CHARLOTTE – North Carolina takes on Notre Dame in the second round of the T. Rowe Price ACC Tournament on Wednesday at Spectrum Center after the Fighting Irish ousted Pittsburgh, 55-54, on Tuesday afternoon.
The Tar Heels are the 5 seed and Notre Dame is the 12 seed. The game will tip off at approximately 2:30 PM.
UNC won the only meeting between the teams this season with a 74-73 victory in South Bend, Elliot Cadeau converted a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left plus a free throw, as he was fouled on the play. Notre Dame guard Markus Burton, who leads the ACC in scoring, missed a fairly open layup as time expired enabling the Tar Heels to escape with the win.
UNC is 20-12and finished 13-7 in the ACC. The Irish are now 15-17 and finished the ACC season with an 8-12 mark.
Let’s revisit Carolina’s win inside Purcell Pavilion:
Note: the win moved UNC to 9-6 overall and 2-1 in the ACC.
*Cadeau had 4 points on the day through the first 39 minutes and 37 seconds. But he wihufe sely drove in for a layup on the right side cutting the margin to 71-70 with the Irish holding the lead. Notre Dame’s Matt Alloco hit a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left leading to UNC’s final offensive possession. Thus, he scored 6 points in the final 22 seconds of the game.
*Ian Jackson led the Heels in scoring for the fourth consecutive game netting a career-high 27 points on 11-for-18 shooting from the floor. He was also 2-for-7 from the perimeter and 2-for-5 from the free throw line. Eight of his points came in a three-minute span in the first half, but otherwise, his buckets accompanied teammates sprinkling in scores.
“It’s just me balling, man,” Jackson replied when asked about his game that day. “I think I see the game, especially when the ball is in my hands, like ahead (of) everybody else. How quick I can get out before a guy rotates over, how much arc to this shot over you block. I understand I have a knack for getting the ball around the rim, and I use that to my advantage.”
*RJ Davis finished in single digits for the first time this season that day with 8 points. It was only the third time in the previous 58 games, dating back to the 2022-23 season, in which Davis had failed to score in double figures.
However, he handed out 7 assists with only 1 turnover. He had averaged 5 assists in each of the previous three games.
*The final segment leading to the win went as follows, as taken from my column that afternoon:
Cadeau had the ball with 10 seconds left and UNC trailing 73-70.
“They knew RJ was coming to get the ball for a three,” Cadeau said, describing the game-winning sequence. “I feel like everybody in the gym knew that. And they knew Ian wanted a good look because he’s been shooting the lights out…”
So, he dribbled, perused, and dribbled some more.
“I was the only person with an open look, so I got the ball and created some space and shot the ball,” he said, finishing the explanation.
He nailed the 3, hit the free throw, but 4.8 seconds still remained. But Burton drove the court and missed a layup arcing it high off the backboard as time expired.
*Some stats:
---UNC was 27-for-52 from the field (52.9%)
---UNC was 6-for-21 from 3 (28.6%)
---Dame was 25-for-57 from the field (43.9%)
---Dame was 7-for-23 from 3 (30.4%)
---Turnovers: 13-13
---Points off TOs: UNC 16-10
---Assists: UNC 14-7
---Rebounds: Dame 32-30
---Offensive rebounds: Dame 12-5
---2nd chance points: Dame 7-2
***2 straight games UNC has had just 2 second chance points
---Fast break points: Dame 13-10
---Points in the paint: UNC 32-24
---UNC 10-for-12 on layups / 5-for-6 dunks
---UNC scored on 34 of 65 possessions (52.3%)
---UNC averaged 1.138 points per possession
---Dame was 6-for-16 on layups / 3-for-3 on dunks
---Dame scored on 33 of 68 possessions (48.5%)
---Dame averaged 1.074 points per possession
