No. 6 North Carolina (16-9, 10-6 ACC) vs. No. 11 Notre Dame (10-14, 7-11 ACC)
Greensboro, N.C. — Greensboro Coliseum
Wednesday, March 10, 9 p.m. ET
ACCN (Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas)
Quotables
“You’ve got to be really, really good and you have to be playing very well at this time of year. Guard play is extremely important. The pace of the games are extremely important. We went four years in a row and lost in the finals, I think, four years in row, and did very well once we got past a tournament, once we got in the NCAAs at that time. But we have a conference tournament, it’s the granddaddy of it all. It’s extremely important to the fans and the alums and how you play.” – UNC head coach Roy Williams on the ACC Tournament
“It’s a group that showed a lot of character. I know we don’t have a hell of a lot to wins to show for it, but this group has kind of hung in there together, and at the 10-minute mark, it didn’t look very good. But I thought our leadership was great, and I thought Prentiss Hubb after a very tough first half — you can’t keep a winner like that down for 40 minutes.” – Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey after his team’s 80-77 first-round win
Pregame Notes
Completing the Sweep: UNC got out to a 26-6 lead with 9:21 remaining in the first half. Duke never got the lead closer than 12 points the rest of the way to give UNC the win, 91-73.. Four Tar Heels scored in double figures led by Armando Bacot, Kerwin Walton and Caleb Love with 18 points each. Garrison Brooks added 14 points and five rebounds on his Senior Night with two made three-pointers for the first time in his career.
How We Got Here: UNC earned the No. 6 seed and therefore received a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament. No. 11 seed Notre Dame closed its first-round matchup with No. 14 seed Wake Forest on a 17-2 run over the final 6:58 as Trey Wertz drained a 30-footer at the buzzer to claim an 80-77 victory on Tuesday night. Wertz and Juwan Durham each scored 16 points for Mike Brey’s squad, while Prentiss Hubb and Cormac Ryan each added 14 points. The Fighting Irish shot 51.7%, including a 46.2% effort from 3-point range (12-of-26).
One-Sided: Notre Dame, which finished 11th in the ACC standings, relies solely on its ability to make baskets. Per KenPom, Notre Dame is 16th in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency, 30th in effective field goal percentage (54.6 percent), 36th in three-point percentage (37.2 percent), 47th in two-point percentage (53.7 percent) and 25th in free throw percentage (77.3 percent). To help things and make matters harder on defenses, the Irish take care of the basketball. It turns it over on 15.4 percent of possessions (17th nation) and commits unforced errors or non-steal turnovers on 6.5 percent of possessions (3rd nation).
Offensive Glass: Despite a poor shooting performance in the first meeting, UNC earned its victory over Notre Dame by dominating the offensive boards. The Tar Heels rebounded 46.7% of their misses, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds. UNC manufactured an 18-5 advantage in second-chance points. The challenge for the Irish was in keeping multiple bodies off the glass. Day’Ron Sharpe pulled down seven offensive rebounds, Armando Bacot grabbed five and Leaky Black and Garrison Brooks totaled three apiece. Notre Dame ranks 198th in opponents’ offensive rebounding percentage (28.4) – and is even worse in offensive rebounding percentage (21.3%, 325th) – while UNC leads the nation in rebounding 40.6% of its misses this season.
ACCT Record: UNC is 102-48 all-time in ACC Tournament play, including a 2-1 record in the second round. The Tar Heels are 117-34 in all games played in the Greensboro Coliseum, including a 40-19 record in the ACC Tournament. UNC has won eight of its 18 ACC Tournament titles in Greensboro.
Last Meeting: Notre Dame led by seven points with 7:39 to play before UNC rallied for a 66-65 victory at the Smith Center on Jan. 2. Leaky Black’s driving layup with nine seconds to play gave the Tar Heels the lead for good. UNC shot 34.8% to Notre Dame’s 47.3%, but created 14 more field goal attempts to offset the difference. Sharpe turned in his breakout performance with 25 points and nine rebounds.
Series History: UNC leads the all-time series, 26-8. Each team has a win against the other in the ACC Tournament.
Projected UNC Starters:
1 Leaky Black (Jr., 6-8, 195) – 5.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg
2 Caleb Love (Fr., 6-4, 195) – 10.4 ppg, 3.8 apg
5 Armando Bacot (So., 6-10, 240) – 11.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg
15 Garrison Brooks (Sr., 6-10, 240) – 10.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg
24 Kerwin Walton (Fr., 6-5, 205) – 8.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg
Projected ND Starters:
11 Juwan Durham (Gr., 6-11, 231) – 10.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg
3 Prentiss Hubb (Jr., 6-3, 175) – 14.6 ppg, 6.0 apg
5 Ryan Cormac (Jr., 6-5, 195) – 10.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg
14 Nate Laszewski (Jr., 6-10, 227) – 13.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg
23 Dane Goodwin (Jr., 6-6, 200) – 12.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg
Key ND Reserves:
13 Nikola Djogo (Gr., 6-8, 230) – 5.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg
2 Trey Wertz (Jr., 6-5, 195) – 8.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg
UNC Info
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Notre Dame Info
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