North Carolina staggers early, then powers past Michigan State to Sweet 16

 

North Carolina's RJ Davis floats a runner over Michigan State's Tyson Walker in Saturday's victory over the Spartans. (Photo:  North Carolina Athletics)

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CHARLOTTE – For much of its history, North Carolina has been one of the heavyweight champions of college basketball.  For the first 12 minutes Saturday night, it was arguably not even an effective sparring partner.

Michigan State made shot after shot. Following a Malik Hall bucket at the 8:08 mark, the Spartans had hit 11-of-17 tries and built an 11-point lead.

“They were just playing better than us,” head coach Hubert Davis said. “We came into the huddle and said, ‘Look, we can't talk about any basketball stuff until we join the fight.’ Once that started, the level of play in terms of the energy and effort, the attention to detail rose. Then that's when things started to change.”

Change, they did.

UNC (28-7) charged out of its corner and hit Michigan State with a flurry. Before the Spartans realized what had hit them, Armando Bacot had tallied eight of 17 points in a Tar Heel run that went unanswered for nearly six minutes. The burst marked a 23-3 stretch to close the first half that, despite a brief second-half rally, knocked out ninth-seeded Michigan State in an 85-69 decision at Spectrum Center.

“We played so well the first 12 minutes, and then I don't know, the ball just stuck,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “We didn't move it as well. Give them credit. We played a good team.”

Many explanations exist for how the ball stuck. Spartan guard Tyson Walker had 11 points in the first nine minutes of the game, then struggled to find open looks. The Spartans assisted just four times on 12 first-half baskets – six on 26 for the entire game. The defense of reserve guard Seth Trimble also played a key role, despite a small tally of minutes.

“Seth is the best defender in the ACC and one of the best defenders in the country,” UNC guard RJ Davis said. “Just his impact on the defensive end has been huge for us all year, especially today's game. I know there were a couple times where, because we had Tyson Walker out there, Seth had the challenge to go out there and guard him. I think he did a great of making it hard for him, being physical on the catch, getting over screens.”

Michigan State (20-14) wasn’t done just yet. Jaden Akins provided the secondary scorer the Spartans sought, largely slicing an 11-point Tar Heel advantage to a single bucket. Akins scored seven of the nine points in the stretch, taking a lot of the air out of the blue-clad side. The Spartans hung around, seemingly ready to land an answering blow.

Instead, North Carolina knocked the Spartans to the mat.

The Tar Heels used a balanced attack to snap off a 16-4 run that mostly finished the proceedings. Seven Carolina players tallied over five minutes of game action, preventing Michigan State from getting back inside single digits and helping the Tar Heels advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

“I'd have to say probably like around the eight-minute mark (is where it got away),” Hall said. “I think we were just talking about it in the second half. We had cut it pretty close, and then we just had some mistakes, offensive rebounds. They made some tough shots. Then after that, we couldn't get anything to go on offense, I don't think really. That's just kind of where I felt like it went.”

For UNC, it started to look a lot more like the 2022 version of the Tar Heels than the 2023 edition.

“We always talk about how do you react and how do you respond? And these guys, the whole team reacted and responded the right way after going down 14 in the first half,” Davis said.

Following last year’s 20-13 season, the Tar Heels retooled, adding Harrison Ingram, James Okonkwo, Cormac Ryan, Jae’lyn Withers, and Paxson Wojcik out of the portal and Elliot Cadeau as a first-year player. This left Davis with a much more experienced and skilled group, which showed as it battled back Saturday.

“I felt good about the pieces when we got the pieces. You never really know until they step foot on campus, but as soon as they got on campus from the start — and I told this, and I tell this to everybody. From the start, this team has wanted — and has enjoyed — being a team. They just genuinely enjoy being together.”

“I don't know if that, how that translates to wins and losses, but I think it helps. I think we have really good chemistry. We'll see how much further we can go.”

For forward Armando Bacot, his being a part of both the national championship runners-up from two seasons ago and last year’s disappointment has helped build a bond with both his teammates and coach.

“It's just so special for us when we’ve got a coach that just has so much belief in us, even sometimes when we may not even believe in ourselves,” Bacot said. “I think just all year, just how he's pushed us, but also nurtured us and made sure we were okay and instilled that confidence in us.”

“When it comes to times like this and we go down 12, just knowing that our coaches believe in us, but also are hard on us, it just makes a huge difference.”

Davis paced UNC on the night, booking 20 on 7-for-15 from the deck and hitting a trio of triples. Three Tar Heels joined him in double figures, with Bacot adding 18 and Ingram 17 on a combined 11-for-21 while hauling in a combined 14 boards. Ryan contributed 14, finishing perfect on six tries from the stripe.

Carolina shot 46.7 percent (28-for-60) from the deck, despite just 38.5 percent (10-for-26) of its threes finding the net. The Tar Heels put home 19-of-23 from the line to help seal the victory.

Three Spartans finished in double figures. Walker went for 24 on a 9-for-16 shooting effort. Hall added 17 and finished a board shy of a double-double, while Akins tallied 11. Michigan State shot 44.1 percent (26-for-59) but hit just 37.5 percent (6-for-16) from distance. The Spartans hit 11-of-15 (73.3 percent) from the line.

Carolina advances to its 14th Sweet 16 in the last 20 seasons and for the 16th time overall as a top regional seed. The Tar Heels will now do battle against either Grand Canyon or Alabama in Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles Thursday evening. Game times and television coverage will be announced after Sunday night’s Round of 32 contests.