Tag: UNC Tar Heels

PHOTOS: Tar Heels take down Florida State, start a win streak

North Carolina is now on another winning streak, check out the photos at Florida State of their second-straight win.

The North Carolina Tar Heels went on the road and won their second straight ACC game today. They are officially back over the .500 mark with a 5-4 record and are working their ACC record back to the .500 mark at 2-3.

It was all North Carolina, all game on Saturday. The offense totaled 500 yards from the line of scrimmage and the defense allowed Florida State only 201 total yards including just 42 on the ground.

The front seven of UNC’s defense has allowed just 49 yards on the ground by the opposition in their last two wins. Omarion Hampton ran for a single-game career-high in touchdowns with four on the night on 32 carries for 172 yards while also totaling 93 receiving yards and another touchdown through the air.

Check out the photos from North Carolina’s huge win!

Omarion Hampton sets career-high in win at Florida State

UNC’s star running back scrambled for a single-game career-high at Florida State.

North Carolina went back on the road in Week 10 of the college football season after destroying Virginia last week in their first ACC win and first football win in the previous five weeks.

They kept that momentum moving through the week and brought the same energy into Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida, on Saturday afternoon, beating Florida State 35-11.

In the win, UNC football topped 500 yards of offense and 23 total first downs including 211 yards on offense and 289 yards on the ground.

The rushing attack was led by preseason All-American Omarion Hampton, who has continued putting up stellar numbers. He ran 32 times for 172 yards, averaging 5.4 yards per carry with a game-long run of 43 yards.

He also had four touchdowns in the win, marking a single-game career-high for the junior running back from Clayton, North Carolina.

Hampton scored his first touchdown on a one-yard punch-in in the second quarter and followed it up with one of the same just 10 minutes later on a two-yard punch-in.

His third touchdown of the day came on a 31-yard scamper, breaking multiple Florida State tackles to mark the third time this season that he has scored three touchdowns. He set his career-high later in the third quarter with another one-yard score.

Hampton is only getting better and is up to 1,178 yards and 13 touchdowns this season.

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UNC’s Ty Claude eligibility issue solved, fully cleared to play

Ty Claude has been fully cleared to play ahead of season opener on Monday!

A couple of weeks ago, UNC basketball announced that it had run into eligibility issues with Georgia Tech transfer Ty Claude. His move to North Carolina marked his fourth college in five years.

He spent his first five years of collegiate basketball with Morehead State and Western Carolina before heading to Georgia Tech.

According to Inside Carolina, Claude shared this about his transfer process.

I knew I was going to try to get a waiver. I didn’t end up getting it until the end of July. So it was like a four-month process. … It was slow, trying to get the waiver, and I would hear from different schools. But when I got the waiver, I heard from Carolina maybe a day or two after.

With the season just days away, Claude’s eligibility was still an issue. With the issues Tez Walker and the football team dealt with last year, we saw that it is something that can be fixed but feared that it might not be with much urgency.

Luckily for Hubert Davis and company, Claude’s issue was resolved quickly, and he will be ready to go for Elon on Monday in the Dean E. Smith Center for his first regular season game in a Tar Heel uniform.

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UNC basketball has two of Andy Katz’s top ten non-conference games

According to NCAA.com, UNC has two of the top non-conference games this season.

There is no doubt that North Carolina has one of the hardest schedules of all college basketball this season. They play at least four games against preseason AP Top 25 opponents with a possibility of a fifth.

According to NCAA.com journalist Andy Katz, North Carolina has two of the top ten non-conference games this season. He starts off with the first non-conference game on his ranking, No. 9 UNC at No. 1 Kansas.

Two blue bloods collide when North Carolina heads to Allen Fieldhouse to face Kansas in a 2022 national championship rematch. Kansas, riding a four-game win streak in the series, will look to extend its recent success in head-to-head matchups. With both teams tied at 6-6 in their all-time meetings, the stage is set for another thrilling matchup between two of college basketball’s most storied programs.

Katz went on to list multiple games before getting to No. 9 UNC welcoming in No. 2 Alabama to the Dean Dome for a rematch against the team that knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament last year.

