Following the conclusion of Carolina’s 23-8 regular season, two Tar Heels earned all-conference honors from the ACC. Junior forward Armando Bacot was named first team All-ACC, while senior wing Leaky Black earned a spot on the All-Defensive Team. Caleb Love and Brady Manek also received All-ACC Honorable Mention selections.

Bacot dominated in the low post for Carolina this season, finishing off the regular season with a 23-point, seven-rebound performance on 10-11 shooting at Duke. He is currently tied for the UNC single-season record for double-doubles with 23, which also ranks third in the country. He was the only player in the ACC to average a double-double, ranking seventh in scoring (16.6 points per game) and first in rebounding (12.5 per game). No other ACC player averaged more than eight rebounds per game.

Bacot also topped the conference in field goal percentage (59.5) and ranked sixth in blocks (1.7 per game). He scored 20 or more points 10 times this season, including back-to-back 29-point performances against Virginia and Georgia Tech in January. He was named ACC Player of the Week three times.

Bacot finished second in ACC Player of the Year voting, receiving 31 votes. Wake Forest’s Alondes Williams received 41. However, in a strange twist, Bacot actually received more All-ACC points with 380 (five points are awarded to players voted onto the first team), while Williams received 370. Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim, Miami’s Kameron McGusty and Duke’s Paolo Banchero joined Bacot and Williams on the All-ACC first team. Bacot is the first Tar Heel to be named first team All-ACC since Cameron Johnson in 2019.

Leaky Black earned a spot on the ACC All-Defensive Team for the first time in his career. Black routinely guarded the opponent’s best scorer this season, and held Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim and Duke’s A.J. Griffin to a combined 19 points in Carolina’s final two games. Boeheim finished the season as the ACC’s leading scorer. Griffin’s five points against the Tar Heels came after he scored 27 in the first game in Chapel Hill. Black received seven votes for ACC Defensive Player of the Year, trailing Virginia’s Reece Beekman and Duke’s Mark Williams, who won the award. Miami’s Charlie Moore and Duke’s Wendell Moore, Jr. joined Black, Beekman and Williams on the All-Defensive Team.

Caleb Love and Brady Manek received 84 and 38 All-ACC points, respectively, to earn them All-ACC Honorable Mention nods. R.J. Davis received one vote for ACC Most Improved Player, while Hubert Davis also received a vote for ACC Coach of the Year. NC State’s Dereon Seabron and Wake Forest’s Steve Forbes received those honors.

For a full look at the All-ACC awards, click here.

 

Featured image via Todd Melet

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