By R.L. Bynum
WASHINGTON — There were no struggles against Florida State the third time around. Only dominance.
After rallying in Chapel Hill and battling in a close game in Tallahassee, No. 4-ranked UNC delivered the knockout punch in the first half. The No. 1-seed Heels took control with a 22–8 first-half run and coasted to a 92–67 victory Thursday in the ACC tournament quarterfinals at Capital One Arena.
UNC (27–6), which faces No. 3-seed Pittsburgh (22–10), which beat No. 5-seed Wake Forest 81–69, in the 7 p.m. semifinal on Friday night, owned the boards against a tall Florida State (17–16) team that had no answers playing its second game in as many days.
UNC coach Hubert Davis said the key was turning up the effort on the boards and on defense and reducing turnovers.
“I feel like that we definitely checked two of the boxes,” said Davis, whose team had 13 turnovers but won the rebounding battle by a season-high 26. “Just their effort, energy, attention to detail defensively was good, and for us to dominate the boards on both ends, I thought that was a huge key for us in allowing them to be successful out there on the floor.”
The Tar Heels had nearly as many offensive rebounds (17) as total Seminoles rebounds (22), with a 48–22 overall advantage. UNC scored 22 fast-break points while holding Florida State to none during a stretch that started with eight minutes left in the first half.
“I thought we were at our best defensively during that stretch,” Coach Davis said. “We specifically talked about that prior to the game, that what should and needs to ignite us is our effort on the defensive end. For us to be able to get stops and finish it with a rebound, that is what allows us to get out in transition.”
RJ Davis (18 points, two 3-pointers), Armando Bacot (14 points, 10 rebounds for his 83rd double-double and 15th of the season), Cormac Ryan (all 14 points in a 9½-minute stretch), Seth Trimble (12 points, five rebounds) and Harrison Ingram (9 points, 10 rebounds) all played well. UNC was 8 of 19 from 3-point range with five Tar Heels scoring 3s.
“Coach’s game plan was to get me the ball and put a lot of pressure on them on the rim,” Bacot said. “Going into this game, I just knew my approach was to get deep and try to score as easy as possible, whether that’s posting up or getting offensive rebounds. The guards did a good job of getting it to me.”
Elliot Cadeau, who got a bloody left knee in the first half, had a masterful floor game. He dished out six assists and slashed to the hoop with flashy moves for most of his eight points, and also had four rebounds, three steals and a block.
RJ Davis said that Cadeau diving for loose balls and snagging those 50/50 chances was infectious.
“He made it easier for his teammates,” RJ Davis said. “Coach Davis always says, ‘We don’t always have to live in the secondary break, we can live in the primary.’ And I think he did a good job of using speed to get into the lane, making layups, and I think he did a good job of just playing an all-around basketball game today.”
The fifth lead change of the game came on a 13–6 UNC run, with the Heels taking a nine-point lead on a pair of Bacot free throws with 4:15 left in the first half. Overall, it was a 22–8 run, with a Bacot layup the last of 12 straight points to give UNC a 19-point lead before taking a 46–30 halftime advantage.
“I thought our plan was to drive the ball and get to the free-throw line, and that’s what we attempted to do,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “But our inability to do that at least for the first 12 minutes of the game, not being able to get to the free-throw line, was definitely out of our plans.
RJ Davis said that Bacot was the leader of Carolina’s overall dominant defensive effort.
“Armando does a good job of just talking early and communicating, not just with myself, but just with the whole team,” Davis said. “His presence has been huge for this whole team this whole year. The way he’s been defending, I know we switch a lot, so he’s able to guard smaller guards and ball at the same time, guard the post. Even with no ball screen coverages, he makes my job easier, because I know he has my back and vice versa.”
The Tar Heels quickly padded their lead in the second half, as back-to-back 3-pointers from Ryan and Davis ballooned the advantage to 21 points in the first 5½ minutes of the second half.
