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.

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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.

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When it came down to getting into the ACC Tournament finals, it took two veteran North Carolina players – Armando Bacot handling the inside chores and RJ Davis the outside job – to push the Tar Heels to a tough 72-65 victory over Pittsburgh. (3/15) 

Bacot got yet another double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds to tie Ralph Sampson for the second most in NCAA history. Meanwhile, RJ Davis scored 25 points to reach the 2,000-point mark for his career.

Davis scored nine of the the Tar Heels last 10 points as Carolina broke a 62-62 tie over the last four minutes to win going away.

“RJ has been our closer all year,” Bacot said of Davis. But it also took Bacot’s inside game down the stretch as Davis (11) and Bacot (7) combined for the Tar Heels’ last 18 points of the game.

“It’s just incredible to have two players like that on my team,” said Harrison Ingram, who transferred in this season from Stanford.

Bacot and Davis praised Ingram for his defense on Pitt’s Blake Hinson, who averaged 19 points a game but only got five points in this game.

It was Carlton Carrington who handled most of the scoring load for Pitt as he scored 16 of his 24 points in the first half when the Panthers held the lead. Pitt went on a 13-0 run early to control most of the first half, settling for a 35-33 lead at the break.

UNC’s Seth Trimble clamped down on Carrington in the second half. After Elliott Cadeau placed a bounce pass in traffic to Davis for a layup and a foul, Carolina took the lead at 43-42 with 15 minutes to go and never trailed again.

The lead never got higher than seven points, however, and an 8-2 Pitt run tied it at 62 with just over four minutes to go. That’s when Davis hit a three from the top of the key and followed that up, less than two minutes later, with a three from the right side.

Bacot rebounds and Davis free throws wrapped it up.

Pitt, playing for its NCAA Tournament bid life, was aggressive from the start and got into some foul trouble in the first half with the two big men – Guillermo Diaz-Graham and Frederiko Frederiko – trying to cover Bacot.

Pitt falls to 22-11 while the Tar Heels improve to 27-6 overall, and advance to tomorrow’s 8:30 p.m. championship game against N.C. State or Virginia.

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

There was no letdown for North Carolina after an emotional win at Duke as the No. 1 seeded Tar Heels used an aggressive defense to run past Florida State 92-67 in the ACC Tournament. (3/14)

“Everybody knows their role,” said UNC’s Elliott Cadeau, who had eight points, four rebounds, six assists and three steals. “We have good chemistry. We’re a good team.”

Carolina not only controlled the boards (47-20 rebounds) but the Tar Heels had a season-high 26 fastbreak points.

Armando Bacot, who scored 12 of his points 14 in the first half, pounded the offensive boards in the first half to help Carolina open up a game that was only 20-19 UNC with eight minutes to go in the opening stanza.

It was ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis, however, who spearheaded a 12-0 run late in the first half. First he came up with a steal that led to a run-out layup and then half a minute later he drilled a transition three.

After a battling Bacot layin – following the Heels getting multiple chances on the possession – Carolina led by 19 at 46-27.

A 10-2 Tar Heel run over just two minutes early in the second half gave Carolina its biggest lead to that point at 62-41 following a Davis swished transition three with 14:34 left in the game.

The lead got as high as 27 on several occasions with the first coming on a Jae’Lyn Withers three from the right wing with 3:54 to go which made it 84-57.

UNC coach Hubert Davis said the Tar Heels got going once they increased the pace. “It was one of our most complete games of the season,” he said, noting that the rebounding and speedy UNC guards led to the Heels getting opportunities off the break. 

Davis led four Tar Heels in double figures with 18 points. Bacot and Cormac Ryan each scored 14 while Seth Trimble came off the bench to score 12, including a poster-worthy dunk down the lane.

Florida State was led by Primo Spears 17 points.

The Tar Heels improve to 26-6 overall, and advance to tomorrow’s matchup with either Wake Forest or Pitt.

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