By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — At 8:46 p.m. on an emotional senior night, the Smith Center crowd roared one last time after Armando Linwood Bacot sank a 3-pointer for his last bucket in the arena. It came 1,581 days after he scored his first bucket on a short jumper 134 seconds into his career, also in a win against Notre Dame, and one day before he turns 24.
That’s the last you’ll see of Bacot in a game on Roy Williams Court, and it remains to be seen if you’ll see his No. 5 hanging in the rafters. With his 14 points in Tuesday’s 84–51 victory, he helped assure UNC (24–6, 16–3 ACC) at least a share of the ACC regular-season title for the first time in his career.
Bacot was tearful as he talked to reporters after the game and said “stay tuned” on whether his jersey will end up in the rafters. He said that possibility was why he came back.
Why so much emotion?
“Because it’s over,” Bacot said. “All day, I’ve really been just focusing on the game. Even when I first got out there, the first half really just felt weird because I’m thinking the whole time it’s over and it really took me a minute to settle into it. I just couldn’t really believe it.”
Reflecting on the last five seasons was too much for him.
“To get to this point, just even thinking about where I was my freshman year,” Bacot said, “it’s just amazing. I can just remember as a freshman that summer meeting with Coach [Roy] Williams and him just being honest, telling me I had to get better.”
At that moment, he dabbed his eyes with his shirt.
“I feel like a lot of kids in my situation would have transferred, quit,” Bacot said, with his voice quivering, rubbing his eyes with his shirt again. “But it just pushed me to go harder.”
Bacot said being able to play a fifth season “meant the world” to him.
“Everybody just stuck with me, and I’m just so thankful to get this extra year,” Bacot said. “It’s all over now, but we’ve got so much more to play for this year and that’s the most encouraging part of it.”
Bacot remembered thinking after that first win, 76–65 against Notre Dame in the 2019–20 opener, that that team would be good. It obviously didn’t turn out that way in a 14–19 season.
“Now, we’re a pretty good team,” Bacot said. “I think that’s obviously the biggest difference. Obviously, I was a lot smaller. Probably could jump a little bit higher. Just crazy to think.”
Bacot said he may not be in that VIP room with Carolina legends such as Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm or Roy Williams, but he might be in the next room.
On his way to the dressing room after the game, Bacot shared a moment with Williams.
“I told him he should have allowed me to shoot 3s all along,” said Bacot, who wouldn’t reveal Williams’ response.
Bacot only had three career 3-pointers before making two against the Irish, joining Garrison Brooks on the list of centers with a pair of senior night 3-pointers. He said there was no way he was leaving the game without hitting a 3-pointer.
“If he makes it, I don’t have a problem with it,” Coach Hubert Davis said. “If he misses it, then we’ll have a discussion. He can shoot the three and I have told him he can shoot it. I just want him to shoot it at the right time. That’s because he’s so good around the basket; I don’t want him to go away from dominating points in the paint.”
Notre Dame didn’t make his senior night easy by double-teaming him whenever he got the ball and limiting his shots in the first half. Foul trouble on top of that didn’t help.
“Going into it, Big May [assistant coach Sean May] told me I’ve got to get it in other ways, rebounding, doing different stuff because they do double the post so hard, kind of like Virginia,” Bacot said. “But I’m happy with the results.”
Senior RJ Davis, who heard “one more year!” chants during the pregame senior night ceremony, was on his All-America-level game again.
“It shows how much the fans embrace me as a player and a student,” Davis said of the chants. “It was a special moment. I’ll cherish it.”
He was a game-high +43, scored 22 points and four 3-pointers, with a team-high five assists, the sixth time in the last nine games he’s had at least five.
“It was just a really emotional night seeing them before the game with their parents on the floor,” Coach Davis said. “And you know just thinking about so many memories, so many moments that you spent with each other. “It was nice to be able to enjoy the moment of them being celebrated for what they’ve done for this year’s team, for what they’ve done for this program, this university and this community.”
