Heels Take Great Pride In 9-0 ACC Road Mark

CHESTNUT HILL, MA – They won’t hang a banner for it and won’t really dwell too much on it, but the North Carolina Tar Heels are still proud of finishing ACC play unbeaten on the road.

With Tuesday night’s 79-66 victory at Boston College, the third-ranked Tar Heels conclude ACC play with a 9-0 record in their opponents’ buildings. It’s the first time since the ACC expanded to 15 teams and 18 league games the Heels have gone unblemished away from home in conference play. The last time they were undefeated in other ACC arenas was at 8-0 in 2008.

“I think that’s a fantastic accomplishment,” UNC Coach Roy Williams said. “It’s not one of our goals at the start of the season because we set long term goals, short term goals, we talk about being competitive at home and the road but we never talk about our record. But still, I thought that was something good.”

What’s perhaps most impressive is the manner in which Carolina achieved this mark, as the average margin of UNC’s nine ACC road victories is 16.3 points.

The margins of UNC’s nine ACC road wins: At Pitt by 25; At State by 8; At Miami by 9; At GT by 23; At Louisville by 10; At Wake by 38; At Duke by 16; At Clemson by 2 and At BC by 16. That’s nine wins by 147 total points for an average of 16.3 per victory.

Overall, the Tar Heels (25-5, 15-2 ACC) also now have won 11 true road games, as they won at now-ranked Wofford and at Elon to start the season back in November.

“I think a big part of it is the fact we’ve got a lot of weapons, people that can score from different spots and different people that can step up every night,” senior Cam Johnson said. “Road games can be a little tough so, if somebody’s off, we’ve got enough four or five guys that can score. Chances are higher somebody’s going to have a good game.”

Fellow senior Luke Maye says it goes back to the Tar Heels’ only loss in a true road game all season, an 84-67 blowout defeat at Michigan in a game that was more lopsided than the final score.

“After we lost to Michigan, that was pretty tough for us and we had to make a statement that we couldn’t lose anymore on the road,” Maye said. “Coach always talks about trying to be the best team we can on the road and I thought we’ve done a really good job this year.

“Having our last true road game as a win is big for us but we’ve so many more games on the road coming up at neutral sites and we’ve haven’t done so well this year at neutral sites, but I think that’s gonna be good for us and we’re ready for the challenge.”

The Heels won’t play anymore true road games the rest of the way. In fact, Saturday at home versus Duke will be their final home affair and after that everything is on neutral courts.

So 11-1 overall on the road and 9-0 in ACC play show this team has the mettle to navigate whatever waits in front of them.