• Carolina trailed by as many as nine points in the first half and two at halftime before rallying for a 72-65 win over Pittsburgh in the semifinals. RJ Davis and Armando Bacot combined for 44 points, including UNC’s final 18 points. Davis hit a go-ahead three with 4:02 to play, another three for a seven-point lead and three free throws in the final 36 seconds. His final free throw was his 2,000th career point.
• The Tar Heels are playing in the championship game for an ACC-record 36th time. UNC is 18-17 in the finals. The 18 championships are the second most in Tournament history.
• The Tar Heels are 108-51 all-time in the ACC Tournament, including 6-1 in Capital One Arena (1-1 in 2005, 3-0 in 2016 and 2-0 in 2024).
• The Tar Heels earned their 27th No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament (the most of any school). Carolina is 53-15 all-time as the No. 1 seed.
• UNC is 29-11 in the ACC Tournament outside the state of North Carolina, a winning percentage of .725. That is better than the Tar Heels’ ACC Tournament winning percentage in Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh (.658).
• Carolina is 12-4 against NC State in the ACC Tournament, including 4-2 in the finals. This is the third time the teams are meeting in the title game outside the state of North Carolina (1987 in Landover, Md., and 2007 in Tampa, Fla.)
• The Tar Heels and Wolfpack are playing in the ACC Tournament for the first time since the 2012 semifinals in Atlanta and the championship game for the first time since 2007.
• Carolina defeated NC State in the championship game in 1968, 1975, 1997 and 2007. The Pack beat the Tar Heels in the finals in 1959 and 1987.
• Carolina won both regular-season games, prevailing 67-54 in Raleigh on Jan. 10 and 79-70 in Chapel Hill on March 2. Details on those games on the next page.
• The Tar Heels have won eight in a row and are 27-6 overall.
• Carolina won its 33rd regular-season ACC title (22nd outright) with a 17-3 record, two games ahead of Duke.
• The 17 wins tied Virginia (17-1 in 2017-18) for the most in a season in ACC history and are the most since the league went to a 20-game schedule in 2019-20.
• The Tar Heels routed Florida State, 92-67, in the quarterfinals. Davis led four Tar Heels in double figures with 18. Bacot and Harrison Ingram each had 10 rebounds and helped Carolina outrebound the Seminoles by 26 and UNC scored a season-high 26 fastbreak points in advancing to the semifinals for the 54th time in 71 ACC Tournaments.
UNC-NC STATE
• Carolina is 166-80 all-time against NC State.
• The 166 wins are tied for the most wins by UNC against any opponent.
• Carolina is 38-6 in the last 44 games and 55-13 over the last 32 seasons.
JANUARY 10 IN RALEIGH
UNC 67, @NC STATE 54
• Carolina won its third straight road game holding the opponents under 60 points in all three, the first time it did that since 1998-99.
• Ingram grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds, most ever by a Tar Heel against NC State (in 245 games). Bacot had 18 twice and Billy Cunningham had 18 in 1965.
• Carolina held the Wolfpack to 54 points, lowest by NC State in the series since a 60-52 Tar Heel victory in Raleigh on 1/28/2001.
• Carolina held NC State to 26 second-half points, the third consecutive road game UNC held an opponent to fewer than 30 points in the second half (29 by Pittsburgh, 21 by Clemson and 26 by NC State).
• NC State shot 27.3% from the floor (18 of 66), lowest by the Pack against the Tar Heels since at least 1954. The previous low in that stretch was 28.3% in the 1998 ACC Tournament quarterfinals, a 73-46 UNC victory (our records don’t include NC State’s shooting percentages for several games from 1952-54).
• It equaled the sixth-lowest percentage allowed by the Tar Heels in any ACC regular-season or ACC Tournament game.
• It was the lowest field goal percentage by an opponent since UNCA shot 26.5% on 11/23/2021.
• NC State shot the lowest percentage in a first half (.281) and tied the lowest in a second half (.265, also UC Riverside) against UNC this season.
• Carolina shot 38.2% from the floor in the first half and 39.3% in the second. It was the first time since the 2022 ACC quarterfinal against Virginia the Tar Heels shot under 40% from the floor in both halves and won.
• Davis led UNC in scoring for the 11th time in 15 games this season.
• Cadeau had 11 points and six assists. It was his third game scoring in double figures and his most assists since he had 10 against Tennessee.
• Washington had a career-high eight rebounds and was a plus 7, his second-best plus/minus in an ACC game (plus 8 last year vs. Florida State).
• Carolina scored 70 (at Pittsburgh), 65 (at Clemson) and 67 (at NC State) in its last three wins. It was the first time since 2002-03 the Tar Heel scored 70 or fewer points in three consecutive wins.
• Carolina improved 69-48 vs. the Pack on the road (19-6 in PNC Arena).
• It was the first time in 50 years (since 1/22/1974) and third time ever the Tar Heels and Wolfpack played an ACC game when both teams were 3-0 or better in league play.
MARCH 2 IN CHAPEL HILL
@UNC 79, NC STATE 70
• The Tar Heels outscored the Wolfpack, 42-25 (+17) in the second half.
• Carolina overcame an eight-point halftime deficit. It was the largest halftime deficit in a win this season (previous was six vs. Northern Iowa in November and Florida State on Dec. 2, and the largest since overcoming an eight-point halftime deficit at Notre Dame on 2/22/2023).
• Carolina trailed, 45-37, at the half. It was UNC’s largest deficit at the half since Feb. 6 vs. Clemson, when the Tigers led by nine.
• Carolina overcame its largest halftime deficit to win in the Smith Center since beating Florida State, which led by 12 at half on 2/27/2021.
• NC State shot 57.6% from the floor and made 7 of 11 3FGs in scoring 45 first-half points, the most in a first half by an opponent his season (UConn scored 44 on Dec. 5).
• In the second half, Carolina held the Pack to 22.2% from the floor (lowest by any opponent in the second half this season), including 2 of 8 from three.
• NC State missed 15 consecutive field goals in the second half. The Wolfpack was the first opponent to miss 15 consecutive field goals since Pittsburgh on 1/5/19.
• In the first half, NC State scored 13 points off UNC turnovers. In the second half, the Tar Heels turned the ball over just three times that led to two points. Conversely, UNC scored 10 its 12 second-half points in the second half.
• Carolina made 23 free throws, its most since making 25 against Florida State on 12/2/23.
• Cadeau scored 15 points and had a game-high seven assists.
• Ingram tied his career high with eight field goals and scored a season-high 22 points (previous high was 21 vs. Duke).
• Davis scored 14 points and had five assists.
First appeared on goheels.com