Heels Say Saturday Was a Next-Level Performance
CHAPEL HILL – Was North Carolina’s performance in beating Duke on Saturday night next-level stuff?
Did it show the Tar Heels have entered a room that only comprises teams with legitimate Monday-night-in-April aspirations?
The Heels certainly believe so.
“We’re one of the best teams in the country, and we can play with anybody,” junior forward Harrison Ingram said after the Heels’ 93-84 win over the Blue Devils at the Smith Center. “Whether it’s down low, whether it’s threes, whether it’s guarding or playing full court defense, taking care of the ball, making our free throws. At the end of the day… we can play however everybody wants.”
The Tar Heels (18-4, 10-1 ACC) have displayed their team-wide versatility throughout the season. That had become an understood quality a month ago. What hadn’t yet revealed itself was if they truly have players that can complement RJ Davis’ scoring on a fairly high level. Certainly not to where cutting down the nets could be in their future.
Armando Bacot hadn’t been getting many touches of late, Ingram hadn’t totaled more than 13 points in a game in eight weeks, and Cormac Ryan’s inconsistent shooting meant there were no offensive guarantees with him.
Against the seventh-ranked Devils, however, Bacot exploded for his best game of the season, pouring in 25 points, snaring 10 rebounds, and delivering five assists. He had just 29 points on only 24 shot attempts over Carolina’s previous four games combined.
Ingram went for 21 points, 13 rebounds, and four blocked shots, and a boat load of energy, hustle and grit. Plus, smiles, screams, and a little bit of show.
With Duke locking up Davis, keeping the ACC’s leading scorer from getting many comfortable touches, Carolina had to find another way, and it did. Davis entered having led UNC in scoring in 17 of its 21 games, but Saturday, he went a span of 23:23 without hitting a field goal. Yet in the meantime, the rest of the Heels scored 19 consecutive buckets.
Was this UNC’s best game of the season?
“Probably so,” Bacot replied. “Yes, I’ll say it was.”
It was also a next-level performance at exactly the right time.
“Definitely,” Bacot agreed. “I thought people thought after we lost to Georgia Tech, that we were slipping a little bit and wouldn’t be able to lock in and prepare for this next game. But that shows the maturity of this team.”
It shows how connected this group is, and how badly they want to succeed.
Carolina Coach Hubert Davis often discusses how much his players celebrate each other’s success, how the Bacots of the world do non-box score things to help win games, how Ryan’s overall game isn’t affected when he’s having a poor shooting night, or how unflappable the team is when opponents make runs.
There is an obvious symmetry with this Carolina club on and off the court. And in their mission.
“There’s a hunger and thirst with this group that, individually and as a team, to be the best that they can be,” UNC’s third-year coach said. “It comes from many different directions. Obviously, the people, the guys that have been here before, there's a hunger and thirst to continue to grow and be good.
“And then you have guys like Cormac and Paxson (Wojcik) and Harrison, who never ran out of that tunnel and looked at that type of crowd and to be on this stage. A thankfulness and an appreciation for being here, so there's a hunger and thirst to be good, because this is the first time in their career they've been in this situation.”
With each of the attributes laid out on a giant, long table, it reveals the Tar Heels are part of only a handful of occupants right now in a room of legitimate title contenders.
And, they are trending upward, to which Bacot agreed.
“For sure.”