North Carolina hosts Notre Dame after Davis' 27-point game

Published Jan. 6, 2023 2:42 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-7, 0-4 ACC) at North Carolina Tar Heels (10-5, 2-2 ACC)

Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Saturday, 11:30 a.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: North Carolina faces the Notre Dame Fighting Irish after RJ Davis scored 27 points in North Carolina's 88-79 win over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

The Tar Heels are 7-0 in home games. North Carolina leads the ACC with 27.8 defensive rebounds per game led by Armando Bacot averaging 6.6.

The Fighting Irish are 0-4 in ACC play. Notre Dame has a 2-2 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

The matchup Saturday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Caleb Love averages 1.9 made 3-pointers per game for the Tar Heels, scoring 16.8 points while shooting 27.7% from beyond the arc. Bacot is averaging 18.6 points and 11.1 rebounds over the past 10 games for North Carolina.

Nate Laszewski is shooting 51.9% and averaging 13.4 points for the Fighting Irish. JJ Starling is averaging 12.5 points over the last 10 games for Notre Dame.

LAST 10 GAMES: Tar Heels: 5-5, averaging 80.9 points, 37.5 rebounds, 13.6 assists, 6.9 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 45.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.1 points per game.

Fighting Irish: 3-7, averaging 64.8 points, 28.0 rebounds, 11.8 assists, 4.4 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 43.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.