1. Strong victory for Carolina in the ACC Championship quarter-finals, defeating Virginia 63-43.
2. Brady Manic He was very exciting in the first half, outsmarting Virginia by himself en route to a 33-13 lead in the first half. Manek landed 19 times on the normally sparse Cavaliers in just 18 minutes of the first half, converted three three-point shots and then had good success driving to the edge as the Virginia defenders flew in. The last time Tar Heel outnumbered an opponent by himself in any half was Reggie Bullock in 2013 against Maryland. Bullock put 21 against the Terps ’20 in the first half that evening. Manek finished the game with 21 points, and with Carolina leading all night, the best news is that he only played 28 minutes.
3. Manek was also good at attacking, black leaky Every bit that changed his playing was equally defensive. Hubert Davis He made the decision to put Black on Virginia guard Keihe Clark, and the sudden switch completely shut down Virginia’s attack. Black had a solid 10 inch height advantage over Clark, and Clark simply couldn’t get into any rhythm with the ball. Black Clark kept 0-4 with two turns in the first half. Clarke made three baskets in the second half, but still finished 3-for-9 with three turnovers.
4. Carolina shared the ball very well on Thursday night. Tar Heels provided ten assists in 13 goals in the first half and finished the game with 17 assists in 25 baskets. Tar Heel didn’t hit the ball into the backcourt as they normally would, but they were a big part of the ball distribution, as RJ Davis And the Caleb Love Combined for 11 assists.
5. Armando Bacot He continues to climb the record books in Carolina. Bakout earned another double on Thursday, which put him in the 24th place of this type this year. That’s a school record for one season of Tar Heel, surpassing the mark previously held by Bryce Johnson. Bakut also managed to get past 11 rebounds to pass Antown Jamison and Shawn May At number three on Carolina’s one-season recovery list. Bacot currently has 398 plates. The only players in front of him are Tyler Hansbro (399) and Johnson (416).
6. With a potentially busy weekend in Brooklyn, Hubert Davis Went to the bench earlier in the first half, the introduction of Buff Johnson And the Justin McCoy early in the first half to have the opportunity to rotate all of his starters off the bench at least once. McKoy made a nice jump against his former team, Tar Heels held a +5 advantage with subs in the game, and the relaxed freshmen came back to extend the lead for the rest of the inning. With the lead remaining big, the Tar Heels will also be able to rotate personnel more frequently in the second half, including appearing for Di Marco Dun With seven minutes left.
7. Speaking of which, I really liked coaching by Davis in that period. Dunn had a rough first appearance in the game, including a turn. Davis knocked him out of the bout, let him sit on the bench and cool off for a minute, then put him straight back to the scorer’s table for check-in.
8. You know McCoy must have felt good about doing well against his former team. McKoy looked more confident than he had in recent weeks, dropping the second half of the three-corner to go with his first half. He also grabbed three rebounds. The Tar Heel reserve was able to contribute enough that the most frequently used players got a relative break – Bacot played 34 minutes, Black and Love scored 32 minutes, Davis scored 31 minutes and Manek 28 minutes.
9. Turnover breakpoints are still telling stats for Carolina this year. The Heels led that class 13-5 against Virginia and is now 16-1 when they won that fight, and only 7-7 when the opponent has more points from turnovers.
10. Carolina will face Virginia Tech another late tomorrow night. The Tar Heels and Hokies should kick off around 9:30 p.m. Remember Dean Smith’s old axiom: It’s very hard to beat good time three times in one season. Carolina swept Mike Young in the regular season and Tech will likely feel like she’s been playing for the duration of the NCAA Championship.
11. This year marks ACC’s third trip to Brooklyn for the ACC Championship. Future locations are hesitant except for the trip to Greensboro for the 2023 event. Keep in mind that the league is also currently evaluating where it wants to house convention offices, so tournament decisions may be tied to that choice. It’s absolutely true that almost no one in New York City realizes that the action is in the city. But it’s also true that with Notre Dame in the first quarter finals Thursday night, a good college basketball atmosphere prevailed at Barclays Center.
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