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At No. 32 in the NET rankings, Carolina’s NCAA tournament resume is about as good as it could be for an 11–6 team, thanks to lots of “good losses.” No team has played more than the Tar Heels’ seven Quad 1 games. They are one of six teams — along with West Virginia (29 in NET rankings, 10–6), Washington State (70, 8–10), Butler (80, 10–8), Nebraska (96, 9–8) and Mississippi (100, 8–8) — that are 1–6 in those games.
Southern Cal quarterback Caleb Williams is the favorite to repeat as Heisman Trophy winner, but North Carolina redshirt sophomore quarterback Drake Maye has the second-best odds to win the prestigious trophy. Williams odds are at +400, followed by Maye at +1,000, with three other quarterbacks at +1,200 — Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., Oregon’s Bo Nix and Florida State’s Jordan Travis.
North Carolina stayed at No. 22 in the latest AP Top 25 women’s poll even after the Tar Heels’ 60–50 upset of then-No. 4 Notre Dame on Sunday, likely because of a loss to unranked Miami. The Tar Heels (10–5, 1–3 ACC) rebounded from Thursday’s heartbreaking 62–58 loss at Miami to hand the Irish only their second loss of the season and snap a four-game losing streak behind 16 points from freshman guard Paulina Paris.
CHAPEL HILL — Paulina Paris’ silky-smooth jumper and driving ability were just what Carolina needed to break out of a four-game losing streak marked by shooting struggles. The freshman guard scored 11 of her season-high 16 points in the fourth quarter as the No. 22 Tar Heels earned a season-changing 60–50 victory over No. 4 Notre Dame on Sunday before a packed Carmichael Arena for their third consecutive home win over the Irish.
CHAPEL HILL — While Hubert Davis continues to lean on his starters for heavy minutes in his second season as Carolina’s head coach, he depends on his reserves more in certain stretches this season. But after plenty of talk about expanding the rotation, Davis still likes to stick with his starters.
Carolina’s women keep battling until the end, but not enough shots are falling and the heartbreaking losses just keep coming. The No. 22 Tar Heels lost their fourth consecutive game and are 0–3 in the ACC for the third time in program history after falling 62–58 at Miami on Thursday night.
CHAPEL HILL — When Pete Nance left the game in the first two minutes, Carolina figured to need unexpected contributions to overcome Wake Forest. Although RJ Davis’ second-half scoring surge — with 22 of his 27 points after halftime — was the Tar Heels’ main spark, they couldn’t have won without the play of Leaky Black and Justin McKoy.
The narrow loss at Pittsburgh made Carolina’s return to the AP Top 25 men’s poll brief. But the good news for the Tar Heels is that the 76–74 setback came in a Quad 1 game, and can be classified as a “good loss” for NCAA men’s tournament resume purposes. UNC (9–5, 1–2 ACC) is one of six teams in the country that has played an NCAA-high six Quad 1 games, but is tied for the second-worst record in those games at 1–5 with South Dakota State (194 in the NET rankings). No 5-ranked Arizona (5 in NET) is 5–1, No. 24 Ohio State (10 in NET) is 3–3, No. 9 Gonzaga (13 in NET) is 3–3 and Florida (61 in NET) is 0–6.
Whenever Virginia Tech and North Carolina play in women’s basketball, you can count on an entertaining battle, foul trouble for both teams and, in most cases, hot shooting from the Hokies’ Georgia Amoore. All three happened Sunday as Amoore scored 24 points, including three free throws with 1.8 seconds left, as the No. 7 Hokies rallied from a late four-point deficit to beat the No. 13 Tar Heels 68–65 Sunday at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va.
Andrew Platek scored 19 points, all in the second half, to lead Siena to a 73–76 road MAAC victory Friday over Quinnipiac for its third consecutive victory. Platek made 3 of 4 3-point attempts, pulled down a career-high seven rebounds, and had an assist and two steals for the Saints (8–5, 2–0 MAAC).
For some Saturday stretches, Carolina seemed to forget that they have Preseason All-American post player, which cost the Tar Heels. There were far too many second-half possessions when an outside shot went up without the ball going inside to Armando Bacot, who got two shots in the last 10 minutes of Pittsburgh’s 76–74 home victory over UNC at the Peterson Events Center.
By R.L. Bynum CHAPEL HILL — On a wild night in ACC women’s basketball, No. 13 Carolina’s physical battle with … More
North Carolina fell seven spots to No. 13 in the AP Top 25 women’s poll after the Tar Heels’ 76–68 loss to Michigan in Charlotte on Tuesday. The drop ended the Tar Heels’ streak of top-10 rankings at five weeks, the longest since the 2014–15 season when they had a six-week streak in the 2014–15 season (No. 6 Dec. 1–15, No. 9 Dec. 22, 29 and No. 8 Jan. 5).
Carolina is back to playing well, has continued to improve during a four-game win streak, and now the Tar Heels are back in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll after a three-week absence. UNC (9–4, 1–1 ACC) is No. 25 after following up its big 89–84 overtime victory Dec. 17 in New York over Ohio State with an 80–76 win Wednesday in Charlotte over Michigan. Losses by No. 21 Virginia Tech, No. 24 Marquette and No. 25 Arizona State dropped all three from the poll, aiding the Tar Heels’ return.
North Carolina learned a lot from a four-game losing streak that ramped up the frustrations and turned the Tar Heels from the No. 1 team to an unranked group looking for answers. All along, a couple of the big answers were there. Get Armando Bacot healthy and gear the offense around getting the preseason ACC Player of the Year and AP All-American the ball down low frequently.
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