DURHAM, NC – The idea of sharing the ACC regular season championship didn’t appeal at all to North Carolina.
The Tar Heels have thought all season they are the best team in the conference, and the best way to prove it was to outright win the conference’s 20-game regular season crown. That mattered more than anything else Saturday, and the Heels achieved their mission.
UNC 84, Duke 79, and with it, Carolina finished atop the ACC standings two games ahead of the second-place Blue Devils. The Heels also completed a season sweep of their arch rivals. But even more rewarding than that is they checked an important box the team set out for last summer.
“For us, it felt good to secure that title,” junior and Stanford transfer Harrison Ingram said. “And what else could we have asked for coming to UNC. UNC-Duke, last game of the season for the title, what else could you ask for?”
With likely ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis finishing with only nine points, his low since the calendar turned to 2024, and Armando Bacot, UNC’s second-leading scorer, also with nine points, the Heels asked for someone else to step up and perform well above norm. So, Cormac Ryan obliged.
He netted a career-high 31 points, fueling the Heels (25-6, 17-3 ACC) to a quick start with a trio of 3-pointers in the first couple of minutes, and later Ryan closed the game scoring 17 points over the final 11:20.
Yet, the Notre Dame transfer doesn’t want this night to be about him. He is aware being the seventh player in Carolina history to hit the 30-point mark at Cameron Indoor Stadium has a place in this fabled program’s lore, but he wants it to mean something else.
“Man, honestly, I just want to be remembered for 17-and-three in the league,” Ryan said, noting UNC’s ACC record. “I want to be remembered for taking not just a share, but the whole thing of the regular season title, especially after a year hat a lot of people doubted Carolina last year. A lot of people wrote them off.
“And we knew how special this group was, and that’s really what I want to be remembered about this night is that we’re walking out of here with a W, and we’re walking out of here with the whole damn regular season title.”
Part of this team’s story is fully connected with last season. UNC entered the season ranked No. 1 in the country, but never put it together and failed to make the NCAA Tournament after going 20-13 overall, and 11-9 in the ACC.
The new players meshed with the four returning scholarship Heels quickly getting on the same page about this year’s mission. The first part of that process has now been taken care of.
“We don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves,” graduate forward Armando Bacot said. “This was one of our smaller goals. We want to win a regular season, but we want to win the (ACC) tournament, it’s something we haven’t done in a long time. And obviously, we know what we really want to do.
“So, we’re just knocking off goals, and that’s what we’ve been doing all year.”
This is North Carolina’s first outright ACC title since 2017, which is also the last year the program won the national championship.
And for the Tar Heels, it could also be the first step in checking off more boxes.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sponsored by Autograph:
Autograph is dropping ACC Tournament semi-final and final tickets in the app next week, continuing our True Fan Pricing ™ ($16 a ticket)!
Semi-Final Tickets Drop: Tuesday, March 12 at 12PM
Final Tickets Drop: Thursday, March 14 at 12PM
Autograph is giving 8 fans an elite suite experience you’ll never forget. Tap in, refer a friend, and you’re entered to win. Let’s dance… @Autograph
Referral Code: THI
Referral link: https://link.ag.fan/thi
