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CHAPEL HILL — The beast mode from Harrison Ingram early and Armando Bacot late drove No. 7 North Carolina to a huge bounce-back victory it badly needed. Bacot scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half, and Ingram had a double-double by halftime as the Tar Heels eased to a 96–81 win Saturday over Virginia Tech at the Smith Center for the 64th 20-win season in program history and third in a row.
Carolina is a No. 2 seed and the fifth overall seed in the bracket that the NCAA men’s basketball committee revealed Saturday. During a bracket preview show on CBS and TNT, the committee revealed the top 16 seeds as they stood entering Saturday’s games. The actual field will be announced at 6 p.m. on Selection Sunday, March 17.
Dawson Garcia, Destiny Adams, Justin McKoy and Kennedy Todd-Williams all had big mid-week games, while Tyler Nickel scored 15 ahead of his return to the Smith Center.
If Carolina makes a deep run in March, it will be with lockdown defense. The No. 7 Tar Heels (19–6, 11–3 ACC) haven’t reached the level they’ll need to do that since their 10-game win streak ended with the loss at Georgia Tech on Jan. 30.
No. 7 North Carolina’s second non-Quad 1 loss of the season dropped the Tar Heels one spot in the NET rankings to 11, probably pushing them further away from the No. 1 seed NCAA tournament seed line.
Carolina’s defense, a cornerstone of a 10-game win streak earlier this season, continues to regress in recent games, and the No. 7 Tar Heels paid for it at Syracuse. The Orange cashed in with red-hot shooting.
With Selection Sunday five Sundays away, the No. 7 North Carolina men are projected as a No. 2 seed, and the UNC women are predicted to have a tough road as a No. 6 seed.
North Carolina fell four spots to No. 7 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll as one of four teams in the top 10 of last week’s poll to lose.
Dontrez Styles had the best scoring game of the weekend among the former Tar Heels. Justin McKoy, Caleb Love, Dawson Garcia and Destiny Adams also enjoyed big games, although Garcia got hurt.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — With all the good numbers that freshman point guard Elliot Cadeau put up on Saturday, all he could think about was one number — five turnovers. Cadeau has always been his biggest critic, even after career-best totals of 19 points and four assists, as well as an ACC-high eight assists. He refused to call it his best game because of that season-high turnover total.
No. 3 North Carolina continued to build a strong NCAA tournament resume five weeks away from Selection Sunday. The league-leading Tar Heels (19–5, 11–2 ACC) are projected as a solid No. 2 seed, remaining at 10 in the NET rankings after Saturday’s 75–72 win at Miami earned their sixth Quad 1 victory.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — If RJ Davis wasn’t already a favorite to earn All-America honors and ACC Player of the Year, his play at both ends solidified that status on Saturday.
CHAPEL HILL — Since No. 3 Carolina’s 10-game win streak ended, opponents have altered how they defend graduate center Armando Bacot and senior guard RJ Davis, and that’s led to a period of adjustment.
Caleb Love experienced a second wild multi-overtime game in as many seasons, but this time his team prevailed. Meanwhile, Dontrez Styles had a big game for Georgetown, Penn State keeps winning with D’Marco Dunn in the starting lineup and Destiny Adams continues to produce big scoring games for Rutgers.
The ACC men’s basketball tournament will be in North Carolina for five consecutive seasons starting in 2025, the longest run since the event was held in the state from 1990 to 2000, with the women’s tournament going to Charlotte in 2027.
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