The North Carolina Tar Heels reached 600 ACC wins, the first team in the conference to meet that landmark, after beating Wake Forest 68-53 Tuesday night.

That’s 600 wins in a conference that has had 10 NCAA National Champions in the last 20 years. The Tar Heels are trailed by cross-town rival Duke with 551 wins, Maryland with 428 wins, N.C. State with 411 wins and Tuesday’s opponent Wake Forest with 400 wins.

Going into this game, the Heels were ranked 5th by the Associated Press and tied for 6th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll as they faced the unranked Demon Deacons at the Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem.

The Heels led the Deacons 36-24 at halftime of the low-tempo game.

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THE TEAMS

Tar Heels

Record:  19-3, 6-1 in ACC play

Upcoming games:  The third game in six nights, the win against the Demon Deacons brings the Tar Heels to a four game winning streak before the team faces Maryland (Feb. 2) and Duke (Feb. on the road.

Season Standouts:  Sophomore point guard Kendall Marshall scored a season high 14 points against the Deacons. Before Tuesday’s game, Marshall average 9.7 assists a game is ahead of the UNC record set by Ed Cota in 2000 of 8.1 assists a game, and he is the first Tar Heel ever to have more than 15 assists in a game–and he has done it three times this season.

Junior forward John Henson and senior forward Tyler Zeller, who locked down the boards with averages of more than 9 rebounds a game each before facing the Deacons, scored 14 points and 18 points respectively.

Injured:  Junior guard Dexter Strickland is out for the remainder of the season after tearing his ACL during the Jan. 19, game against Virginia Tech.

Demon Deacons

Record:  11-11, 2-6 in ACC play

Recent games:  The Deacons enter Tuesday’s game after losing the last two games against Florida State at home (52-76) and against Clemson away (60-71).

Season Standouts:  Junior guard C.J. Harris has scored at least ten points in 20 straight games, including every game he has played in this season. Ranked 8th in scoring among active ACC players, he broke 1,000 career points in Tuesday’s game.

Related reading

Rapid Reaction: UNC 68, Wake 53 || ESPN blog

UNC at Wake Forest: Three things to watch || The News & Observer