UNC entered the week knowing it needed another shot at Duke in order to get a spot in the NCAA field. Nothing else would get the Tar Heels off the bubble.
Mission accomplished.
UNC won for the second time in two days, beating fellow NCAA bubble team Wake Forest, 68-59, to advance to Friday’s ACC Tournament semifinal. That gives the Tar Heels a third crack at the regular season champions. Duke won both regular season games by double digits, as Carolina staggered to a 1-11 record against Quad I opponents.
Despite their struggles against the top teams, UNC feasted against everyone else, keeping the Tar Heels on the bubble, but general consensus is that Carolina needs a significant win to punch their ticket to the NCAAs.
They’ll get that opportunity on Friday.
“We believe we’re a tournament team right now,” said Seth Trimble, who scored 10 points against the Demon Deacons. “But we know if we win that game tomorrow, without a doubt. Without a doubt, we’re a tournament team. So, we know what’s at stake. We know the pressure. We’re here for it.”
Carolina had pressure each of the last two days, knowing that a loss would likely extinguish any tournament hopes. That was evident during Thursday’s clash with Wake, a game that was not for the faint of heart. There was physical play, a flagrant foul on Wake and a technical on the Tar Heels as the referees struggled to keep order between two desperate teams. Wake needed to get to Duke to get a chance to impress the selection committee as much as Carolina.
“That was something that was mentioned each and every time out that we had,” said Jae’Lyn Withers, who scored nine points and had a key three-pointer down the stretch to give UNC the lead. “We know what’s at stake. We have to fight our way through this.”
On the other end of the court, Wake’s players were hearing the same thing in their time out huddles.
“The message was just doing whatever it takes to win,” said Hunter Sallis, who scored 25 for Wake Forest. “Down the stretch, we definitely showed that we wanted to do whatever it took to win.”
The result was a game of which Withers said, “if it wasn’t the most physical game we played all year, it was one of the most physical.”
Wake Forest went up by double digits early. UNC fought back and led at the half, then pulled ahead by double digits early in the second half. It was Wake’s turn to battle back, and then the game turned into a dogfight.
From the 13:30 mark in the second half, the two teams were separated by one possession for a 10 and a half minute stretch. Eight of the game’s 12 lead changes and seven of the 12 ties came during that back-and-forth stretch, covering more than a quarter of the game.
Then, with 2:58 left to play and UNC up one, RJ Davis got open on the wing in transition.
“They ran a play that they’ve been running since Dean Smith,” said Wake coach Steve Forbes. “I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. It’s just the Carolina way. He got open for a three, and he nailed it. So, that put them up four.”
That was as close as Wake Forest would get. The Heels pulled away and move on to play a Duke team that will likely be without ACC Player of the Year Cooper Flagg, who sprained his ankle in the early game.
Meanwhile, Wake Forest will go home and wait for Sunday, when the news will likely become official—the Demon Deacons will miss the NCAA Tournament for the eighth straight year.
“How do you get to the tournament?” asked Forbes, who is yet to take the Deacs to the dance as coach. “You have to win. You have to win all those Quad 1, Quad 2s for sure.”
And sometimes, you have to win a battle just to have the opportunity.
