Forward Armando Bacot plans to return to UNC’s men’s basketball program for his junior season.

Bacot shared a tweet on Monday, saying “Let’s run it back,” to the UNC program’s Twitter page. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein said minutes before that Bacot also confirmed the plans to him on Monday.

Bacot had entered the NBA Draft process to gather feedback on his game, but will withdraw his name from consideration. The Richmond, Virginia native led the Tar Heels in scoring and rebounds in the 2020-2021 season, with 12.3 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game.

First-year head coach Hubert Davis indicated his belief that Bacot would remain with the Carolina men’s basketball program when speaking on Rothstein’s podcast in May. Social media from the program also showed videos of Bacot working out and scrimmaging with UNC players this summer.

Davis also shared comments Monday night on Bacot’s official announcement of his return to the program.

“I’m ecstatic. Number one, I am really happy he went through the process. We completely support that. We want our guys to have two basketball goals. One is to have the experience of cutting down the nets and being the last team standing on that final Monday night of the season. We also want them to reach all their dreams and goals, and their dreams and goals are to play in the NBA. We 100 percent supported Armando’s pursuit to see where he stood right now in terms of going to the NBA, and we support that for all of our players.

“I’m thankful Armando got an opportunity to work out with some teams and he played off-the-charts great. As much as I am pleased that he was able to go through the process and flourish in that process, I am just as ecstatic that he is coming back to Carolina. I recruited him in high school, helped coach him the last two seasons and couldn’t ask for anything better than to be around him as a head coach. He’s our team leader, our captain, he’s worked extremely hard, he’s our leading returning scorer and rebounder, and for us to have a chance next year we need to have someone like Armando.”

Bacot earned third-team All-ACC and first-team All-ACC Tournament honors during his sophomore season at UNC.

Photo via the Maui Invitational.

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