In a highly-anticipated Sweet 16 rematch, North Carolina hosts Alabama in the ACC/SEC Challenge at the Dean E. Smith Center. The Tar Heels will look to avenge last March’s 89-87 loss, which ended their NCAA tournament run. Two preseason AP All-Americans will be on the court with North Carolina’s RJ Davis and Alabama’s Mark Sears.

If UNC basketball can get to conference play undefeated or only one loss, they will undoubtedly be one of the best and most-tested teams in the nation.

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Both UNC basketball freshmen on ESPN Top 50 Newcomers

Ian Jackson and Drake Powell are set for a stellar year and are among ESPN’s Top 50 transfers and freshmen.

With the men’s college basketball season on the cusp of starting, major, reputable sites are putting out an increased amount of lists and rankings. This specific list culminates the top 50 players in men’s college basketball that are either transfer to new teams or incoming freshmen.

ESPN staff writer Jeff Borzello puts two North Carolina freshmen on the list, Ian Jackson and Drake Powell.

Powell ranks No. 19 on the list led by Duke’s Cooper Flagg.

Powell has generated positive reviews early in Chapel Hill, with scouts impressed by his ability on the defensive end. He can guard multiple positions and has good instincts at that end of the floor. Powell is a projected lottery pick in the 2025 NBA draft.

Borzello also had high praise for the higher star talent in Ian Jackson who he has at No. 50 on this ranking.

UNC’s perimeter group is crowded, so it will be interesting to see Jackson’s role in the first few weeks, but he’s generated positive reviews so far. Aggressive with the ball in his hands, Jackson can get baskets in a hurry.

With the makeup of the Tar Heels roster, it is easy to see how Powell can have a more immediate impact with the frontcourt being weaker. However, both are NBA prospects and both will be very versatile under Hubert Davis this season.

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UNC basketball has two players on Julius Erving Watch List

Two UNC players are featured on this preseason award watch list!

After two exhibition games, North Carolina is looking forward to kicking off their men’s college basketball season with a home game at the Dean E. Smith Center on Monday against Elon.

RJ Davis and Elliot Cadeau have been on plenty of preseason lists, from ACC Player of the Year to Breakout Star to Top Player in the Nation. However, two different UNC stars find their name on the Julius Erving Award watch list.

The Julius Erving Award is named after the Class of 1993 Hall of Famer and 16-year professional basketball player for multiple franchises. The award goes to the top small forward in Division I men’s college basketball.

Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht won the award in 2024, preceded by Kansas’ Jalen Wilson, Duke’s Wendell Moore, and Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert in the previous four years.

This year, Ian Jackson and Drake Powell, two UNC stars and some of the top freshmen in college basketball were on the preseason watch list.

The Tar Heels are the only team on the watch list with two players represented. Other notable freshmen on the list include Duke’s Cooper Flagg, Rutgers‘ Ace Bailey, and UConn’s Liam McNeeley.

The notable non-freshmen include Auburn’s Chad Baker-Manaza, Indiana’s Mackenzie Mgbako, Kansas’s AJ Storr, and Miami’s Matthew Cleveland.

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Three Tar Heels ranked in ESPN’s preseason top 100 college basketball players

Three UNC Tar Heels joined the ranks of the top 100 players in college basketball, according to ESPN.

Yesterday, ESPN, written by Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf released their top 100 college basketball players ahead of the start of the regular season next week. Three UNC basketball talents find their name on the list.

The first player on the list is Drake Powell. The freshman forward ranks No. 88, according to the writers who had this to say about his impact.

“At 6-5, Powell’s greatest strength is probably his versatility. In a landscape full of elite players, he can be a talented scorer and also defend multiple positions — key for a UNC squad that had a top-10 defense a year ago.”

The next player on the list was just 11 spots above Powell and that is guard Elliot Cadeau. Hubert Davis gave high praise over the offseason of Cadeau and his improvements which were noticed by Borzello and Medcalf too.

“He has long been considered one of the elite passers in the country but will look to improve upon his 18.9% 3-point shooting. If he can make strides as a shooter and on-ball defender, he can be one of the best point guards in college basketball.”

The last Tar Heel is the best, RJ Davis. Davis came in at No. 2 after a lengthy piece on the debate between fifth-year senior and potential superstar freshman in Duke’s Cooper Flagg.

