DAYTON, OHIO — With its worthiness of being a tournament team in question, No. 11 North Carolina didn’t take long to provide the answer at UD Arena in Dayton Saturday.
Against the nation’s No. 1 field goal percentage defense, the Tar Heels shot 60.9% from the floor and went on a 20-2 run all in the first half on its way to a 95-68 win over No. 11 San Diego State in the First Four round. UNC earned a date with No. 6 Ole Miss in the first round Friday at 4:05 p.m. at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
The Tar Heels also knocked down 14 threes, the team’s most ever in an NCAA tournament game.
“I think we did a good job of sticking to our game plan and playing Carolina basketball,” graduate guard RJ Davis said. “We got out in transition, we shared the ball, and that’s what got us going.”
If the result was the short answer, then Davis was the explanation.
Davis, who finished the night with a team-high 26 points, tied UNC’s single tournament game record with six made threes. His 6-for-6 three-point performance is the best by any Tar Heel, beating out Hubert Davis’s 5-for-5 night against Eastern Michigan in the 1991 East Regional Semifinal. Other than the record-breaking three, arguably his most memorable make of the night was the long-range triple at the halftime buzzer that hammered home the statement the Tar Heels weren’t explicitly trying to make but got across anyway.
“I think one thing about us, yes, we hear the noise, but we don’t really pay attention to it,” Davis said. “We stay within ourselves, and I think Coach Davis sets a good example for us.”
Said Davis, “In order to play at this level, he always uses this reference: horses have blinders going into races, and that’s to avoid any distraction that doesn’t allow them to be their best in the race. I think that reference sits well with the team.”
Playing in its first ever First Four game as the lowest seed in its tournament history, UNC seemed locked in on both sides of the ball in one of its most complete performances of the season.
The Tar Heels started the game with six turnovers in the first six minutes, but its defense also had a say in making sure that didn’t cause a ripple effect.
Not only did SDSU only come away with three points off turnovers in the opening period, UNC also held the Aztecs without a field goal from the 10:03 mark in the first half (UNC led 22-13) to the 4:54 mark.
On the flip side, the Tar Heels took advantage of its forced turnovers and fast break opportunities, scoring 10 first half points off the Aztecs’ mistakes.
Sophomore Elliot Cadeau was a key facilitator in transition as well with eight first half assists and 12 assists the entire night.
“I thought our defense was real, especially in the first half,” Hubert Davis said. “We did a great job of protecting the paint, defending without fouling and finishing every possession with a box-out and rebound. That allowed us to get out in transition, and all year, transition has been our number one way to score.”
UNC led by 20 with just under seven minutes to go in the first half and ended the period with a 47-23 lead. Those 47 points were the most allowed by SDSU (the nation’s 14th-best scoring defense) in a half all season.
But complimentary basketball in the first half — a stellar defensive effort adjacent to a 77.8% three-point clip and a 12-for-12 start at the line — wasn’t the only reason why this game felt whole.
It was how the Tar Heels finished, too.
UNC didn’t let up at all in the second half as Davis poured in 15 points and freshman Ian Jackson came alive with nine (three made threes). With long-range bombs and strong finishes at the rim, including a few alley-oop attempts, the Tar Heels never gave SDSU a sliver of life, ending the night with the most points scored on the Aztecs’ defense this year.
“We know who we are on the offensive end,” junior Seth Trimble said. “We know what we’re capable of. This doesn’t surprise me, what we did tonight. It’s what I expect every single night.”
Every single night from now on is do or die for UNC, and it’s arguably been that way since the start of the ACC Tournament.
Even with the narratives of missing the Big Dance blaring around them, the Tar Heels have been able to deliver and survive, winning two ACC Tournament games and nearly knocking off a highly talented Duke team even without Cooper Flagg.
“It shows that our potential is still through the roof,” graduate Jae’Lyn Withers said. “Each game, we get better and better, and that goes to show the last couple of games we’ve played.”
The question is no longer if the Tar Heels belong, but now how far they can go.
