By R.L. Bynum
WASHINGTON — Armando Bacot a three- and-D guy? The first part is debatable but there’s no doubting the last part.
After making the ACC’s All-Defensive Team and sinking a pair of 3-pointers on senior night, he’s telling his teammates and the coaches that he is.
They aren’t really buying it, but the graduate center is just kidding about it anyway. We think.
“He’s been going around saying, ‘I’m a 3-and-D guy,’ ” UNC coach Hubert Davis said ahead of the No. 4 Tar Heels’ noon ACC tournament quarterfinal game at Capital One Arena on Thursday against Florida State. “I’d just like him to be a D guy.”
RJ Davis, UNC’s best perimeter shooter, doesn’t expect any plays to be added to set up Bacot to shoot from the perimeter anytime soon.
“He refers himself [as 3-and-D] with a smile,” RJ Davis said. “He does have the ability to knock the 3 down; I think you saw that against Notre Dame. I said, ‘if you’re open just shoot it,’ especially top of the key. The top of the key is his spot. I have confidence in him shooting that 3.”
Bacot said that there are no “pick-and-pop” plays for him but that “he might get a couple up this week.”
While he’s kidding about becoming a shooting force from the outside, he’s serious about playing defense and happy that ACC voters recognized him for that improvement.
“When I told him that [he made the All-Defensive Team], he had a bigger smile on his face than any other achievement or award that he got,” Coach Davis said. “And I think that meant a lot to him that people noticed that there was an area in his game that he really worked on and as improved.
“From a defensive standpoint, he’s been fantastic for us this year,” he said. “His ability to be able to guard guards out on the perimeter? In large part, our defense has improved because he has improved and it’s just a huge benefit.”
Bacot said he has worked hard to become proficient at many of the Tar Heels’ pro-style defensive techniques.
“That was one of the main things I really wanted to show I can do,” Bacot said. “For me, just in my position, I can defend and do different stuff, especially with how we play defense,” noting he’s gotten better at icing screens and switching out. “To be [on the All-Defense Team] and the top three in the Defensive Player of the Year voting was huge for me.”
During his fifth college season, Bacot realized the importance of fully immersing himself in the scouting report about the opponent.
“I know how teams play now and, it being my fifth year, I’ve got that advantage of playing against them so many times now, I really understand it,” Bacot said. “Just getting older and understanding basketball at a higher level now allowed me to be able to defend different guys and know what they like to do.”
He’s also picked up on the defensive techniques of some NBA players.
“I always felt like on switches and stuff, I could really move my feet,” Bacot said. “I felt good in those positions. But watching film, looking at guys like Marc Gasol and different people like that, the way they defend screens and different things like that.”
Bacot’s improvement and quickness on defense has made Coach Davis’ change this season to do more switching work. It doesn’t seem to matter how quick a much smaller guard is; Bacot has been able to get the job done for the most part.
“His ability to guard smaller guards and have a defensive impact has been huge,” RJ Davis said. “His presence at the rim, blocking shots. Mondo has been great all year around. I know a lot of people always talk about the offense, but his defensive presence has been huge for this team.”
Bacot credited Assistant Coach Pat Sullivan with helping him and the team improve on defense.
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“Defense is one of our main focuses, more this year,” Bacot said. “A lot of one-on-one drills and Coach Sully giving me different pointers.”
Bacot said that he knows on defense if, for example, if he goes high on a screen, he can have an impact on the play knowing that a teammate such as Harrison Ingram will be there to defend his man.
“I think, just overall as a team, the trust level — that’s been huge for us this year,” Bacot said. “I feel like in years back — specifically last year — in screens, guys were kind of scared to sell out, in a sense, to help their teammate because we weren’t sure our teammate would help us.”
RJ Davis agreed that trust has gone a long way toward improving the team’s defense.
“When Mondo goes ahead and blocks a shot, someone’s gonna be there to box out his man,” RJ Davis said. “It’s not really relying on, ‘let me guard my man.’ Moreso playing team defense. We progress with our defensive transitions, being in the gaps and just having that good help-side defense. That’s been great.”
It isn’t clear where the trust level is for Coach Davis and the rest of the team when Bacot has an open shot from outside the arc.
But they trust Bacot on defense, and Bacot trusts his teammates.
ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday’s first round
No. 15 Pittsburgh 64, No. 10 Stanford 63
No. 11 SMU 86, No. 14 Syracuse 69
No. 13 Wake Forest 95, No. 12 Virginia Tech 89, OT
Wednesday’s second round
No. 7 N.C. State 98, Pittsburgh 88
No. 6 (No. 24 ranked) Louisville 62, SMU 58
No. 8 Florida State 95, No. 9 California 89
No. 5 Clemson 71, Wake Forest 62
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 2 (No. 10 ranked) Virginia 81, N.C. State 74
No. 3 Miami 78, Louisville 73
No. 1 (No. 1 ranked) Duke 80, Florida State 79
Clemson 80, No. 4 (No. 19 ranked) North Carolina 79
Friday’s semifinals
Virginia 84, Miami 62
Duke 73, Clemson 61
Saturday’s championship
Duke 74, Virginia 70
| Date | Month/day | Scores | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 17 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 11 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 9 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | W, 71–68 | vs. No. 1 Duke | 19–4, 7–3 |
| 10 | Tuesday | L, 75–66 | at No. 25 Miami | 19–5, 7–4 |
| 14 | Saturday | W, 79–65 | vs. Pittsburgh | 20–5, 8–4 |
| 17 | Tuesday | L, 82–58 | at N.C. State | 20–6, 8–5 |
| 21 | Saturday | W, 77–64 | at Syracuse | 21–6, 9–5 |
| 23 | Monday | W, 77–74 | vs. Louisville | 22–6, 10–5 |
| 28 | Saturday | W, 89–82 | vs. Virginia Tech | 23–6, 11–5 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 67–63 | vs. Clemson | 24–6, 12–5 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 76–61 | at No. 1 Duke | 24–7, 12–6 |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte | |
| 12 | Thursday | L, 80–79 | Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson | 24–8 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 19 | Thursday | L, 82–78, OT | First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C. | 24–9 |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
