Covering Carolina sports beyond just men's basketball and football — with the most complete women's basketball coverage
Reggie Bullock is playing his best basketball in two months, and that’s helped the Dallas Mavericks win four of their last five games. Bullock scored 17 points on 5 of 8 shooting from 3-point range Tuesday night as the host Mavericks blew out the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers 128–110. Los Angeles was without LeBron James (ankle issue) and Anthony Davis (foot sprain).
If you can’t make it to New Orleans for the Final Four, you can still show your support for the Tar Heels team by being part of a sendoff on Wednesday and joining a watch party at the Smith Center. When Carolina leaves for RDU Airport at about 4:45 Wednesday afternoon, fans are invited to line up on either side of Lettermen’s Lane, which is between the Smith Center and the Woody Durham Media and Communications Center.
The Hall of Fame coach who prevented a UNC-Duke battle in the 1991 Final Four remembers the crazy way that game finished and the unfortunate exit of another Hall of Fame coach. During an interview Tuesday morning on the ACC Network’s “Packer and Durham,” Williams also talked about how happy Carolina’s 69–49 East Regional final victory Sunday in Philadelphia over Saint Peter’s made him.
Reggie Bullock was feeling it from the perimeter on Sunday night and now his Dallas Mavericks appear to be in good position to have home-court advantage in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Bullock tied his season-high with 23 points and tied his career-high with seven 3-pointers as the Mavs earned a 114–100 home win over the Utah Jazz.
PHILADELPHIA — Moments after Hubert Davis greeted the last Saint Peter’s player in the handshake line, all that had transpired since he took over as Carolina’s head coach last spring brought a flood of emotions.
He tearfully broke down, overwhelmed that he had navigated the program through a historic transition from a Hall of Fame coach and that his first team had earned the program’s NCAA-record 21st Final Four berth.
Can anything in the best rivalry in sports top Carolina ruining Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final Duke home game? We may be about to find out when the rivalry heads to New Orleans for a national semifinal at the Final Four on Saturday at about 8:40 p.m. in a reality that is sending the stress levels up for both fanbases.
PHILADELPHIA — Through all of the struggles during an up-and-down season, Carolina’s players believed they could win a national title and now a college basketball world that was full of doubters has been proven wrong. The Tar Heels’ dreams live on after delivering a knockout blow in the first half to end the magical run of No. 15-seed St. Peter’s with a 69–49 victory Sunday night at Wells Fargo Center in the East Regional final.
In a battle of Tar Heels who have endured tough seasons with their teams, Harrison Barnes and Cole Anthony both played well. But while Barnes had a huge late play, Anthony made a costly mistake. Barnes’ corner 3-pointer with 12 seconds left in overtime lifted the Sacramento Kings to a 114–110 road victory over the Orlando Magic in his best game in the last 10.
PHILADELPHIA — At the start of the season, a photo of the Superdome was put on the locker of each Carolina player to remind them of the end goal — a trip to the Final Four. After two difficult seasons and a lot of frustrations, most college basketball observers saw that as an unrealistic, lofty goal at the time. Throughout the ups and downs when many fans and the media gave up on the Tar Heels, junior center Armando Bacot said that the team stayed focused and believed it was possible.
PHILADELPHIA — Carolina rode the full Caleb Love Experience into the Elite Eight. Love scored 12 consecutive UNC points in one second-half stretch and his back-to-back 3-pointers in the last 1:40 propelled the No. 8-seed Tar Heels to a 73–66 victory over No. 4-seed and 11th-ranked UCLA on Friday night in an East Regionals semifinal at the Wells Fargo Center.
Cole Anthony has put together a run of good games of late, including his ninth double-double of the season. After scoring 14 points Tuesday in the Orlando Magic’s 94–90 home win over the Golden State Warriors, Anthony collected 17 points and tied his career-high with 11 assists in a 118–112 loss Wednesday at Oklahoma City.
Roy Williams thought his first Carolina basketball season as a fan after retirement would just be fun because he wouldn’t have to worry about coaching and could just enjoy the games. He soon found out otherwise and said that his biggest concern all season was to give first-year head coach Hubert Davis his space and to make sure not to “get in the way.” During an interview on the WCMC (99.9 the Fan) show “The OG” Wednesday with hosts Joe Ovies and Joe Giglio, he said that he quickly found out what fans have known for years: it’s stressful to watch a game when you can’t do anything to change the outcome.
Carolina is one of three schools with both its men’s and women’s teams in the Sweet 16 and fans will get the chance to gather twice Wednesday to send each team off for their Friday regional semifinal games. UNC, which has both teams in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015, joins Iowa State and Michigan as the only schools with its men’s and women’s team still playing in the NCAA tournament.
Carolina fans know how stressful it was to watch the Tar Heels blow a 25-point lead to Baylor in the last 10 minutes of regulation on Saturday. Imagine how it felt in a Dickies Arena dressing room for Brady Manek, who couldn’t watch the television feed for the game.
Reggie Bullock returned after missing four games because of personal reasons but showed no rust from the break. Bullock scored 18 points and six 3-pointers, including a clutch 3 late in the game, as the Dallas Mavericks earned a 110–108 home victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Bullock also had seven rebounds as the Mavs avoided their first three-game losing streak since December.
tarheeltribune.com 