UCLA coach raves about UNC’s Armando Bacot, and other notes ahead of Sweet 16 matchup
North Carolina committed 10 turnovers in the closing 10 minutes of regulation against Baylor, and added three more turnovers in overtime of their second round win.
Most of those turnovers were forced by the Bears’ full court pressure. Even though UCLA hasn’t been a huge pressing team, the Tar Heels have tried to shore up their press break.
“I think just our spacing and positioning seemed like everyone was too bunched up together at one point a couple of times,” UNC sophomore guard R.J. Davis said. “It’s more about having like outlets and options being available.”
Junior forward Armando Bacot said that the Heels didn’t execute like they were supposed to do. There were too many players coming toward the ball, which led to their spacing issues.
“We watched film and we made a lot of mistakes,” Bacot said. “But luckily this next game I’d imagine we’ll have Brady and Caleb on the floor the whole time, so we should be good.”
Save the underdog talk
Carolina may be the eight seed, but Bacot said the players have never thought of themselves as an underdog. Not before they faced No. 1 seed and 2021 national champion Baylor last week and won in overtime. And not now, as they prepare to face No. 4 seed UCLA, which currently relies on a lot of players from its Final Four run last season.
“I don’t think we really go into any game thinking that any team we’re playing are better than us,” Bacot said. “I guess that’s just more for y’all and people to really see it as. But I don’t think we’re going in the game thinking that we’re the underdog or embracing like an underdog role.”
UNC coach Hubert Davis said he’s never tried to motivate the team from a standpoint that no one believed they could win. His message has been for the Heels to change the narrative that they were soft.
“I just felt like the narrative with this group was that they weren’t tough, they weren’t resilient,” Davis said. “(They) weren’t a team of perseverance. And I said the only way that can change is, you have to change it.”
Bacot’s biggest fan
UCLA coach Mick Cronin raved about Bacot, calling him the “poster child” for staying in school, because of how he’s developed since being at UNC.
“My respect for him is off the charts because he stayed in school and he’s learned how to impose his physicality on a game for the entire game,” Cronin said. “He imposed physicality on (Duke’s) Mark Williams. That’s hard to do now. Mark is a great player and another pro.”
Cronin said he knows that many draft prognosticators don’t have Bacot being taken in mock drafts, but he thinks they’re missing out.
“Everybody, whether it was Paul Millsap or Montrezl Harrell, everybody that averages 11, 12, almost 13 rebounds makes it in the NBA,” Cronin said. “He’ll make it, period.”
Drive for 100
Carolina completed its 98th practice of the season on Thursday, but before Davis addressed the team huddled together at the Wells Fargo Center, Bacot added that he wanted to get to 100 for the season. That would mean the Tar Heels beat UCLA for practice No. 99 on Saturday, and they reached the Final Four after beating the winner of Purdue and St. Peters.
“I said, ‘Okay, that means then we’ve got to practice on Saturday, and then that means we’ve got to go practice back at home,’” Davis said. “So our guys are excited. They’re motivated. They accept the challenge of playing a great team tomorrow night, and we’re ready to go.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 5:56 PM.