One and done. UNC falls to Wisconsin basketball in first round of the NCAA tournament
Was it experience? Or 3-point shooting? Or maybe it was just too much Brad Davison. No matter the question, North Carolina had no answers for Wisconsin and was eliminated in the NCAA tournament’s first round after an 85-62 loss in Mackey Arena on the campus of Purdue.
The Badgers (18-12) had six seniors in their rotation compared to the Tar Heels (18-11) playing six freshmen in theirs. It showed in how Carolina got away from its identity while Wisconsin stuck to its game plan.
If marked the first time ever that UNC coach Roy Williams lost a first-round game in 30 tries.
“A team of seniors, when you get into tournament play they seem to really, really want something and they perform to that,” Williams said.
Wisconsin’s experience played out often in subtle moves. UNC’s Anthony Harris went for a steal that he didn’t get. Davison, realizing Harris was out of position, sidestepped behind the 3-point line and made a 3. He’d score the final eight points of the half, including a 3 with 33 seconds left on a fast break.
Davison’s 29 points left him one point shy of tying his career-high. The senior guard had five of Wisconsin’s 13 3-pointers. Senior D’Mitrik Trice had 21 points and added another three 3s as the Badgers shot 48 percent from behind the arc.
Davison had only one 20-point game this season. UNC senior Garrison Brooks, who finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds, said he didn’t stand out in the games they reviewed on video.
“Truly, I didn’t see any explosiveness,” Brooks said. “But he showed it (Friday), that’s all that matters.”
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No stopping Brad Davison
Carolina’s vaunted frontcourt fell short of expectations. The Heels managed just 12 offensive rebounds and 12 second-chance points. They looked nothing like the team that led the nation in offensive rebounding percentage, which had been a strength for them all season.
Wisconsin also managed to out-rebound the Heels overall 37-34. It marked just the third time (Kentucky, at Florida State) this season that the Heels did not win on the boards. UNC freshman Day’Ron Sharpe, who if nothing else always brought energy to the lineup and rebounded the ball, was even held to a season-low three rebounds.
“They did a good job of double-teaming the bigs and boxing out,” UNC forward Armando Bacot said. “They were sending all five to the glass, and I feel like we didn’t always do a great job of doing that tonight. They did a good job of doubling us and not letting us get to the boards.”
Bacot was a nonfactor in the first half, to the extent that there’s little doubt from anyone watching coach Roy Williams resorted to calling him soft at halftime. It’s the one word that Bacot has said he hates hearing, but it’s the one word that seems to bring out his aggressive play.
Bacot scored 15 of the Tar Heels’ first 19 points in the second half after going scoreless in the first. He’d finish with that total.
“In the first half, they did a good job of not giving me looks,” Bacot said. “I was posting up, but the ball couldn’t find me. In the second half, I just decided that if I get it, wherever I get it, I was just going to drive the ball and try to make a play, be as aggressive as I could.”
But for every dunk, jump hook or layup Bacot made, Wisconsin answered with a basket of its own, and more often than not it was from 3-point range. The Badgers made six 3s in their first 10 baskets of the second half including Davison staying perfect on all three of his attempts after intermission.
“Plain and simple, we couldn’t stop him,” said UNC freshman guard Caleb Love, who had 10 points. “Anything we threw at him, he came through for his team. We tried to trap him and get the ball out of his hands, but it didn’t work. He was a big-time player for them.”
When Carolina tied the score early at 16, it took a series of bad shots and had a turnover to allow Wisconsin to go back in front. And it would lead for good from midway through the first half to the end of the game.
“We took some bad shots in the first half,” Williams said. “Six turnovers and eight bad shots so that’s 14 of the same thing.”
Here are updates from earlier:
Wisconsin nailing the 3
Wisconsin won’t stop hitting 3s. The Badgers have maintained their 16-point halftime lead by matching the six 3-pointers they had in the first half. So although the Heels have played better offensively -- shooting 46 percent from the field in the second half -- they haven’t been able to make a dent in their deficit.
UNC has no answer defensively for Wisconsin guard Brad Davison, who now has 27 points and hasn’t missed any of his four shot attempts in the second half.
Heels trail at halftime
Wisconsin’s Brad Davison has 16 points including two of their six 3-pointers to build a 40-24 advantage over UNC at halftime.
Carolina’s shooting just 31 percent from the field and hasn’t come close to getting its average of 41 percent of its missed shots. Wisconsin put an emphasis on limiting the Heels on the offensive boards and so far has held them to just three.
UNC sophomore forward Armando Bacot, who leads the team in scoring average, was 0-for-1 and scoreless in the first half. Garrison Brooks hasn’t done much better, going 1-for-7 with just three points.
Both Kerwin Walton and Caleb Love lead the Heels with five points each.
Badgers forge ahead
The Tar Heels have trailed Wisconsin for most of the game so far, thanks in part to the slow pace of the game that favors the Badgers.
UNC erased a six-point deficit with contributions from its bench to tie the game at 16. R.J. Davis made a 3-pointer in transition after a Day’Ron Sharpe block. Anthony Harris got a layup on a baseline in-bounds pass. And Sharpe tied it with a spin move and layup.
But after tying it, the Heels either took bad shots or just missed badly, as the Badgers jumped back in front 22-18 with 6:42 left.
Starting lineups
North Carolina: Caleb Love, Kerwin Walton, Leaky Black, Garrison Brooks, Armando Bacot.
Wisconsin: D’Mitrik Trice, Brad Davison, Aleem Ford, Tyler Wahl, Nate Ruevers.
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 6:54 PM.