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DALLAS — Four days after the agony of a historic collapse, No. 14 North Carolina only added to SMU’s misery and offensive malaise. The Mustangs, who tied the NCAA women’s Division I record by blowing a 32-point lead in a 13-point Sunday loss at Pittsburgh, collected more turnovers (21) than field goals (12) as the Tar Heels’ relentless defense claimed another victim.
Quad 3 games will never help your NCAA tournament resume much unless you win by a wide margin, but that’s what North Carolina did on Wednesday night.
CHAPEL HILL — Skittish late-game stretches on both ends of the floor have made putting opponents away challenging for North Carolina. Against ACC newcomer California, the Tar Heels changed that, hammering the Bears with a 22–6 second-half run on their way to an easy 79–53 victory Wednesday at the Smith Center for their season-high fourth consecutive victory.
After a three-year run, the Jumpman Invitational will not continue. This season’s edition of the event, which brought together the men’s and women’s basketball teams from North Carolina, Florida, Michigan and Oklahoma to Charlotte’s Spectrum Center for two nights of games, was the last of a three-year contract.
With Selection Sunday 61 days away, NCAA tournament bracket projections keep improving for North Carolina. One suggests that the Tar Heels (11–6, 4–1 ACC; 37 in NET rankings) will play their first- and second-round games in Raleigh, and another has them facing Caleb Love’s unranked Arizona team (11–5; 37) in the first round.
The ACC expanded to 18 teams for many reasons, nearly all financial, that had little to do with men’s basketball. That will be apparent this week for North Carolina (11–6, 4–1 ACC) when California (8–8,1–4) and Stanford (11–5, 3–2) come to the Smith Center, providing Quad 3 games that, even with victories, won’t help the Tar Heels much in their pursuit of an NCAA tournament bid.
North Carolina coach Bill Belichick is taking a short break from recruiting this week but is ready to return to the road on Thursday. During his weekly Monday appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” Belichick talked about his love for trick plays in the postseason, among other topics.
After two home ACC victories last week, North Carolina jumped five spots in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll to No. 14 to tie the Tar Heels’ highest rank of the season. UNC (15–3, 3–2 ACC) knocked off Duke 53–46 in overtime on Thursday and surged past Boston College 80–67 on Sunday, earning their 15th victory, the fastest to 15 since the 2021–22 Tar Heels went 25–7 and made the NCAA Sweet 16.
After North Carolina’s run to the College World Series last season, the Tar Heels are No. 6 in the preseason D1 Baseball Top 25 poll. UNC, which finished 48–16 and had a final ranking of No. 5, is one of seven ACC teams in the poll.
Dyami Brown picked an ideal time to have his best game of the season with a career-high reception total. The fourth-year wide receiver caught a career-high five passes for a season-best 89 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown reception, as his Washington Commanders beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night 23–20 in an NFC wild-card game in Tampa, Fla.
CHAPEL HILL — No. 19 North Carolina came out after halftime with energy for the second consecutive game and took over. Unlike against No. 14 Duke three days earlier when the Tar Heels had to go to overtime to win, Carolina kept its foot on the gas and coasted to an 80–67 victory Sunday at Carmichael Arena over Boston College.
Carolina’s bracket projections are improving as it continues a stretch of seven games that can only hurt the Tar Heels’ resume with losses and minimally help them with wins.
Check out some of images from North Carolina’s thrilling victory Saturday at the Lenovo Center over N.C. State.
RALEIGH — Carolina has been getting a lot of good stuff of late from Jalen Washington, and that continued in a big way on Saturday. Washington, who recorded his first career double-double, threw down the game-winning dunk with 24 seconds left and blocked a Jayden Taylor shot at the buzzer as Carolina pulled out a 63–61 win at the Lenovo Center for its first three-game win streak since November.
CHAPEL HILL — Who will Coach Hubert Davis start with the return of Seth Trimble and the continued ascent of freshman Ian Jackson? That was far from settled based on Trimble coming off the bench in Tuesday’s 82–67 home win over SMU because the junior guard had only practiced once and hadn’t played since Dec. 21.
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