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CHAPEL HILL — Getting swept in a late April ACC series is discouraging for No. 18 North Carolina, but the memory of last season gives the Tar Heels hope that they can still achieve plenty this season. No. 20 Boston College rallied for a 6–2 victory Sunday at Boshamer Stadium to finish off a sweep of the Tar Heels a year after UNC got swept at Virginia for its fifth consecutive conference series loss.
CHAPEL HILL — On a night when No. 18 Carolina finally got the sort of excellent outing from a starting pitcher that the Tar Heels have lacked lately, a bullpen that recently has been reliable quickly wasted it. To make it worse for UNC, it continued recent failures with the bases loaded only to see No. 20 Boston College produce in that situation.
Carolina picked up its fourth offseason transfer and most significant Saturday afternoon when former Stanford forward Harrison Ingram, who visited Chapel Hill on Wednesday, committed to the Tar Heels. Last Saturday, Coach Hubert Davis had an in-home visit with the 6–7, 230-pound junior, who originally picked Stanford out of high school over UNC, Purdue, Michigan, Harvard and Howard. Ingram was the No. 2 player in Evan Miya’s transfer portal rankings.
CHAPEL HILL — High-level ACC games can turn on the strangest plays, and one of those led to No. 18 North Carolina’s downfall in a crazy 10-inning battle. One strike away from getting out of the top of the 10th, Boston College’s Sam McNulty hit a grounder that looked routine. But the ball took a wicked hop off the edge of the grass and went over shortstop Colby Wilkerson’s head.
It was a rough night for Harrison Barnes and Cameron Johnson as they both scored 17 points but their teams lost Game 3s in their NBA first-round series Thursday. It was particularly frustrating for Johnson, whose Brooklyn Nets made a game of it but missed chances to win it or tie it at the end as Philadelphia took a 3–0 series lead with a 102–97 victory in Brooklyn.
DURHAM — For a program with one loss in the previous three seasons, North Carolina has faced unfamiliar challenges after losing plenty of talent from last season’s unbeaten national champions. No. 6 UNC added another new challenge Friday when they trailed Duke for the first time since 2018. The Tar Heels haven’t overcome all those challenges this season but withstood a spunky Blue Devils team to win 13–12 in the regular-season finale for their 14th consecutive win over their rivals.
Carolina picked up another transfer Thursday in former Notre Dame guard Cormac Ryan. Ryan, a 6–5, 195-pound graduate transfer, has one year of remaining eligibility.
The fifth of the six Carolina players to enter the transfer portal has committed.
Will Shaver, who played only six minutes over three games for Carolina before getting hurt, will play at Belmont with likely four years remaining eligibility.
CHAPEL HILL — What could have easily been a laugher for No. 18 North Carolina still was a solid win, but the missed opportunities were no joke. UNC eased past Charlotte 5–3 after rolling past the 49ers 16–3 earlier this season. But, against No. 20 Boston College this weekend — with the Tar Heels needing a big series if they hope to get into the NCAA regional host conversation — they can’t leave 19 runners on base and waste so many scoring chances.
Relentless, red-hot and fearless. Cameron Johnson was all that for Brooklyn on Monday night for one half, but, again, it wasn’t enough. Harrison Barnes again was a steady force as Sacramento took a 2–0 lead on Golden State. Johnson scored 22 points and had Joel Embiid flailing with a one-handed dunk in his face, followed by a stare-down of the 7-footer, in the first half. He added only six points in the second half, though, as the Philadelphia 76ers took a 2–0 series lead with a 96–84 victory over the Nets on Monday night.
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