The No. 19 North Carolina men’s basketball team, 11-3 on the season and 1-0 in conference play, looks to build off the momentum of a road win at Clemson by defending its home court Monday night in an ACC battle with No. 14 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish come in sporting a 14-1 record and 2-0 mark in league action.

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For the first time in a while, UNC head coach Roy Williams was pleased with his team’s play Saturday night in the runaway victory at Littlejohn Coliseum.

The team cheers from the sidelines (Todd Melet)

The team cheers from the sidelines (Todd Melet)

“The last part of the first half, I thought we were really good. That’s probably the best that we’ve played over the course of the season. We shared the ball, we didn’t turn it over, we got good shots, we made shots, and we got some stops at the defensive end of the floor,” Coach Williams says.

Having dropped their past two ACC openers, Coach Williams says the Tar Heels were extra motivated not to let history repeat itself.

“Everybody kept reminding us that we lost the conference opener two years in a row, so we wanted to make sure we didn’t do that. We wanted to play, and I think we played well,” Coach Williams says.

Monday’s opponent, Notre Dame, is leading the nation in effective field goal percentage at 63, including a 40.4-percent park from behind the arc.

Going up against one of the hottest-shooting teams in the country, UNC will be looking for freshman Justin Jackson to continue to produce on the offensive end.

Coach Williams says Jackson’s confidence grows when he can find the net early on in games, like he did against Clemson.

“Justin was really good in the first half in the last game as well. It helps his confidence that the ball is going in the basket a little bit more. He’s going to be a good scorer, and I think he’s a good shooter. He can score the ball and does some good things,” Coach Williams says.

Notre Dame players will be hungry for a road win Monday night (Collegesportsmadness.com)

Notre Dame players will be hungry for a road win Monday night (Collegesportsmadness.com)

Carolina leads the ACC in offensive rebounding percentage at 44 percent – good enough for third nationally. That’s a trend Coach Williams would like to see continue against the Irish.

“We didn’t shoot it great in the second half ourselves. I think the back boards, you can’t say that one area is more important by far than everything, but I happen to like the rebounding as a key thing for me. I think we did some good things there,” Coach Williams says.

Another encouraging sign for the Tar Heels is they’re playing cleaner. Saturday night, Carolina committed just six turnovers, tying its fewest in 12 seasons under Coach Williams.

The Tar Heels would do well to limit the turnovers against the offensively efficient Irish, who are coming off a thrilling double-overtime victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

UNC leads the head-to-head series with Notre Dame 18-4 and won the most recent meeting 63-61 last March in Chapel Hill.