A highlight-reel Seth Trimble dunk and his two free throws pushed the lead to 26. With 3:58 left, a 3-pointer from Jae’Lyn Withers (6 points, 7 rebounds) gave the Heels a 27-point lead before Hubert Davis started emptying his bench.
NOTES — Carolina won the only regular-season meeting with Pittsburgh 70–57 on Jan. 2 in Pittsburgh. The Panthers’ NET ranking is 45, making the semifinal meeting a Quad 1 game for the Tar Heels. … UNC is 15–2 this season when scoring 80 or more and 8-0 when scoring at least 90. … Carolina has won 10 straight ACC Tournament games when it scores 90 or more points. … The rebound margin of 26 was UNC’s second-largest in an ACC tournament game behind only the 26-rebound margin against Clemson in 1969. … Davis passed Brady Manek for second place in UNC single-season history with 99 3-pointers. Manek scored 98 in 2021–22. The record is 105 by Justin Jackson in 2017. … Davis has 1,975 career points, passing Antawn Jamison (1,974) for ninth in UNC history. … Bacot is third in ACC history with 83 double-doubles behind Tim Duncan’s 87 and Ralph Sampson’s 84. Bacot tied Syracuse’s Derrick Coleman and La Salle’s Lionel Simmons for fifth in NCAA history. … The Tar Heels shot 52.3% from the floor. UNC is 7–0 this season (22–0 under Hubert Davis, and has won 30 in a row when shooting 50% from the floor. … Hubert Davis’ 75th win ties Roy Williams for the second-most by a UNC coach in his first three seasons (Bill Guthridge had 80 from 1997 to 2000). … Withers missed a first-half dunk attempt when he was called for basket interference. It was the fourth straight game UNC has missed a dunk attempt, the previous three by Bacot. … Ryan has made a career-high 64 3-pointers this season (made 63 while playing for Notre Dame in 2022–23). … It was the eighth time this season Bacot and Ingram both had 10 or more rebounds (UNC is 7–1 in those games, all of which have come in ACC play). … Carolina won all three meetings with Florida State (earlier winning 78–70 in Chapel Hill on Dec. 2 and 75–68 at FSU on Jan. 27) and leads the all-time series 55–16, including 6–3 in the ACC tournament. … UNC is 52–15 all-time as a No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament, 49–14 in quarterfinal games, 7–0 against No. 9 seeds and 5–1 in Washington. … Cadeau was the last starter to leave the game, and that wasn’t until 3:29 remained in the game.
No. 4 UNC 92, FSU 67
ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday’s first round
No. 12 Notre Dame 55, No. 13 Pittsburgh 54
No. 15 California 82, No. 10 Virginia Tech 73, 2 OTs
No. 14 Syracuse 66, No. 11 Florida State 62
Wednesday’s second round
No. 8 Georgia Tech 66, No. 9 Virginia 60
No. 5 North Carolina 76, Notre Dame 56
No. 7 Stanford 78, California 73
No. 6 SMU 73, Syracuse 53
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 1 (and No. 1-ranked) Duke 78, Georgia Tech 70
North Carolina 68, No. 4 Wake Forest 59
No. 2 (and No. 13-ranked) Louisville 75, Stanford 73
No. 3 (and No. 10-ranked) Clemson 57, SMU 54
Friday’s semifinals
Duke 72, North Carolina 71
Louisville 76, Clemson 73
Saturday’s championship
Duke 73, Louisville 62
UNC season statistics
| Date | Month/day | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. No. 13 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. 14 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. 7 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. 17 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. Syracuse | ESPN |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | vs. No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at Miami | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 14 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | vs. Pittsburgh | ESPN |
| 17 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 21 | Saturday | 1 p.m. | at Syracuse | ABC |
| 23 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 20 Louisville | ESPN |
| 28 | Saturday | 6:30 or 8:30 | vs. Virginia Tech | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 22 Clemson | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | at No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo courtesy of the ACC
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