Published Mar 13, 2021
3 Stars: UNC-FSU
THI Staff
Tar Heel Illustrated

North Carolina’s run in the ACC Tournament came to an end Friday night when the Tar Heels fell 69-66 to Florida State in the semifinals.

The Tar Heels trailed 35-24 at halftime but took the nine minutes into the second half and led 64-62 with as little as 3:15 remining in the contest. But they struggled getting quality shots afterward and fell short to the ACC’s No. 2 seed.

The Tar Heels dropped to 18-10 on the season and FSU, which plays Georgia Tech in the championship game on Saturday night, improved to 16-5.

Here are our 3 Stars from UNC’s loss to Florida State:



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Armando Bacot

Bacot dealt all night with FSU’s terrific defense that prevented the Heels from running smooth offense and limiting the touches for Carolina’s bigs. But he still finished with 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting, including an impressive push in the second half when UNC took the lead, as Bacot used the dribble more in this game than has been the norm. He also grabbed six rebounds, had an assist, two blocked shots, and two steals. In addition, Bacot was plus-10 on the floor.



Kerwin Walton

Like Bacot, Walton also had a team-high plus-10 on the court on a night he finally found his stroke. Walton scored 11 points on 4-for-10 shooting, including converting a trio of three-pointers 122 seconds apart to tie the score at 46-46 in the second half. Walton also had five rebounds, an assist and two steals.



Leaky Black

Black was asked to do a ton when he was on the floor Friday night, including bring the ball up the court in a stretch when the Heels were really struggling getting into their offense. He finished with seven points on 3-for-9 shooting, but also pulled down four rebounds, had an assist, a block, and a steal.


Also receiving votes: Caleb Love.