AFP editor Chris Graham leads our live blog as #1 seed UNC faces #9 seed Miami in the 2017 ACC Tournament.
UNC Team Notes
- Junior forward Justin Jackson is the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year.
- The Tomball, Texas, native leads Carolina in scoring at 18.3 points per game and in three-pointers with 85, is second in assists (84) and fourth in rebounds (4.7). He is setting career highs in scoring average, three-point percentage (.385), three-pointers and rebounds.
- Jackson is the 14th Tar Heel to win ACC Player of the Year honors (a total of 15 times). He joins Lennie Rosenbluth (1957), Pete Brennan (1958), Lee Shaffer (1960), Billy Cunningham (1965), Larry Miller (1967 and 1968), Mitch Kupchak (1976), Phil Ford (1978), Michael Jordan (1984), Antawn Jamison (1998), Joseph Forte (2001), Tyler Hansbrough (2008), Ty Lawson (2009) and Tyler Zeller (2012).
- Junior guard Joel Berry II earned second-team All-ACC honors. Berry is Carolina’s second-leading scorer (15.1 ppg), and leads UNC in assists (112), three-point percentage (.424), free throw percentage (.832) and steals (42). The Apopka, Fla., native was the MVP of the Maui Invitational in November, earned ACC Player-of-the Week honors four times this year and National Player-of-the-Week honors twice.
- Berry has scored 20 points eight times this season, including a career-high 31 at Clemson when he made seven three-pointers in an overtime win on the road that helped the eventual ACC champions avoid an 0-2 start in conference play. Berry also had 26 points in a win over Florida State and 28 on March 4 vs. Duke.
Miami Team Notes
- Miami defeated three ranked teams this season, downing No. 9/6 North Carolina, No. 10/11 Duke in Coral Gables, and No. 18/19 Virginia on the road. This is the third-straight year and the fifth time in Coach L’s six seasons that the Canes have defeated two top 15 teams.
- Coach Jim Larrañaga has posted five 20-win seasons in his first six years at The U and the Canes have won seven or more ACC games each season under Coach L.
- Senior Davon Reed is the recipient of the ACC’s 2017 Skip Prosser Award, presented annually to the top scholar-athlete in ACC men’s basketball. Reed will graduate in May with a degree in sports administration and double minors in communications and marketing.
- Freshman Bruce Brown, who is majoring in sports administration, was named to the All-ACC Academic Team.
- Freshman guard Bruce Brown recorded a triple-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against South Carolina State on Dec. 6. It was the second triple-double in program history at Miami
- Coach Larrañaga recorded his 600th career win on Jan. 14 at Pitt. With 600 wins, he is one of five ACC coaches with 600 victories, and the other four men are in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
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