 14.4 in 2015-16, 17.6 in 2016-17, 15.1 in 2017-18 and 15.3 in 2018-19.

SERIES VS. PITTSBURGH
• Carolina is 14-4 against the Panthers, including wins in six of the last seven meetings.
• UNC is 5-1 at Pittsburgh – 1-0 at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse, 2-0 at the Civic Arena and 2-1 at the Petersen Center.
• Roy Williams is 7-3 against the Panthers as UNC's head coach (also was 1-0 while at Kansas).
• UNC is 7-3 since Pittsburgh joined the ACC.

LAST TIME AT PITT – JAN. 5, 2019
CAROLINA 85, PITTSBURGH 60
• Last year at Pittsburgh, Coby White led all scorers with 22 points and Cameron Johnson had 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists in UNC's 85-60 win in Pittsburgh.
• The game was tied 12-12 before Johnson hit a three to give UNC a 15-12 lead. The Panthers scored to make it 15-14, then the Tar Heels went on a 16-0 run to lead 31-16.
• Carolina held the Panthers without a field goal for 12:10 in the first half.
• Garrison Brooks had nine points, eight rebounds, a career-high five assists and no turnovers.

JAN. 8, 2020 IN CHAPEL HILL
PITTSBURGH 73, CAROLINA 65
• The loss ended a six-game UNC win streak against Pittsburgh and was UNC's first loss in eight games vs. the Panthers in Chapel Hill.
• Carolina led by 14 points (32-18) with 3:08 to play in the first half. The 14-point lead was UNC's largest in a loss this season.
• Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot were a combined 15 of 23 from the floor (.652), while the rest of the Tar Heels were 10 for 38 (.263).
• It was UNC's largest halftime lead in a loss at the Smith Center since Jan. 8, 1997.
• Pittsburgh out-scored the Tar Heels by eight from the free throw line (18-10) and by 12 from three-point range (27-15).
• Brooks posted a double-double (21 points and 10 rebounds) and tied his career high with nine field goals.
• Bacot was 6 for 11 from the floor for 15 points and had a season-high four assists.
• Leaky Black tied his career high with nine points.

ROY AT 879
• Carolina's win over Yale moved Roy Williams into a tie with Dean Smith for fourth place in wins by a Division I head coach with 879 and into a tie with Gary Williams for third place for wins by an ACC head coach with 461.
• Earlier this season Williams passed Jim Calhoun (873) and Adolph Rupp (876).

MOST WINS BY A DIVISION I HEAD COACH
1147 Mike Krzyzewski
956 Jim Boeheim
902 Bob Knight
879 Dean Smith
879 Roy Williams
876 Adolph Rupp

MOST WINS AS ACC HEAD COACH, ALL GAMES
1074 Mike Krzyzewski Duke
879 Dean Smith North Carolina
461 Roy Williams North Carolina
461 Gary Williams Maryland
354 Bobby Cremins Georgia Tech

• Williams led UNC to more wins in his first 600 games as an ACC head coach than any other coach in league history.

MOST WINS IN FIRST 600 GAMES AS ACC HEAD COACH
461 Roy Williams North Carolina
456 Dean Smith North Carolina
446 Mike Krzyzewski Duke
392 Gary Williams Maryland

CHALLENGING SCHEDULE
• Ken Pomeroy ranks UNC's schedule as the 20th most difficult in the country, with the non-conference schedule as the 31st hardest. That's the third-most challenging schedule among ACC teams for all games (Georgia Tech and Miami are rated ahead of UNC) and easily the hardest non-conference schedule.
• The average ACC non-conference strength of schedule (other than UNC) is 211.

NON-CONFERENCE STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (per KenPom)
31 North Carolina
44 Georgia Tech
84 Duke
119 Wake Forest
128 Miami
130 Florida State
211 Clemson
217 Louisville
219 Syracuse
255 Boston College
272 NC State
278 Virginia
293 Pittsburgh
350 Notre Dame
351 Virginia Tech

SCORING/SHOOTING WOES
• Carolina scored a season-high 83 points in the loss to Georgia Tech. It was second time in four games UNC scored 80 or more points, but UNC has lost both those games (GT and Gonzaga). Dating back to the 97-80 loss to Auburn in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, UNC has lost three consecutive games in which it scored 80 or more points. That's the first time UNC has lost three straight games when scoring 80 points since the 1991-92 season (lost 99-94 to NC State, 110-96 at Florida State and 82-80 at Maryland).
• The Tar Heels have shot under 50 percent from the floor in the first 16 games. That's the longest stretch to open a season since the 1959-60 team shot 53.6 percent against Duke in the 16th game.
That's the earliest season that single-game shooting percentages exist on record.
• Carolina's field goal percentage (.405) is its lowest since the 1957-58 season and its three-point percentage (.295) is its lowest ever.
• Carolina is 10th in the ACC in scoring at 70.7 points per game. Carolina has finished first, first, second and first in the ACC in scoring in the last four seasons.
• In Roy Williams' previous 16 seasons, Carolina has led the ACC in scoring eight times, finished second five times and third three times.
• No Roy Williams-coached team in 16 previous seasons at UNC has averaged fewer than 74.5 points per game (in 2009-10). The lowest scoring average in his 15 seasons at Kansas (1988-2003) was 72.1 in 1998-99. Williams' teams have averaged 80 or more points in 23 of his previous 31 seasons as a head coach.

MEDIA POLLING
• Carolina is not ranked in the Associated Press poll for the fifth week in a row, its longest streak not in the poll since going unranked for seven consecutive polls in 2013-14.
• UNC was ranked in each of the first six weeks of the 2019-20 AP poll.
• The December 16th poll marked the first time in 107 polls the Tar Heels were not ranked in the AP poll.
• UNC has finished the season in the top 10 in each of the last four seasons (3 in 2015-16, 5 in 2016-17, 10 in 2017-18 and 3 in 2018-19).
• Carolina has been ranked in 922 AP polls, the most rankings of any school in the country.
• Carolina has finished in the Top 10 of the AP poll 38 times, including 27 of the previous 39 years.
• Carolina's 106-week streak of being ranked in the AP poll was the third longest in UNC history and the sixth longest in ACC history.