Can UNC basketball’s Armando Bacot ‘pass the test’ in ACC road game against Virginia?
When North Carolina forward Armando Bacot gets the ball in the post, he knows what’s coming next. Whether from the baseline, the wing or the free throw line, most of the Tar Heels’ opponents this season have sent another defender for a double team.
They’ve not only forced Bacot to give the ball up to a teammate, but in many instances they’ve forced turnovers. In Carolina’s win over Portland, Bacot had a stretch of three straight turnovers when the Vikings surprised him by changing the direction from which they typically brought the double.
Over the first eight games he played, Bacot had a total of 27 turnovers, averaging three per game, and a total of nine assists. But in UNC’s past seven games, Bacot has totaled just 12 turnovers while racking up 18 assists. He had a season-high five assists against Wake Forest and followed that with four in Saturday’s win over Notre Dame.
“Armando is getting better at recognizing when it’s coming, where it’s coming,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “And we’ve also tweaked and pivoted and adjusted some of our plays to put him in positions where he can’t get double teamed.”
Davis said they’ve worked with Bacot specifically on doubles during 5-on-5 drills in practice, and during individual workouts where they emphasize his footwork. It’s led Bacot to become more confident in assessing the play and what his options are when he’s being doubled.
“I thought early in the season, instead of making the easy pass to the person in front of me, I was trying to make the skip pass and the home run play and get the assist,” Bacot said. “Coach has really done a good job — coach (Sean) May — just telling me to just make the simple pass and allowing them to make that great pass. I think that’s really been helping us.”
Bacot is better equipped to handle those double teams at this point in the season, and his development comes at the right time as the Heels (11-5, 3-2 ACC) travel to face Virginia (11-3, 3-2) Tuesday at 9 p.m.
The Cavaliers are adept at nullifying opponents’ best post players with their double team that plays out differently than most because they use a second big instead of using a guard or small forward.
“I never know with Virginia, Tony Bennett obviously is a smart coach and he’s had a year to kind of scout us and see what we do,” Bacot said. “It’ll be interesting to see the different looks that they throw at us.”
It was Carolina that threw a different look at UVA last season in sweeping both meetings. Under Roy Williams, the Heels played with two traditional bigs. But Davis’ system utilized Brady Manek at the stretch-4 and the spacing provided by Manek’s 3-point shooting made it harder to double Bacot.
He dominated the Cavaliers with 29 points and 22 rebounds in Carolina’s 74-58 win in Chapel Hill that broke a seven game losing streak to UVA. The Heels didn’t have a return game in Charlottesville last season and they have lost seven straight on the road in the series.
Bacot, a Richmond native who said Virginia was one of the first schools to recruit him, has yet to make an impact in a game in John Paul Jones Arena. The two games he’s played there, both Carolina losses in which they didn’t score 50 points, he’s averaged nine points and six rebounds.
“I’ve always struggled with UVA, last year, I thought I did a good job though,” Bacot said. “I mean, I remember going into the game last year, I was like, ‘Caleb (Love), I need you to pick it up, I don’t think I’m gonna have a good day today.’ And then I ended up having the best game of my life so you just never know with them because coach Bennett is so smart and he does a really good job of taking the best player out of the game.”
How Bacot handles those double teams will likely play a role in just how well he plays. Bacot set the tone against Notre Dame on the first possession of the game when he stepped out of a double team and found Caleb Love open for a 3-pointer from the corner.
Seeing how he’s prepared for opponents has given his teammates renewed confidence that he’ll find them if they’re open.
“I also feel like that’s also been like an underrated part of his game,” guard R.J. Davis said. “Even this summer, he was just making like little, quick passes that may not go noticed but when you’re playing it’s like, wow Mando just made that pass. I think that kind of reflected into the season.”
Bacot’s assist rate of 11.3, according to Ken Pomeroy, is the highest it’s been in his four seasons at UNC. But to be clear, the Heels would rather see him scoring and getting to the free throw line.
“We also encourage him this, there’s no double team if you really post deep in the paint,” Hubert Davis said. “And so you get closer to the basket by the time they double team, it’s already two points. So we’ve encouraged them to do that if you don’t want to get double teamed.”