GREENSBORO, NC – Some 30 hours before his team was set to open play in the ACC Tournament, Roy Williams had a good idea senior forward Garrison Brooks wouldn't be available for North Carolina’s postseason opener.
Brooks sprained his ankle in the first minute of Saturday’s win over Duke, though he returned and scored 14 points on the night. But the 6-foot-9 Brooks hadn’t practiced since, so Williams wanted to make sure his much younger bigs were ready to pick up the slack of their leader and most experienced teammate.
So he went over to them for a brief chat.
“Coach came up to us, it was not a good chance that Garrison was playing,” sophomore forward Armando Bacot recalled. “So, he just told us he needed us all to just step up. And he kind of asked a question, like 'what do y'all think Garrison does the best better than all of y'all?' And we all just looked at each other and we said 'communicate' all at the same time.”
Not only did the Tar Heels’ big men communicate, they rebounded, scored, defended and dominated Notre Dame to the tune of a 101-59 rout in the second round of the 68th Annual New York Life ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.
It was nothing short of a spectacular performance for Bacot and freshmen Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler. The trio combined to shoot 21-for-31 from the field totaling 48 points, while also grabbing 35 rebounds, 20 of which were on the offensive glass.
In fact, UNC missed 38 shots on the night, but the Tar Heels snared 25 of the errant shots, turning them into 27 second chance points. Most of that damage came from the trio and was a major reason UNC scored on 66.7 percent of its possessions.
“I challenged those other three guys (Monday) to be focused and ready to play regardless of how many minutes we were going to give them,” Williams said.
And they did.
Further illustrating their dominance, each of the three Heels recorded double-doubles, making it the first time since 1963 three Carolina players did so in the same ACC Tournament game. Bacot finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, Kessler had 16 points and 12 boards, and Sharpe finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
“We’ve had really good players, but I don't know if we've ever had those kind of stats come up from that game,” Williams said, after also noting the many highly acclaimed bigs he coached at Kansas as well as in 18 years at UNC.
Adding to their amazing night, Sharpe handed out six assists and Kessler blocked eight shots, the most ever by a Tar Heel in an ACC Tournament game and the most ever by a freshman from any school in an ACC Tournament contest.
Following the game, Kessler acknowledged he had no idea of the record or that he was even near one. Blocking shots was a normal thing for the 7-footer in high school, so he took it in stride turning in such a huge performance on this stage.
“I would say height has a big thing to do with it, obviously,” Kessler replied, when asked about his shot-clocking prowess. “I would say discipline, staying down, timing. Yeah, but height is probably the biggest factor for sure.”
UNC recorded a season-high 12 blocked shots, scored 56 points in the paint, and converted 18 of 27 layups plus all four dunk attempts. The 25 offensive rebounds were the fourth most ever in an ACC Tournament game.
Incredibly, Carolina had 22 offensive boards by the first TV timeout of the second half, 18 came by halftime, and at one point in the first half, UNC had 14 offensive rebounds before the Fighting Irish had grabbed one.
It was that kind of night for the Tar Heels because their young big men answered their coach’s call and turned in the most dominating performance of the season.
