UNC beats Saint Peter’s to advance to Final Four in Hubert Davis’ first season
North Carolina first-year coach Hubert Davis made good on getting his players a taste of what he experienced as a player. The Tar Heels are going to the Final Four.
UNC advanced to New Orleans for the second time as an eight seed in program history with its 69-49 win over Saint Peter’s in the NCAA tournament’s Elite Eight on Sunday. Carolina will face rival Duke for the third time this season on Saturday to determine a spot in the NCAA title game.
Davis, who reached the Final Four as a player for the Heels in 1991, joined Bill Guthridge as the second UNC coach to lead a team to the Final Four in just his first year as head coach.
“It’s been an unbelievable story so far,” UNC forward Brady Manek said. “It’s not over yet.”
‘It’s not over yet’ might as well have replaced ‘Final Four’ on the T-shirts and hats Carolina players wore after their victory. Even amid the net cutting and the Carolina blue and white confetti dropping upon them, they know they’re still two games shy of winning the ultimate prize.
But they took a moment to enjoy this feeling. Davis teared up when he was being interviewed by the broadcast crew right after the game.
“This is probably the most nervous I was before a game, because I just really wanted them to go to the Final Four,” Davis said. “And it’s something that we had talked about at the beginning of the season. And then in the huddle I told them that it’s not a hope, it’s not a dream anymore, it’s a reality. And for these guys to have this experience, to be able to go to the Final Four, brings so much joy to my heart.”
The Heels helped calm Davis’ nerves with how they played from the start. The Heels eliminated all the hope for the New York/New Jersey-partisan crowd who filled in the Wells Fargo Center to see if the 15 seed could continue its improbable run.
Carolina played in the same scrappy manner that had defined Saint Peter’s run to the Elite Eight. There was guard R.J. Davis, who is all of 6-feet tall, jumping up to snatch a sure offensive rebound and potential putback from the outstretched hands of SPU’s 6-foot-7 forward Hassan Drame. There was Leaky Black hustling to make up space on what looked like an open 3-pointer for SPU’s Isiah Dasher to block his shot.
“We just wanted to play North Carolina basketball,” Black said. “They hang their hat on punching teams in the mouth, being the underdog, that kind of thing. We just had to let them know it wasn’t going to happen tonight. That’s pretty much it.”
When the Heels jumped out to a 7-0 lead forcing a SPU timeout, they showed they weren’t going to be like Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue, which had all fallen victim to the Peacocks’ gritty play. Carolina never trailed in the game and really never even allowed Saint Peter’s to think it could cut a deficit that reached as high as 27 points, down to single-digits.
“I didn’t really recognize my team the first 10 minutes of the game,” SPU coach Shaheen Holloway said. “I thought we came out a little slow, a little timid. Give those guys credit, they came in and jumped on us early.”
Carolina set a new program record for fewest points allowed in a regional final and only allowed the Peacocks to shoot 30 percent from the floor.
SPU guard Doug Edert, who was averaging 15.7 points in his last four games — including hanging 20 points on Kentucky — was held without a field goal and scored just two points. Guard Daryl Banks III, who scored 27 on Kentucky and 14 against Purdue, was held to just seven points on 2-for-8 shooting.
“They rely on the guards play, so it was about pressuring the guards and disrupting their offensive flow through the guards,” R.J. Davis said. “Once we were able to get into them on ball coverages, pick-and-rolls and disrupted it a little bit, it was good for us.”
UNC junior forward Armando Bacot was named the Most Outstanding Player of the East region. He was joined by teammates Caleb Love and Manek on the all-region team. Banks and Edert from Saint Peter’s rounded out the five players chosen.
Here’s what we learned from Carolina’s win:
Bacot ties Big Fundamental
Bacot tied former Wake Forest forward Tim Duncan for the most double-doubles in ACC history in a single season. Bacot tied his career-high with 22 rebounds and added 20 points for his nation-leading 29th double-double this season. Duncan established the record during the 1996-97 season.
The Peacocks’ frontcourt of 6-foot-8 Clarence Rupert and 6-foot-7 Hassan Drame showed their toughness in their Sweet 16 win over Purdue by not backing down against 7-foot-4 Purdue center Zach Edey and 6-foot-10 forward Trevion Williams. They were able to frustrate Edey especially into five turnovers and limited him to just two rebounds.
Bacot proved early on he was not going to make himself small. Bacot dominated the undersized forwards from Saint Peter’s with 15 rebounds in the first half. For much of the first 20 minutes, he had more rebounds than their entire team.
“Bacot is good, man, when you get 22 and 20, it’s pretty impressive,” Holloway said. “He did a good job and he had 15 (rebounds) at halftime. No one really dominated us like that before. He was kind of all over the place. Touched everything.”
Balanced attack
Carolina avoided the trap that led to the Peacocks upset of Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue to reach the Elite Eight. SPU was able to disrupt its opponents’ offensively by taking away at least one of their main scorers.
Against Kentucky, Tyty Washington and Kellan Grady were a combined 3-for-19 shooting. SPU limited Purdue’s Jaden Ivey, who is a potential top five pick in the NBA draft, to just nine points.
But the Tar Heels simply had too many weapons. Manek had 19 points including four 3-pointers. Bacot was steady inside shooting 8-for-15 from the floor. And Love, who didn’t need to change shoes at halftime this game, scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half.
Full court press
What is it about Carolina and 25-point leads that end with letdowns? The Heels squandered a 25-point advantage against Baylor in the second round before winning in overtime. Manek got ejected and Love fouled out in the closing minutes of that game, which contributed to the Heels losing some of their composure.
Their starters were fine against the Peacocks, but once the Heels grabbed a 47-20 lead, it seems they let up. SPU picked up with a full court press, similar to what Baylor used to rally, and forced two turnovers — including a five-second violation on an in-bounds pass. KC Ndefo then blocked a Love layup attempt, which led to a shot clock violation.
The Peacocks used that spurt to chip off seven points of their deficit to 51-31. Carolina was not in danger of falling totally apart, but for a second game seemed to initially be thrown a bit out of sorts by a full court press.
This story was originally published March 27, 2022 at 7:19 PM.