By R.L. Bynum
Armando Bacot has fond memories of his 2019 trip to the Bahamas and, if he plays his cards right, he hopes to hit the blackjack table with Roy Williams after winning the Battle 4 Atlantis championship.
No. 14 Carolina (3–0) opens play in the tournament at noon Wednesday against Northern Iowa (ESPN) in an event that promises to give the Tar Heels their biggest challenges of the young season.
“I think it’s going to be great,” said Bacot, who leads the ACC in scoring (22.7 points per game) and rebounding (13.3) said. “We’re excited. It’s a huge opportunity for us to see how we stack up against those teams. [It’s] definitely going to be a test, somewhat like playing in the NCAA tournament, so it’s a good tuneup for us.”
The Tar Heels have taken care of business through three games but have faced the 316th-toughest schedule so far (according to KenPom). That will likely come in the last two days after meeting the Panthers (1–2) in the opener. UNC faces either Villanova (3–1) or Texas Tech (3–0) on Thanksgiving Day and will meet either No. 20 Arkansas (3–1), Michigan (3–1), Memphis (3–0) or Stanford (3–1) on Friday.
All-time UNC scorers
- 2,872 — Tyler Hansbrough, 2005–09 (ACC record) — R
- 2,290 — Phil Ford, 1974–78 — R
- 2,145 — Sam Perkins, 1980–84 — H
- 2,047 — Lennie Rosenbluth, 1954–57 — R
- 2,015 — Al Wood, 1977–81 — H
- 2,007 — Charlie Scott, 1967–70 — H
- 1,982 — Larry Miller, 1965–68 — H
- 1,974 — Antawn Jamison, 1995–98 — R
- 1,912 — Brad Daugherty, 1982–86 — H
- 1,877 — Armando Bacot, 2019–present
- 1,863 — Walter Davis, 1973–77 — H
R — jersey retired; H — jersey honored
From his play and how he talks about the season, you can tell that Bacot is locked in to help the Tar Heels reach their maximum potential during his final college season.
“We’re going out with a sense of urgency, knowing that every game counts and every game matters,” said Bacot, one of five ACC players with multiple double-doubles. “It’s going to be a lot of fun and I definitely want to win. That way, Friday night, I can go gamble with Coach Williams. I don’t think he’ll let me gamble if we don’t get the championship.”
Bacot will have played his cards right in the unique atmosphere with a court in a ballroom if he plays anything like he did in his last time at the event.
In a 78–74 victory in 2019 over an Oregon team ranked No. 11 in the seventh game of his freshman season, he had a breakout game. In 31 minutes, Bacot was 7 of 9 from the floor, 9 of 10 from the free-throw line and blocked six shots. With 23 points and 12 rebounds, it was Bacot’s fourth double-double in his first five games.
“Man, I thought maybe I might be All-American that year,” recalled Bacot, who averaged 13.7 points and 11 rebounds in the three tournament games. “I was like, ‘damn, is college this easy?’ I’m going to try to replicate that; I’m gonna try to be my freshman self a little bit. It was a lot of fun.”
Northern Iowa beat Division III Loras 90–50 at home and has lost two road games: 83–77 on Nov. 7 in overtime against North Texas and 74–65 on Sunday against South Florida.
The Panthers are picked to finish second behind Drake (but got 19 of 47 first-place votes) in the preseason Missouri Valley Conference poll after going 14–18 last season and finishing 9–11 in the league.
Northern Iowa has 12 players back from last year, in addition to three freshmen and one transfer.
Junior 6–5, 205-pound guard Nate Heise leads Northern Iowa in scoring (14.3 points per game) and rebounding (6.3), with junior 6–5, 205-pound wing Tytan Anderson, a second-team preseason All-MVC pick, averaging 11.3 points per game and junior 6–11, 250-pound center Jacob Hutson averaging 11 points and 5.3 rebounds.
Junior 5–11, 170-pound guard Bowen Born, named to the MVC preseason first team, is averaging 8.0 points and 3.0 rebounds after scoring 17.9 points per game last season.
NOTES — Wednesday’s game is the first of 10 Carolina games in six sports through Sunday. Here’s a guide to navigating all of the games. … The Tar Heels are 2–1 against Northern Iowa, with the loss coming 71–67 on Nov. 21, 2015, in Marcus Paige’s homecoming game. He didn’t play for No. 1 UNC in the game because of a hand injury. UNC won the next season in Chapel Hill 85–42 and 86–69 in the 2017–18 season opener. … The UNC team arrived in the Bahamas on Sunday and practiced Monday morning in the tiny Sir Kendal Isaacs Gym where they played an exhibition game in 2006. They practiced early Tuesday morning on the ballroom court. … On the Tar Heel Sports Network broadcasts of the tournament games, Dave Nathan is on play-by-play and Adam Lucas will be the analyst. Jones Angell, who is broadcasting the football game Saturday at N.C. State, will handle pregame, halftime and postgame programming from a Chapel Hill studio. … This is the seventh time UNC has played in the Bahamas and the third time in 10 years that they’ve played in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Carolina is 4–2 in the tournament. In 2014, the No. 5 Tar Heels lost their opener to Butler 74–66, then beat No. 22 UCLA (78–56) and No. 18 Florida (75–64) by a combined margin of 33 points. In 2019, No. 6 UNC beat Alabama 76–67, lost to Michigan 73–64 and defeated No. 11 Oregon 78–74. … UNC is 2–1 all-time against Texas Tech and 11–5 all-time against Villanova. If the Tar Heels and Wildcats play in a semifinal game on Thanksgiving Day, it will be the first meeting since Villanova’s 77–74 win in the 2016 NCAA championship game. … UNC is third in the ACC in field-goal percentage defense (36.7%) and rebounding margin (+7.7). … Carolina is 13th in the ACC in 3-pointers per game at 6.0. … Bacot leads all active ACC players in rebounds (886) and rebounding average (10.2).
