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CHAPEL HILL – Setting the stage: After Louisville cut North Carolina’s lead to one point with 2:57 remaining in their game Monday night at the Smith Center, the Tar Heels failed to score on their next possession despite attempting two shots.
The Cardinals also didn’t cash in on their next possession. So, with the ball again, Tar Heels guard Caleb Love yo-yo-yo’d at the point, looking for a teammate or to create, but he was well defended and forced to give up the ball.
UNC sophomore guard RJ Davis popped to the top of the key and received the pass from Love. He swung it to Leaky Black on the left wing but got the ball right back. Davis then went to work.
Four dribbles, including a crossover that got him into the lane as he went by Louisville’s El Ellis, he froze Louisville’s Sydney Curry, who was guarding UNC forward Brady Manek. Manek stealth-like snuck toward the basket behind Curry, Davis dropped a soft dime to Manek drawing 6-foot-11 Louisville big man and defensive dynamo Malik Williams to help out.
That freed up UNC junior big Armando Bacot, and as Manek left his feet, he flipped the ball to Bacot for a thunderous one-handed slam giving Carolina a three-point lead with 1:33 left to play. The crowd went ballistic, and while the game wasn’t over at that point, in a sense it was, as the Tar Heels eked out a 70-63 victory.
“It brought us a lot of momentum,” Love said. “Seeing that play got the crowd into it. Also, it gave us some energy to get a stop on the defensive end. Plays like that show how much we care about each other and how willing we are to share the ball with each other. It was a great sight to see.”
Louisville’s Jarrod West missed a three-point attempt 24 seconds later that Bacot rebounded, and the Heels (20-8, 12-5 ACC) salted away the game with a Love layup and some free throws.
It was a highlight reel on a night there were few. It was also another indicator that Manek, who spent the last four seasons becoming the 14th all-time leading scorer at Oklahoma, and Bacot have forged a comfortable and occasionally lethal combination in which their chemistry has grown rather strong.
They can read each other, as many of their assists are to the other. Carolina’s first basket of the night was a three by Manek after a kickout by Bacot following an offensive rebound. And the Tar Heels’ most important and damaging bucket was that feed from Manek to Bacot for the jam.
“Brady he’s been doing a good job of just moving without the ball,” Bacot said. “We always hit him on that back door cut. He got back door. (Assistant coaches Sean) Big May and (Pat) Sullivan always work on, if somebody is going baseline I have to loop around the middle.
“It paid off big right there, especially with that being a big bucket at the end.”
The Bacot-Manek cohesion is a big part of this play and UNC’s developing storyline for the season, but Davis’ move to get into the lane mustn’t be forgotten. He crossed over Ellis, and as he did, multiple UNC teammates on the bench got up pointing toward the cutting Manek.
Davis had him in his sights all along.
Sometimes, it isn’t difficult to determine that Love or Davis are going to shoot the ball when they get into a mode of pounding the ball on the floor. Perhaps that’s what Louisville read as the sophomore was darting into the lane. Manek knew otherwise.
“I back cut (and) RJ found me,” said Manek, who led Carolina with 17 points on the night. “A really nice pass on RJ’s part. I kind of fumbled it a little bit, I knew I was under the goal and had two big guys around me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Armando.
“It was a really good play for everybody. It was a big-time bucket that we needed to extend the lead a little more.”
It was a big-time bucket that essentially sealed Louisville’s fate on the night, as it gave a tired Carolina team one final needed juice injection. And the win.
