UNC rolls to 95-63 NCAA tournament win over Marquette, advances to face Baylor Bears
Coach Hubert Davis accomplished in his first NCAA tournament game something North Carolina didn’t do in three previous tries — beat a Shaka Smart-coached team.
The No. 8 seed Tar Heels defeated No. 9 seed Marquette 95-63 in Thursday’s first round, which was the largest margin of victory in an 8-9 seed game in NCAA tournament history. The Heels (25-9) advanced to face Baylor, the East Region’s No. 1 seed on Saturday.
Smart, who is in his first year with the Golden Eagles, owned a 3-0 record against the Heels during his six seasons at Texas. But it was clear early on UNC would hand him his first loss against the Tar Heels. Marquette wanted to make the game about toughness and, despite failing in that area earlier this season, Carolina was up to the challenge.
“There’s been a number of times where teams have tried to push us around,” Davis said. “And the only way that you can change that narrative of people thinking that they can do it, is if you swing back and be the first ones to swing.”
Carolina used a 20-2 haymaker midway through the first half to take a 27-10 lead and it only ballooned from there. The Heels’ 53-25 halftime lead was their biggest in the NCAA tournament since leading Marquette 40-15 in the 2011 Sweet 16.
“We played those guys last year and, to a man, all those guys that were on that team that came back are markedly better,” said Smart, referencing Texas’ win over the Heels last season. “That’s a credit to Hubert Davis and his staff, and to those players, the work they put in. And, obviously, the addition of (Brady) Manek and the element that he gives to their team is really — makes them a dangerous, dangerous team.”
Davis has repeatedly spoken about the togetherness of the team in the closing month of the season and players accepting their roles. That showed against Marquette in the way they passed the ball.
Carolina had 29 assists on its 34 baskets, which was its highest percentage (85) in the program’s tournament history. R.J. Davis led the way with a career-high 12 assists, which tied Kenny Smith for the second most by a UNC player in the NCAA tournament. (Kendall Marshall has the record with 14.)
“The movement was there, we were able to get to our spots and then that’s what opened up passing lanes and created transition breaks,” said R.J. Davis, who only had one turnover. “That’s what we keyed on coming into this game. We just wanted to play Carolina basketball, and we executed that tonight.”
The Heels also set a program record for 3-pointers in the NCAA tournament with 13 as Caleb Love and Brady Manek combined for 11. It was the first time UNC had two players with at least five 3s in the same NCAA tournament game. Manek set a new season-high with 28 points, which marked the fourth time in the past five games that he’s scored at least 20 for UNC.
“You get guys that are threats on the floor and it really spaces out for everybody else,” said Manek, who had five 3s and tied a season-high with 11 rebounds. “And I’m fortunate enough to be able to play with guards that like throwing me the ball. So just finding the open spots and getting me those open looks, it really gets my confidence going.”
Here’s what we learned from Carolina’s win:
Love gets hot, but keeps cool
Love made six 3-pointers in the first half, which tied his career-high against Florida State this season and tied the most in program history in the NCAA tournament.
With a lead that reached 35, Love only had one 3-point attempt in the second half and he missed it. So he remains tied with Marcus Paige, who made six against Indiana in 2016, and Shammond Williams, who had six against UNC Charlotte in 1998.
Love finished with 23 points, just a basket shy of his career-high 25 points in Carolina’s win at Duke last season.
Love had already made four 3s when he and Marquette’s Darryl Morsell exchanged words and had to be separated when Morsell tried to jerk the ball from Love’s hands after he was called for a carrying violation with 5:29 left in the first half.
Morsell was later given a technical when both he and Love scrambled for the ball on the floor and he grabbed Love by the neck. Despite the back-and-forth, Love never retaliated.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight, we don’t back down from anything,” Love said. “So just my competitive nature and my team’s competitive nature, just came out and we played it smart. We came out with the win, that’s all I cared about.”
Controlling the boards
The Golden Eagles often used a four guard lineup, which left them a bit undersized in the frontcourt. Carolina took full advantage of what had been a season-long weakness for Marquette.
UNC forward Armando Bacot had five rebounds before the game’s first media timeout, which put him ahead of Brice Johnson for the greatest rebounding season in program history. Bacot finished with 10 rebounds and 17 points.
With Bacot setting the pace, the Heels dominated especially on the offensive boards. Carolina had 15 offensive rebounds, which led to a new season-high with 23 second chance points. The Heels’ twice scored 21 second-chance points this season in games against Purdue and Florida State.
“I knew we had a huge size advantage in the lane and, obviously, just based on their statistics from the year, they weren’t a great rebounding team,” Bacot said. “That really gave us an advantage all throughout the game. The first half, us dominating the rebounds, just getting those second chance opportunities, I knew that would be a huge advantage for us.”
Lock-down defense
The Golden Eagles’ leading scorer, Justin Lewis, was added to the list of players Leaky Black shut down, missing his first eight shots and scoring just six. Lewis, an all-Big East first team member, had averaged 17 points per game.
“He’s a big boy, usually big guards don’t like people crowding them and getting under their space and not being able to put the ball on the ground and get easy shots,” Black said. “So I just tried to be physical with him before he got physical with me, and I feel like it took him out of his rhythm.”
Lewis finished 2-for-15 from the floor, which was his worst shooting performance of the season and just the third time he was held to single digits scoring. It led Davis to lament the fact that Black doesn’t get more recognition. Davis believes voters lean too much on blocked shots and steals when choosing defensive awards, without considering how a player shuts down an opponent.
“It’d be nice if they actually looked at specific stats in terms of how they defended guys throughout the season,” Davis said. “If you took the time to look at Leaky’s defensive stats towards the opposing player. ... I think he would be noticed more as one of the best defenders, if not the best defender, in the country.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 7:01 PM.