Battle 4 Atlantis
At Imperial Arena
Paradise Islands, Bahamas
Wednesday’s first round
No. 14 North Carolina (3–0) vs. Northern Iowa (1–2), noon, ESPN
Villanova (3–1) vs. Texas Tech (3–0), 2:30 p.m., ESPN2
Michigan (3–1) vs. Memphis (3–0), 5 p.m., ESPN2
No. 20 Arkansas (3–1) vs. Stanford (3–1), 7:30, ESPNU
Thursday’s semifinals
UNC-Northern Iowa winner vs. Villanova-Texas Tech winner, 2:30 p.m., ESPN
Michigan-Memphis winner vs. Arkansas-Stanford winner, 5 p.m., ESPN
Thursday’s losers’ bracket games
UNC-Northern Iowa loser vs. Villanova-Texas Tech loser, noon, ESPN2
Michigan-Memphis loser vs. Arkansas-Stanford loser, 7:30, ESPNU
Friday’s games
Consolation game, 1 p.m., ESPN2
Championship, 3:30 p.m., ESPN
Fifth-place game, 6 p.m., ESPNU
Seventh-place game, 8:30, ESPN+
UNC season statistics
Northern Iowa statistics
KenPom rankings
| Category | UNC | UNI |
|---|---|---|
| Overall ranking | 20 | 119 |
| Offensive efficiency | 114.0 (19) | 107.6 (84) |
| Defensive efficiency | 93.6 (28) | 103.4 (173) |
| Effective FG% | 52.9 (95) | 48.0 (208) |
| Turnover % | 13.9 (47) | 17.3 (154) |
| Offensive rebound % | 34.6 (69) | 32.1 (128) |
| FTA/FGA | 38.1 (106) | 26.6 (283) |
| Strength of schedule | 316 | 118 |
| Date | Month/day | Score | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 27 | Friday | W, 117–53 | vs. St. Augustine’s | Exhibition |
| November | ||||
| 6 | Monday | W, 86–70 | vs. Radford | 1–0 |
| 12 | Sunday | W, 90–68 | vs. Lehigh | 2–0 |
| 17 | Friday | W, 77–52 | vs. UC Riverside | 3–0 |
| Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas | ||||
| 22 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | Northern Iowa | 4–0 |
| 23 | Thursday | L, 83–81, OT | Villanova | 4–1 |
| 24 | Friday | W, 87–72 | Arkansas | 5–1 |
| ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | ||||
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 100–92 | vs. No. 6 Tennessee | 6–1 |
| December | ||||
| 2 | Saturday | W, 78–70 | vs. Florida State | 7–1, 1–0 ACC |
| Jimmy V Classic in New York | ||||
| 5 | Tuesday | L, 87–67 | No. 1 Connecticut | 7–2 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 16 | Saturday | L, 87–83 | No. 12 Kentucky | 7–3 |
| Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte | ||||
| 20 | Wednesday | W, 81–69 | Oklahoma | 8–3 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 29 | Friday | W, 105–60 | vs. Charleston Southern | 9–3 |
| January | ||||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 70–57 | at Pittsburgh | 10–3, 2–0 ACC |
| 6 | Saturday | W, 65–55 | at Clemson | 11–3, 3–0 ACC |
| 10 | Wednesday | W, 67–54 | at N.C. State | 12–3, 4–0 ACC |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 103–67 | vs. Syracuse | 13–3, 5–0 ACC |
| 17 | Wednesday | W, 86–70 | vs. Louisville | 14–3, 6–0 ACC |
| 20 | Saturday | W, 76–66 | vs. Boston College | 15–3, 7–0 ACC |
| 22 | Monday | W, 85–64 | vs. Wake Forest | 16–3, 8–0 ACC |
| 27 | Saturday | W, 75–68 | at Florida State | 17–3, 9–0 ACC |
| 30 | Tuesday | L, 74–73 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 9–1 ACC |
| February | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | W, 93–84 | vs. No. 13 Duke | 18–4, 10–1 ACC |
| 6 | Tuesday | L, 80–76 | vs. Clemson | 18–5, 10–2 ACC |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 75–72 | at Miami | 19–5, 11–2 ACC |
| 13 | Tuesday | L, 86–79 | at Syracuse | 19–6, 11–3 ACC |
| 17 | Saturday | W, 96–81 | vs. Virginia Tech | 20–6, 12–3 ACC |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 54–44 | at Virginia | 21–6, 13–3 ACC |
| 26 | Monday | W, 75–71 | vs. Miami | 22–6, 14–3 ACC |
| March | ||||
| 2 | Saturday | W, 79–70 | vs. N.C. State | 23–6, 15–3 ACC |
| 5 | Tuesday | W, 84–51 | vs. Notre Dame | 24–6, 16–3 ACC |
| 9 | Saturday | W, 84–79 | at No. 13 Duke | 25–6, 17–3 ACC |
| ACC tournament Washington | ||||
| 14 | Thursday | W, 92–67 | Quarterfinals: Florida State | 26–6 |
| 15 | Friday | W, 72–65 | Semifinals: Pittsburgh | 27–6 |
| 16 | Saturday | L, 84–76 | Final: N.C. State | 27–7 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 21 | Thursday | W, 90–62 | First round in Charlotte: Wagner | 28–7 |
| 23 | Saturday | W, 85–69 | Second round in Charlotte: Michigan State | 29–7 |
| 28 | Thursday | L, 89–87 | Sweet 16 in Los Angeles: No. 19 Alabama | 29–8 |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
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