One week after UNC junior forward Armando Bacot won his first-ever ACC Player of the Week award, the big man has doubled down. Following a 29-point, 12-rebound performance against Georgia Tech on Saturday, Bacot won the Player of the Week award for the second straight week. He’s the first Tar Heel to win the award twice in a row since Joel Berry.

Bacot’s 12 double-doubles are the most among all ACC players, and he is currently the only player in the conference averaging double-digit rebounds per game, at 11.3. Bacot’s field goal percentage of 64.0 also ranks first in the ACC, and he is in the top 10 in both scoring and blocked shots.

Because of this strong start, Bacot has been mentioned as an All-ACC candidate, with head coach Hubert Davis going so far as to say Bacot was the ACC Player of the Year, and declaring the race, “not even close.” No Tar Heel has won ACC Player of the Year since Justin Jackson did so in 2017.

Going back to a loss at Notre Dame on January 5 (which he declared “unacceptable”), Bacot has now scored 20 points in three consecutive games. He has seven such games this season, after only reaching the 20-point mark five times in his first two seasons combined.

Bacot and the Tar Heels will next be in action Tuesday night at Miami. The Hurricanes sit a half-game in front of Carolina at 5-1 in ACC play, meaning a UNC win would vault the Tar Heels into first place. Carolina won its last visit to Coral Gables in 2021, 67-65. Bacot scored only seven points in that game.

 

Featured image via Todd Melet


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