Harrison Ingram produced another impressive double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Cormac Ryan, playing in his final UNC home game, had 14 points, two 3-pointers and five rebounds. Jalen Washington had quality minutes off the bench with 10 points, two 3-pointers and two blocks.
Carolina was active on defense, with some of the most aggressive play since the 10-game win streak, diving for loose balls and getting into passing lanes. RJ Davis and Seth Trimble did most of the work in holding Markus Burton to nine points, only the third time this season he’s been held to single-digit points.
“I was really proud of our defense. I thought we were really locked in defensively,” said Coach Davis, whose team held the Irish to 0.81 of a point per possession. “I thought our energy, our effort, attention to detail were really good. I thought we were impactful on the ball, with the exception of some offensive rebounds that led to seven points in the first half. I thought we did a good job limiting them to one shot every possession.”
Notre Dame hung around until UNC reeled off an 18–4 run. With 5:58 left in the first half, Ingram’s jumper for his ninth point of the run gave the Heels a 16-point lead. The Tar Heels’ 41–25 halftime lead was their biggest halftime edge since leading Louisville by 17 on Jan. 17.
Carolina poured it on from there, scoring the first 16 points of the second half. The lead ballooned to 32 on Washington’s second 3-pointer as Notre Dame went eight minutes without a field goal.
Davis’ second 3-pointer during a 13–0 run shoved the lead to 33 with 5:15 left.
Tae Davis led Notre Dame (12–18, 7–12) with 11 points.
NOTES — No. 9 Duke (24–6, 15–4) comes into Saturday’s 6:30 game at Cameron Indoor Stadium with a three-game win streak after winning 79–64 Monday at N.C. State. … UNC has led by double-digits in 17 of 19 ACC games. … Senior walk-ons Creighton Lebo, Rob Landry and Duwe Farris played the first 78 seconds, with Farris playing good defense on Tae Davis and pulling down a rebound. … The 33-point win was Carolina’s largest since beating Syracuse by 36 on Jan. 13. … Elliot Cadeau had half of UNC’s six steals. … Carolina held Notre Dame to 25.0% shooting (7 of 28) in the second half. It was the second game in a row the Tar Heels held the opponent under 30% from the floor in the second half (N.C. State shot 22.2% on Saturday). … UNC is 50–13 in senior day/night games since Coach Dean Smith’s first season as head coach in 1961–62. … Country musician Eric Church and 2017 national champion Isaiah Hicks were at the game. … UNC has won three in a row against Notre Dame and leads the all-time series 30–9, including 10–1 in Chapel Hill and 9–1 in the Smith Center. … The Tar Heels have at least a share of the ACC regular-season title for the first time since sharing it in 2018–19 with Virginia. UNC hasn’t won a league regular-season title outright since the 2015–16 and 2016–17 Final Four teams did it.
No. 7 UNC 84, Notre Dame 51
ACC standings
| Team | League | Overall |
|---|---|---|
| No. 4 North Carolina | 17–3 | 25–6 |
| No. 11 Duke | 15–5 | 24–7 |
| Virginia | 13–7 | 22–9 |
| Pittsburgh | 12–8 | 21–10 |
| Clemson | 11–9 | 21–10 |
| Syracuse | 11–9 | 20–11 |
| Wake Forest | 11–9 | 19–12 |
| Virginia Tech | 10–10 | 18–13 |
| Florida State | 10–10 | 16–15 |
| N.C. State | 9–11 | 17–13 |
| Boston College | 8–12 | 17–14 |
| Georgia Tech | 7–12 | 14–17 |
| Notre Dame | 7–13 | 12–19 |
| Miami | 6–14 | 15–16 |
| Louisville | 3–17 | 8–22 |
Saturday’s games
No. 4 North Carolina 84, No. 11 Duke 79
Virginia Tech 82, Notre Dame 76
Florida State 83, Miami 75
Boston College 67, Louisville 61
Wake Forest 81, Clemson 76
Pittsburgh 81, N.C. State 73
Virginia 72, Georgia Tech 57
ACC tournament
March 12–16, Capitol One Arena, Washington
| 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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