PHILADELPHIA – North Carolina is heading to the Final Four for the 21st time after the Tar Heels defeated St. Peter’s, 69-49, on Sunday in the East Regional championship game at Wells Fargo Center.
The eighth-seeded Tar Heels improved to 28-9 on the season, and the fifteenth-seeded Peacocks concluded their season at 22-12.
Here are some notes from UNC’s victory:
Note: Notes are courtesy of UNC Atheltics & Communications.
UNC Scoring Leader: Armando Bacot 20
UNC Rebound Leader: Bacot 22
UNC Assist Leader: Leaky Black 5
Team Records: UNC 28-9, Saint Peter’s 22-12
• Carolina advances to its 21st Final Four, the most of any school in NCAA history.
• Carolina is the only school to play in the Final Four in nine consecutive decades (1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s,
2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
• The win was Carolina’s 130th in NCAA Tournament play, most all-time.
• Carolina is 21-7 in regional finals.
• The 49 points were the fewest allowed by Carolina in 28 regional finals. Previous low was 55 by Tulsa in 2000 (the other time UNC won a regional final as a No. 8 seed).
• Hubert Davis becomes the 10th to lead a team to the Final Four in his first season as a college head coach (Bruce Drake, Oklahoma, 1939; Bully Gilstrap, Texas, 1943; Ray Meyer, DePaul, 1943; Gary Thompson, Wichita State, 1965; Denny Crum, Louisville, 1972; Bill Hodges, Indiana State, 1979; Larry Brown, UCLA, 1980; Steve Fisher, Michigan, 1989; Bill Guthridge, UNC, 1998).
• Davis joins Dick Harp as the only men to play for and be the head coach of the same school in the Final Four. Harp played for Kansas in the 1940 Final Four and was head coach of the Jayhawks in 1957 (in the final vs. UNC). Harp was an administrative assistant to Dean Smith at UNC in the late 1980s and was on the UNC staff in 1988-88, Jeff Lebo’s senior season and Hubert Davis’s freshman year.
• Davis played for Carolina in the 1991 Final Four (scored 24 points vs. Kansas in Indianapolis).
• Carolina has won 16 of its last 19 games.
• Carolina is 16-6 all-time in Philadelphia.
• Armando Bacot tied the UNC record for rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game with 22 and had a game-high 20 points to post the second 20/20 game by a Tar Heel in NCAA Tournament history. Tyler Zeller had also had 20 points and 22 rebounds vs. Ohio in the Sweet 16 in 2012.
• Bacot’s double-double was his 29th of the season, which ties the all-time ACC single-season record with Tim Duncan of Wake Forest in 1996-97.
• Bacot is assured of leading the nation in double-doubles this season. He is the only player in the Final Four with at least 29, which is one more than Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe.
• Bacot has 63 rebounds in four NCAA Tournament games this season. Only Kennedy Meeks (69 in six games in 2017), Pete Brennan (67 in five games in1957) and Sean May (64 in six games in 2005) ever had more in one tournament. Antawn Jamison also had 63 in six games in 1998.
• Bacot was named Most Outstanding Player of the East Regional.
• Brady Manek hit four threes and scored 19 points. It was his sixth game with 19 or more points in the last eight games.
• Manek has made 16 threes in the four NCAA games.
• Caleb Love had 12 first-half points and finished with 14. He scored 39 combined points over the second half of the UCLA game and the first half of the Saint Peter’s game.
• Love and Manek joined Bacot on the All-East Regional team.
• Leaky Black had five assists and no turnovers. Carolina is 17-1 this season when he has three or more assists and 15-2 in his career when he has five or more.
• RJ Davis tied his career high with four steals.
• Carolina held Saint Peter’s to 30.0% from the floor, lowest this season by an opponent since UNC Asheville shot 26.5 on 11/23/21.
• It is the lowest by an opponent in an NCAA game since Radford shot 27.5% in 2009 first round.
Other NCAA Tournament notes
• Carolina is 11-4 as a No. 8 seed. UNC has advanced to the Final Four for the second time as an 8 seed (also 2000).
• Carolina is 2-0 in regional finals as an 8 seed.
• Carolina is 4-0 in the Wells Fargo Center in NCAA play (advanced to the 2016 Final Four from WFC).
Next Game: National Semifinal vs. Duke, Saturday, April 2, Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, La.
