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Tar Heels To Host Wake Forest
Feb. 9, 2007
The North Carolina men's basketball team will play just its third home game in the last nine outings when it hosts Wake Forest on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in the Smith Center in Chapel Hill. The game will be televised regionally by Raycom-Lincoln Financial. Just over two weeks ago, Carolina won at Wake Forest, 88-60, in the Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem. With their 79-73 win at Duke on Wednesday night, the Tar Heels (21-3, 7-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) completed a stretch that included six road dates in eight games. Carolina enters the weekend in third place in the ACC standings, one half-game behind 8-2 Boston College and Virginia. Wake Forest (11-12, 2-8 ACC) is tied for 11th place in the ACC. The Tar Heels are ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press poll and No. 5 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll this week. Wake Forest is unranked. The Demon Deacons are coming off a 79-61 win over Winston-Salem State on Tuesday night. 1957 AND 1982 NCAA CHAMPION REUNION THIS WEEKEND Team members will be introduced at halftime of the game with Wake Forest and will attend a private dinner on Saturday evening hosted by head coach Roy Williams. THE SERIES VS. WAKE FOREST • The Demon Deacons have beaten UNC six of the last nine times the teams have met. • Saturday's game will be the first in the series to be played in Chapel Hill after four consecutive meetings in Winston-Salem. Two-and-a-half weeks ago, Carolina beat Wake 88-60 in the Joel Coliseum. The two teams met just once in each of the last two seasons, with both games played at Wake Forest. The second of two meetings in the 2003-04 season was also played in the Joel Coliseum. Saturday's game will mark the Demon Deacons' first appearance in Chapel Hill since Dec. 20, 2003. • Carolina leads the series 68-18 in Chapel Hill and 15-4 at the Smith Center. • UNC has won more games (149) against Wake Forest than any other opponent. • Saturday's game will mark the 213th game for UNC against Wake Forest. It is the 108th contest against the Deacons in which North Carolina has been ranked in the Associated Press poll. The Tar Heels are 80-27 against Wake Forest as a ranked team. • Roy Williams is 5-3 vs. Wake Forest as a head coach, including a 3-2 record as the Carolina head coach. That 3-2 record at UNC includes a 3-1 mark in Winston-Salem and an 0-1 record in Chapel Hill. Williams was 2-1 against Wake Forest while coaching at Kansas. EARLIER THIS SEASON IN WINSTON-SALEM The margin of victory was UNC's biggest ever on the road at Wake Forest and its biggest anywhere in the series since a 91-62 win in Chapel Hill on Feb. 8, 1986. Ty Lawson scored all 15 of his points in the second half on 5 of 7 shooting in the period after playing just nine minutes in the first half because of foul trouble. Wayne Ellington led all scorers with 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting. Tyler Hansbrough finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Brandan Wright had 12 points, seven boards and three blocked shots. Danny Green hit 3 of 5 three-pointers and finished with 12 points. Lawson ignited a 28-5, second-half run to blow open the game, scoring six consecutive points to take UNC from a 44-41 lead to a 50-41 edge in under two minutes of play. Wake hit just 2 of 19 shots and 1 of 8 free throws during the Tar Heel run. For the second straight road game, UNC topped 50 percent shooting while holding its opponent under 40 percent. Carolina shot 56.7 percent from the floor in the first half, 57.1 percent in the second half and 56.9 percent for the game. Wake shot 38.9 percent in the first half, 25.7 percent in the second and 32.4 percent overall.
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