North Carolina (24-10) will make its 44th appearance in the NCAA Tournament when it faces Villanova (20-13) at 7:20 p.m. Eastern Time (6:20 Central) on Friday in Kansas City, Mo.
Carolina is the No. 8 seed in the South Regional and Villanova is the No. 9 seed. UNC has advanced to 18 Final Fours, most in the nation, and won five NCAA titles (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005 and 2009). The Tar Heels have played in 149 all-time NCAA Tournament games and won 108 of them, and both totals rank second in NCAA history and first among 2013 NCAA Tournament participants.
Entering the NCAA Tournament, Villanova carries a 20-13 overall record after going 10-8 during regular season BIG EAST games. The Wildcats were the No. 7 seed in the BIG EAST Championship and defeated St. John’s in the second round of the conference tournament. According to rankings posted on espn.com, Villanova ranks No. 51 in the RPI and has the No. 21 strength of schedule. Among the highlights of the Wildcats tournament resumé are three regular season victories over teams ranked in the top five of the Associated Press Top 25 poll at the time of the game. Villanova is 4-2 against teams ranked in the top 25 of the RPI and has eight victories against top 100 teams.
Villanova features a balanced offensive attack and is led by sophomore forward JayVaughn Pinkson, a third team All-BIG EAST selection. Pinkston leads the team with 13.1 points per game and also averages 4.9 rebounds per contest. Freshman point guard Ryan Arcidiacono was named to the BIG EAST All-Rookie team and averages 12.0 points and 3.5 assists per game. He also leads the Wildcats with 70 three-pointers for the season. Senior center Mouphtaou Yarou leads the team in rebounding (7.8 rebounds per game) and averages 9.7 points per contest, while sophomore guard Darrun Hilliard (11.2 ppg.) and junior guard James Bell (8.7 ppg., 55 three-pointers) are also main contributors.
Notes
• TNT will televise Friday’s game nationally, and Marv Albert (play-by-play), Steve Kerr (analyst) and Craig Sager (reporter) will have the call. The same crew called Carolina’s NCAA Tournament regional games in St. Louis last year, and Albert and Kerr called UNC’s home game vs. Florida State on March 3 this season.
• Dial Global Radio will carry the game live on national radio. Kevin Calabro (play-by-play) and Will Perdue (analyst) will be on the mic.
• A win on Friday would be the 700th in the head coaching career of UNC’s Roy Williams.
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• The winner of Friday’s game will advance to Sunday’s third round to play the winner of Friday’s game between No. 1 seed Kansas and No. 16 seed Western Kentucky.
A win away from 25
• Carolina has won 24 games in 2012-13 and needs one more victory for the 34th 25-win season in school history.
• The Tar Heels have won 25 or more games in a season 33 times in 102 seasons, including five in the last six years (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012) and six in the previous eight seasons under head coach Roy Williams (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012).
• Williams-coached teams have won 25 or more games 18 times in 24 previous seasons as a head coach at Kansas and UNC
Series vs. the Wildcats
• Carolina leads the all-time series with Villanova, 10-4. UNC has won both of the last two meetings and six of the last eight (since early in the 1989-90 season).
• Carolina is 4-1 against Villanova in NCAA Tournament play, beating the Wildcats in 1982, 1991, 2005 and 2009 and losing in 1985.
• Friday’s meeting will be the third meeting in a row in the series to come in NCAA Tournament play. In 2005, Carolina beat Villanova in the Sweet 16 in Syracuse, winning the national championship 10 days later in St. Louis. In 2009, the Tar Heels beat the Wildcats in the Final Four in Detroit before beating Michigan State for the NCAA title two days later.
• UNC’s Roy Williams is 2-0 as a head coach against Villanova, with the wins coming in the 2005 and 2009 NCAA Tournaments.
• In every previous NCAA Tournament matchup of the two teams, one of them went on to the Final Four; in four of the five games one of them went on to win the national title.
• In 2009, Carolina beat Villanova in the national semifinal in Detroit and won the NCAA title two days later against Michigan State. In 2005, UNC beat the Wildcats, 67-66, in the Sweet 16 in Syracuse. The Tar Heels went on to win the national title that year in Williams’ second season as their head coach.
• Prior to the 2005 NCAA Tournament win by UNC, Villanova beat Carolina twice during the 1995-96 regular season. The Wildcats beat UNC in the Maui Invitational early in the ‘95-’96 campaign and followed that with a win over the Tar Heels in Philadelphia on Jan. 20, 1996.
• Carolina beat Villanova in Raleigh in the 1982 NCAA Tournament on the way to the ‘82 national championship. The Tar Heels also beat the Wildcats in Syracuse on the way to the 1991 NCAA Final Four.
• Villanova beat Carolina in the 1985 NCAA Final Eight in Birmingham, Ala., on the way to the Wildcats’ 1985 national title.