Even with senior forward Garrison Brooks a late scratch for Wednesday night’s ACC Tournament action in Greensboro due to an ankle injury, the No. 6 seed UNC men’s basketball team dominated in the paint on the way to a 101-59 victory over No. 11 seed Notre Dame—earning a place in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Against an undersized Fighting Irish squad (11-16) that prefers to play out on the perimeter, UNC put its massive size advantage to work right from the opening tip.
The Tar Heels (17-9) turned a basketball game into a volleyball game on the backboards as they rebounded 16 of their first 18 missed shots and ended the night with a new school record for an ACC Tournament game with 25 offensive rebounds—four more than the program’s previous record of 21.
This was primarily the work of sophomore Armando Bacot and freshmen Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler, who each stepped up big time in Brooks’ absence.
Bacot finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Sharpe added a double-double as well with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Kessler also had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, but nearly pulled off a triple-double by adding eight blocked shots.
Head coach Roy Williams challenged his big men once it was clear Brooks might be limited, and it was obvious they were more than ready to step up to the task.
“Coach came up to us and said there was not a good chance Garrison wasn’t playing, so he just told us all to step up,” Bacot said. “And he kind of asked us a question, like what do ya’ll think Garrison does best—better than all ya’ll? We all just looked at each other and we said communicate all at the same time.”
Freshman guards Caleb Love and R.J. Davis also had big nights with 15 and 14 points, respectively, in a game where the Tar Heels seemingly could do no wrong.
Notre Dame needed to shoot well from three-point range to have a chance to counter UNC’s size advantage, but the Fighting Irish ultimately converted on just seven of their 26 attempts from three-point range against a Tar Heel defense that has made great improvement throughout the season.
UNC built a double-digit advantage midway through the first half and never looked back, closing the game on a monster 52-12 run over the final 15 minutes.
Coming off another phenomenal performance in a blowout win over Duke this past Saturday, it appears the Tar Heels are starting to peak at exactly the right time.
Next up is a tough Virginia Tech team which has dealt with lengthy pauses due to COVID-19 this season, and one that UNC has yet to play against.
“They’re a little bit of a mystery,” Williams said, of Virginia Tech. “I have seen them play some, but not nearly as much as I have the other teams. But they’ll be even more rested than we are. And we understand that.”
Up Next:
Thursday night will see the Tar Heels take on the No. 3 seed Hokies in a game set to tip off at 9 p.m.
Game Notes:
This was just the second game that Garrison Brooks has missed during his four years at UNC. An illness kept him out for a 72-55 loss at Louisville last season on Feb. 22, 2020.
UNC scored 56 of its 101 total points inside the paint, and Walker Kessler’s eight blocks set a new ACC Tournament record for a freshman.
This was UNC’s highest scoring total of the season, besting the 99 points it scored in a blowout win over Louisville on Feb. 20.
The Tar Heels’ top offensive rebounding performance of the season prior to this game came in the recent loss to Syracuse, where they had 21. In January’s win over Notre Dame they had 20. In the first half alone on Wednesday, UNC grabbed 18 of its own misses before ending with 25.
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