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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – North Carolina suffered a major setback Tuesday night when Preseason ACC Player of the Year Armando Bacot left its game at Virginia just 78 seconds after the opening tip and did not return.

Bacot, who entered the game averaging 18.2 points and 11.6 rebounds, went down near the baseline on UNC’s end of the court.

UNC guard Caleb Love attempted a 3-pointer, and as the ball was in flight, Bacot battled Virgnia big man Kadin Shedrick with Cavaliers’ wing Reese Beekman almost directly behind him. Bacot came down on his left leg as the ankle buckled. He crashed to the floor writhing in pain, limped off the court, and didn’t return to the bench until a few minutes into the second half.

“I honestly didn’t see it, I just saw him go down,” UNC point guard RJ Davis said. “They say he twisted his ankle or something, but I just saw him go down and tried to comfort him.”

The clock read 18:42 remaining in the first half and neither team had yet scored. With 6-foot-11 forward Pete Nance out for the second consecutive game, Bacot’s injury put the Tar Heels in a difficult situation, though they led by seven points a few minutes into the second half, and trailed by three points with 35 seconds left in the contest, before eventually losing, 65-58, at John Paul Jones Arena.

UNC Coach Hubert Davis wasn’t certain for a while if his best player would return, though he got the new during the intermission.

“I did at halftime,” he said. “I was, not looking for him but just I guess hoping, expecting him to get back in the game. Because, when he was walking off the floor, he said, ‘Coach, I just need to tie my shoe, and I’ll be back out there.’

“The only concern is Armando. I just want him to be okay.”

Whether or not Bacot is okay and if he could miss Carolina’s game at Louisville on Saturday was not known afterward.

“I didn’t talk to him after the game,” Carolina’s second-year coach said. “I know he’s hurt pretty bad. I didn’t see the play, I just saw him on the ground, and he was in a lot of pain. I knew he was really in a lot of pain, because in most of those situations throughout his career, he usually gets back out there on the floor.

“So, I’ll talk with Doug Halverson our trainer and see how serious it is.”

UNC dropped to 11-6 overall and 3-3 with the loss.