UNC basketball loses Armando Bacot to injury, loses tough ACC game to Virginia, 65-58
North Carolina coach Hubert Davis wasn’t trying to hear it.
The Tar Heels lost for an eighth straight trip to Virginia and the details of their 65-58 defeat didn’t matter. Nevermind that Armando Bacot, Carolina’s leading scorer and rebounder averaging 18.8 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, appeared to injure his left ankle on their opening offensive possession and did not return in the game.
Nor did it matter that starting forward Pete Nance was already a scratch for the game due to a back injury. Davis wasn’t touting the emergence of freshman Jalen Washington in the absence of both frontcourt starters.
“Maybe in some of the guys articles you can say, ‘Wow, look how they fought without Armando and Pete,’ but it’s incidental,” Davis said. “It’s our sixth loss. We needed to be better to win here and we have enough. We have enough on this the stat sheet to have won this game tonight. And we didn’t get it done.”
Carolina (11-6, 3-3 ACC) led for much of the first half and into the second until the Cavaliers (11-3, 4-2) used a 17-2 run midway through the second half to take a 52-42 lead. The Heels rallied late thanks to three 3-pointers by Caleb Love — after he was 0 for his first five in the game.
When Love made it 58-55 with 2:46 left, UVA guard Isaac McKneely made a 3-pointer in front of D’marco Dunn to put them back up two possessions. And when Love made it 61-58 with a 3 over forward Ben Vander Plas, Reece Beekman drove past Love for a dunk with 34 seconds and the Heels didn’t score again.
“The discipline and details that you have to have to win games like this and win on the road, we just didn’t have,” Davis said. “And when you don’t have that, you get this type of result.”
The Heels had already prepared to play without Nance, who essentially missed his third straight game with a sore back. Nance hasn’t played since the starting and playing just the first two minutes against Wake Forest. Nance said he wasn’t certain if he would be ready to play when the Heels travel to face Louisville on Saturday.
“I’m not sure,” Nance said. “I’m going to keep working on my back and just try to keep getting better every day.”
Bacot’s foot rolled as he came down trying to tap out a rebound and he left the game just 78 seconds after it tipped off. It was especially unfortunate for the senior from Richmond, who said on Saturday that his mother was trying to get 30 tickets for friends and family to watch him play. He left John Paul Jones Arena on crutches as his ankle looked swollen.
Just like previous games this season where Bacot either played injured or was out with an injury, it didn’t go well for the Heels.
Bacot twisted an ankle in the second overtime of their loss to Alabama, attempted to return in the third before they lost in the fourth overtime. He injured a shoulder early in their loss at Indiana and was virtually helpless to defend Trayce Jackson-Davis. That same shoulder injury kept him out for the entirety of their loss at Virginia Tech.
UNC senior forward Justin McKoy, who transferred from UVA in 2021, was coach Hubert Davis’ first choice to replace Bacot. McKoy was heartily booed by the Cavaliers student section every time he entered the game.
But it was freshman forward Jalen Washington who came in and played like the heir apparent.
Washington missed the first nine games of the season while rehabilitating a right knee injury he suffered in high school. The freshman from Gary, Ind., had never played more than six minutes and his season-high scoring was just six points against The Citadel.
He was clearly the best player on the floor for stretches, scoring 12 points in the first half in just 11 minutes of play. Washington helped Carolina go from a 10-3 deficit to a 24-15 lead.
Washington scored just one point in the second half, though, and the lack of an inside presence hurt the Heels offensively.
“It just gives me the confidence that I can play on this level with these players,” Washington said. “I just need to keep racking up experience, keep getting a lot more reps. I haven’t played for about a year and a half now so it’s just experience and just keep growing and learning.”
This story was originally published January 10, 2023 at 11:11 PM.