Tuesday Talking Points
The latest facts and figures regarding Carolina hoops.
Jan. 11, 2005
By Adam Lucas
Carolina is third in this week's Associated Press poll, and they're joined by Wake Forest at number four and Georgia Tech at number eight. With games against the Jackets on Wednesday and Wake Forest on Saturday, this week will mark just the eighth time in the history of Carolina basketball that the Heels will be involved in back-to-back regular season top-10 showdowns. Only one of those weeks has come in the past 25 years--UNC lost to Tech and beat Duke in the final week of the 1985 regular season. The Heels' cumulative record in those games is 9-6; the odd game is because on Dec. 9, 12, and 16, 1967, the Heels played three straight top-10 games.
The Tar Heels have played six games against Tech when the Jackets are ranked in the top ten. They have an overall 4-2 record in that situation and have won the last four games in a row, including a 103-88 win over eighth-ranked Tech at the Smith Center last season.
Carolina is 4-1 against Wake Forest when the Deacs are ranked in the AP top five. The lone loss came on the road at second-ranked Wake on Jan. 4, 1997.
The Heels are riding an 11-game winning streak at the Smith Center. That's the fifth-longest streak in the building's history. The longest was 25 games from March 4, 1992-Feb. 12, 1994.
Raymond Felton has made more than 50 percent of his field goals in 10 games so far this season. Coming into this season, he had only 13 such games in his previous two seasons.
With 34 assists and 33 turnovers, this is the latest in any season of Sean May's Carolina career that he's had an assist/turnover ratio above 1.0.
The Tar Heels have held opponents below 43 percent shooting from the field in 10 straight games.
The last time Carolina scored at least 100 points in four straight games was the 1988-89 season, when they broke the century mark against UCLA, Towson State, San Diego State, and Pepperdine. The Heels accomplished the same feat during the 1985-86 season against The Citadel, Manhattan, Brown, and Florida State.
