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WASHINGTON — As Tyler Nickel walked from the postgame press conference to the Virginia Tech locker room, he greeted some Carolina friends. It was a brief and jovial exchange in the hallway at Capital One Arena with assistant coach Marcus Paige and director of operations Eric Hoots. Nickel hoped to spend much more time with them and his other UNC friends on Thursday in the quarterfinals.
WASHINGTON — Armando Bacot a three- and-D guy? The first part is debatable but there’s no doubting the last part. After making the ACC’s All-Defensive Team and sinking a pair of 3-pointers on senior night, he’s telling his teammates and the coaches that he is.
One day after his former UNC teammate RJ Davis was named the ACC Player of the Year, Arizona guard Caleb Love was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year. They both were honored Tuesday by The Sporting News.
For the first time in 26 years and the fifth time in school history, the ACC’s player and coach of the year are Tar Heels. RJ Davis is the ACC Player of the Year and Hubert Davis is the ACC Coach of the Year, with the league announcing postseason awards on Monday. Armando Bacot made All-ACC second team and Harrison Ingram earned third-team honors.
North Carolina moved up three spots to No. 4 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll after the Tar Heels finished a season sweep of Duke for their sixth consecutive victory.
North Carolina’s victory over Duke vastly improved the Tar Heels’ NCAA resume ahead of Selection Sunday this weekend. The proof is the dramatic rise in the number of bracket projections from Sunday to Monday that have UNC as a No. 1 seed.
CHAPEL HILL — No. 16 North Carolina is finding many ways to win during its nine-game win streak, and the Tar Heels did it in the final inning for the second time this week. One of the many players the Tar Heels snagged in the transfer portal, versatile graduate right fielder Anthony Donofrio, came through with the game-ending hit in the 10th inning.
One week away from Selection Sunday, No. 7 North Carolina has helped its NCAA tournament resume with six consecutive wins, including the Tar Heels’ seventh Quad 1 victory on Saturday.
Caleb Love suffered the second-worst scoring and shooting night of his career as No. 6 Arizona got upset, while Dawson Garcia had a huge night in a Minnesota loss and Justin McKoy finished the regular season by leading Hawaii to a big senior night win.
DURHAM — No. 7 North Carolina was not in the mood to share, and graduate guard Cormac Ryan repeatedly shot down that possibility. Ryan scored a career-high 31 points, hitting four big free throws in the final 16.7 seconds, as the Tar Heels clinched the ACC regular-season title outright with an 84–79 victory Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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