Alabama isn’t like many, if any, other teams in college basketball. The Crimson Tide’s offensive approach is almost as unique as the triple option is in football. Almost. There’s only so much room for variation in basketball, and Nate Oats’ team is about as atypical as they come. The Tide like to run, play fast, shoot fast, and score a ton. And they do it usually only using certain parts of the floor. Please click here for more.

A physical, aggressive Michigan State team put North Carolina on notice early as the Spartans raced out to 12-point lead. But after a fiery UNC coach Hubert Davis went ballistic during a timeout, the Tar Heels matched and exceeded the competitive fire, going on to beat a tough Michigan State team 85-69. (3/21) 

Down 26-14, Carolina rallied to go on a commanding 26-5 run that turned the game around and put the Tar Heels in front 40-31 at the half.

“He instills confidence in us at time like that when we go down 12,” Armando Bacot said of his coach.

RJ Davis, who led Carolina with 20 points, said, “Coach Davis gives us that passion, fire and competitive spirit to play to the best of our abilities.” He said that the timeout speech really got the Tar Heels going as the team responded immediately.

Coach Davis said that Michigan State punched them first and the Tar Heels didn’t match their physical aggression. “We started to compete,” he said. “We joined the fight.”

That game-changing 26-5 run was fueled by five threes by three different Carolina players – Davis, Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan. Ingram hit his third three of the run just seconds before halftime.

“Today I was open and I was able to hit the shots,” said Ingram, who finished five of seven from three for 17 points. “But we’re all about team. I was just able to hit them today.”

The Tar Heels hit six of 16 from three in the first half and finished 10 of 28 in the game for 38 percent. The Heels shot 47 percent from the floor compared to 44 percent for Michigan State.

It didn’t start that way as the Spartans hit seven of their first 10 shots to get a double-digit lead at 17-7.

“They brought the fight and were really killing us but then our defense started going for the rest of the game,” Bacot said.

Carolina blocked six shots and came up with five steals. The Heels scored 16 points off 11 Michigan State turnovers.

The Tar Heels did lose the rebounding battle for the first time in 25 games, 37-32. Carolina didn’t get an offensive rebound until a tip in by Bacot put the Heels up 48-43 with 16 minutes left. But UNC was effective after that outscoring the Spartans in second-chance points 10-2.

The game stayed close for much of the second half until a 14-2 run erased any doubt of the outcome. A free throw by Davis gave the Tar Heels their biggest lead at 76-59 with 3:35 to go.

Michigan State, who finish the season 20-15, were led by Tyson Walker’s 24 points.

Bacot and Ryan joined Davis and Ingram in double figures with 18 and 14 points respectively. The Tar Heels, now 29-7, advance to the West Regional semi-finals in Los Angeles to play the winner of Sunday’s game between Alabama and Grand Canyon on Thursday.

For a box score, video highlights and more on the game, please click here.

North Carolina, rebounding from a disappointing ACC Tournament Title loss, was too big, too deep and too talented for Wagner as the Tar Heels won going away 90-62 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Charlotte. (3/21) 

Although Wagner never led, it was uncomfortably close early on as Carolina had trouble getting out in transition without turning the ball over. Charlotte native Jae’Lyn Withers and Armando Bacot were beasts inside, helping the Tar Heels get some distance from Wagner.

With the score tied at 13-13 after the first seven minutes of the game, Carolina went on a 16-6 run to go up 31-21. During that run, Withers had seven points and an assist.

“I think he did set the tone,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said about Withers, adding that the Heels were out of sync early on with several unforced turnovers. “He came off the bench and he ignited us.”

It was Withers best game of the season as he scored a season-high 16 points and hauled in 10 rebounds. “My family is sitting courtside and I get a double-double so it’s great,” Withers said.

First-team All-America RJ Davis and third-team All-America Armando Bacot did their usual damage scoring 22 and 20 points respectively. Bacot led all rebounders with 15. The Tar Heels outrebounded Wagner 43-24.

Wagner, who had several injuries during the season, was playing with just seven players and both of their big men got in trouble in the first half. Still, Carolina had not broken the game open yet as the Heels led 40-28 at the break.

In the first half, RJ Davis said the Heels didn’t do a good job of getting out on the fastbreak on offense and didn’t do a good job communicating on defense, leading to some open threes which Wagner hit.

That all changed in the second half as Carolina outscored Wagner 50-34. The lead got as high as 30 at 88-58 when Paxson Wojcik drilled a deep three late in the game. The scout team even got into the action as Dewey Farris passed to Rob Landry on a nice play with less than a minute to go.

It won’t be that easy as Saturday’s second-round opponent Michigan State looked solid against Mississippi State to advance to play UNC.

Julian Brown and Mel Council each scored 18 points to lead Wagner who finishes the season with a 17-16 mark.

Joining Davis, Bacot and Withers in double figures for Carolina was Cormac Ryan with 13 points. The Tar Heels, now 28-7, advance to the second round against ninth-seeded Michigan State in Charlotte on Saturday.

For a box score, a video and more on the game, please click here.