“Davis deserves to be the preseason national player of the year favorite. He was a first-team All-American. He has been to the national title game. He led North Carolina to a 1-seed last season. And he’s likely going to put up bigger scoring numbers than Flagg — and make a legitimate run at becoming the Tar Heels’ all-time leading scorer. ”

Ultimately, they chose Flagg because of his hype and potential ceiling. However, Davis is still one, if not the, best player in the country.

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UNC guard named among CBS Sports top eight breakout stars

CBS Sports pegs this UNC basketball player as a top breakout candidate!

North Carolina will start their basketball season in just under a week when they take on Elon at home. It won’t take long, just over a week from now, before they open up their first game against a top-25 opponent.

Looking ahead to the season, CBS Sports journalist Cameron Salerno listed his top eight breakout stars in college basketball which included Tar Heel’s guard Elliot Cadeau.

Cadeau is coming off of a season starting 31 games and averaging 7.3 points, 4.4 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game as a true freshman. However, you have to also realize that Cadeau reclassified last year and entered college a year early.

His maturity into his sophomore season along with his skillset has greatly increased. Here is what Salerno had to say about the Tar Heel guard.

Cadeau’s greatest strength is his passing, but where he is poised to improve the most is his 3-point shooting. Cadeau shot an abysmal 18.9% on 1.4 attempts from beyond the arc, and part of the game plan opposing teams would instill (see the game against Alabama as an example) was to leave him open to shoot. His passing remains his greatest strength, but improving his shooting from beyond the arc will go a long way in his draft stock soaring.

Elliot Cadaeu and RJ Davis make up one of the best backcourts in the nation and if Cadeau has improved as immensely as anticipated, they will dominate in the upcoming season.

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UNC defensive end named Bednarik Player of the Week

UNC defensive end names Bednarik Player of the Week in just third game this season.

After a four-game slide, the North Carolina football team got back on the right side of the win-loss column on the road in Week 9 against Virginia.

They snapped the four-game losing streak while simultaneously picking up their first conference win this season. Not only would a win have been sufficient, but they put the stomp on Virginia winning by 27 points giving up just one touchdown and two field goals on the day.

While the offense played well under Jacolby Criswell‘s 293 yards through the air and Omarion Hampton‘s 105 yards on the ground, the defense was the most spectacular showing by the Tar Heels in the game.

As a team, they totaled 62 tackles, 10 sacks, 12 tackles for a loss, two interceptions, and one touchdown.

The defense was led by Kaimon Rucker (DE) who was also selected to be the Bednarik Player of the Week.

Rucker finished No. 2 on the team in total tackles with eight including five solo tackles. He led the team with three sacks and 3.5 tackles for a loss. Rucker was also one of the two players to record an interception in the win.

In just under three total games played this season, Rucker has 16 total tackles and 12 solo tackles. He has four sacks and an interception.

He will look to get back into this form and duplicate this game against Florida State on Saturday.

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Could UNC basketball pursue this surprise Virginia transfer?

Could UNC basketball benefit from this Florida State turned-Virginia surprise transfer?

The UNC basketball season is just days away and a surprise decision was made out of the ACC-foe Virginia’s campus. Just weeks ago, coach Tony Bennett shockingly retired from college basketball leaving a gaping hole in the Virginia team.

That has now led to its first casualty as incoming Virginia transfer Jalen Warley made the decision to hit the transfer portal, just days away from the start of the regular season. He does have the option to red-shirt this year that way it wouldn’t count against him, but could another team, including UNC, use his services this year?

Warley committed to Florida State out of high school. He was a four-star, 97-rated player on 247 sports out of high school. He was the No. 3 ranked combo guard and the No. 2 player in Pennsylvania.

Warley entered the transfer portal after playing three seasons with Florida State. He had his best year last season averaging 7.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists along with 1.3 steals shooting 43.4% from the field.

According to 247 Sports, he was a three-star, 88-ranked transfer, the No. 32-ranked combo guard in the portal. The Westtown School product will now need to make a decision as to where to play or if to play this season.

North Carolina was not one to immediately offer Warley out of high school, but now the Tar Heels could benefit from the added depth and defensive prowess of this 6-foot-7 guard.e

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