Armando Bacot’s blood pressure may just be starting to go back down.
The UNC big man admitted as such Tuesday afternoon when discussing the team’s trip to Philadelphia and the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. Carolina will take on No. 4 seed UCLA for a spot in the program’s first Elite Eight since 2017. And if fans were still feeling jittery long after everything that happened in Fort Worth, they can count Bacot among their company.
“My anxiety was going crazy,” Bacot said of the hours after the Baylor game. “I was watching the Duke and Michigan State game, and then I started feeling a little good. That’s about the time that I calmed down. It was a crazy game. It was kind of like we were a sinking ship trying to stay afloat as long as possible.”
Sophomore guard R.J. Davis said even one of his usual postgame naps didn’t do the trick.
“I was on the plane, took maybe a 20-minute nap, and then the rest of the time I was up thinking like, ‘That game was really crazy,'” he said.
Head coach Hubert Davis didn’t seem to be lingering on the game as much as his players. In typical coaching fashion, Davis said the only reason he’s revisiting the game is to correct mistakes, of which there were many.
“Before practice yesterday, we looked at film for an hour,” he said. “And we started from the 10-minute mark all the way through overtime. And one of the things that I wanted to show them is that some of the mistakes that we made… they were self-induced.”
Indeed, UNC ended the marathon in Fort Worth with 18 turnovers, its highest mark of the season. The Tar Heels struggled mightily with Baylor’s full-court press and trap defenses. The Bears ranked No. 12 in the country in defensive efficiency this season, according to Kenpom.com. The Bruins sit just behind them at No. 13. It’s not a stretch to say UCLA may test UNC’s ball-handling mettle early and often Friday.
“I’ve always said that a mistake is good if you recognize it, admit it, learn from it and grow from it,” Davis said. “And so it was important for me to show that film to them… so against UCLA Friday night, we don’t make those same mistakes.”
Though Carolina will be making an all-time record 30th appearance in the Sweet 16, the stage is an unfamiliar one for almost every player on the roster. Graduate forward Brady Manek made it his mission to appear in the Sweet 16 this season after never making it that far in four years with Oklahoma. Bacot, Caleb Love and R.J. Davis are all debuting in the round as well. The only UNC player to appear in the Sweet 16 is senior wing Leaky Black, who played all of eight minutes in Carolina’s loss to Auburn in 2019.
“We had practice yesterday, and it was like kids in a candy store,” Davis said. “They’re just so happy. They’ve never been here before. And so as a coach, that just brings me great joy.”
“It’s special,” said Manek. “We’ve got a really good chance on Friday. We fought through that last game, so I feel like we can fight through anything.”
Manek has been making the most of his final NCAA Tournament, scoring 28 points in UNC’s first-round win against Marquette and 26 points in 30 minutes in the second-round game against Baylor. When using the plus-minus metric, which measures a team’s scoring differential when a player is on the floor, Manek is comfortably in first place among all NCAA Tournament players this year.
🚨 The top 25 Impact +/- players of the opening weekend in the #Sweet16 #MarchMadness | @UNC_Basketball @KUHoops @TexasTechMBB @NovaMBB @UHCougarMBK pic.twitter.com/hQJtaSva4N
— JG Trends (@jgtrends) March 21, 2022
Still, each game UNC plays threatens to be the last in a Carolina uniform for Manek and Black, though Black has the option to come back for a fifth year due to the NCAA’s COVID regulations for student-athletes. It’s the chilling reality of playing in the NCAA Tournament. But Davis doesn’t want those thoughts to interfere with simply enjoying the moment. After all, UNC is one of only 16 teams remaining who can win the national championship. A month ago, that would have seemed like a pipe dream for even the most loyal Carolina fans.
“I would hate for [the players] to lose and to miss the opportunity to play against UCLA in the Sweet 16 because they’re thinking about this possibly might be their last game,” Davis said. “It’s a joy and a celebration, not a pressure or a burden. We’re having fun.”
Fans who would like to see the men’s team off to Philadelphia can do so Wednesday evening at the Smith Center. Entrance A will open at 5:30 p.m. for an estimated 6:15 p.m. send-off. In addition, the women’s basketball team will be hosting a send-off later that evening down the road at Carmichael Arena. The main entrance will open at 7 p.m. for an estimated 7:15 p.m. send-off.
Sending off our Sweet 16 squads in style 🤩
Stop #️⃣1️⃣ » Smith Center at 6:15pm
Stop #️⃣2️⃣ » Carmichael Arena at 7:15pmDetails for each send-off below 🧵⤵️ #GoHeels x #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/ErJl12UQoa
— UNC Tar Heels (@GoHeels) March 23, 2022
Carolina and UCLA are scheduled to tip-off at 9:30 p.m. Friday night. It’s safe to say everyone around the team would prefer an easier game than last Saturday’s slugfest with Baylor. Armando Bacot’s blood pressure might not be able to take it.
Featured image via Todd Melet
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