first-placed North Carolina overtakes Wagner, ranked No. 16, in the final stretch.

CHARLOTTE: In the first half of its NCAA men’s basketball tournament first-round match on Thursday, North Carolina looked nothing like the top seed. The reckless turnovers against Wagner, the 16th-seeded player, came first. Next came the missed layups and multiple poorly executed dunk attempts.

The Tar Heels appeared to be in a daze following their defeat in the ACC tournament championship game. With a double-digit lead at Spectrum Center, all Coach Hubert Davis could do was pace nervously in front of his bench, arms crossed and brow furrowed.

In the last ten minutes, the weight of the occasion staggered Wagner and spurred the Tar Heels into an offensive surge that overcame a seriously wounded opponent, resulting in a 90-62 victory that earned North In the round of 32 on Saturday, Carolina will play Michigan State, the ninth-seeded team.

It hasn’t been kept a secret, according to Davis. We know what makes us successful: playing aggressive defense, grabbing rebounds, and handling the ball well. We had a few moments in the first half, in my opinion, where we weren’t checking any of those boxes, and that’s something you just can’t do as you go forward—especially against Michigan State. You must be proficient in each of those three areas.

With a margin for error, North Carolina overcame those mistakes to defeat Howard, 69-66, in Tuesday’s First Four in Dayton, Ohio. The Northeast Conference winners were a squad with just seven healthy players who had already participated in an NCAA tournament game.

Six turnovers by the Tar Heels in the first half gave Wagner nine points as a result of their erratic play. Both graduate forwards Armando Bacot and Jae’Lyn Withers missed a dunk. Bacot was named to the first team of the ACC. But Withers rallied, and with 8:33 remaining in the second half, he opened up a 20-point advantage, 70-50, with a two-handed dunk on a lob feed from Elliot Cadeau. With 16 points and 10 rebounds in the end, the transfer from Louisville set a new season high.

Bacot, meanwhile, continued his record-breaking career at Chapel Hill with 20 points and 15 rebounds. The ACC career leader in games played (167) and the all-time top rebounder for the Tar Heels (1,697) increased his run of NCAA tournament games with at least 15 rebounds to six.

Bacot, who was 7 of 13 from the field and 6 of 7 at the free throw line, said, “If you lose you, go home.” It’s just one of those situations where I feel even more pressure to perform to the best of my abilities. We’ve worked hard for years to reach this stage, so we’re simply really focused on winning.

In many ways, Bacot’s season has been a redemption tour. After North Carolina missed out on an NCAA tournament berth the previous year, he turned down the chance to play in the NBA and returned for a last season. The Tar Heels missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010.

Bacot was a member of a team that advanced to the NCAA tournament final in 2021–2022. Bacot recorded a game-high 15 points and 15 rebounds as North Carolina fell at Kansas, 72–69. The Tar Heels’ pursuit of an eighth national title has also been fueled by that result.

“I’ve been thinking about what Armando means to me personally over the entire season, but especially near the conclusion what he’s meant to this program and this university and this community,” Davis said. “I just told them in the locker room where all my comments come from there’s a desperation because I want to see Armando and everyone, I want them to see and experience the things that us as coaches have seen and experienced.”

The Tar Heels have been invigorated by Bacot’s presence in as much as by RJ Davis’s floor generalship and occasionally magnificent shot-making. Of his 22 points in the game, the senior point guard scored 17 of them in the second half, including 13 in the last 10:46. Three games in a row, the ACC player of the year has scored at least 22 points.

Following an ACC championship game loss to North Carolina State at Capital One Arena, Davis had scored thirty points.

Regarding the necessary adjustments before the following game, Davis stated, “Paying attention to detail is definitely number one.” “I think we kind of slackened off in that area following today’s game. In terms of defense, there were a few instances in the We’re typically on top of things, but in the first half there was a communication breakdown or miscommunication that kind of led to open threes or 50-50 loose balls. We must do better on Saturday since Michigan State is a very talented baseball team.