It feels like Christmas morning in Chapel Hill right now.
Why, might you ask?
The UNC men’s basketball team is fresh off an important, 93-84 victory over arch-rival Duke (16-5, 7-3) on Saturday evening, a game in which UNC (18-4, 10-1) largely dominated throughout. The Blue Devils made it close late, cutting their deficit to single digits in the final two minutes, only for North Carolina star Armando Bacot to later cement the win with a thunderous dunk.
With their victory, the Tar Heels extended their ACC lead to two games. If Duke had won last night, it’d only be trailing UNC by half-a-game.
The NET rankings also updated after games yesterday, with North Carolina staying put at ninth.
Losing to Georgia Tech on Tuesday certainly hurt UNC’s spot in the NET rankings, but Saturday’s win against the Blue Devils likely kept UNC in the Top 10.
North Carolina has four winnable games coming up – Clemson (Tuesday, Feb. 6), Miami (Saturday, Feb. 10), Syracuse (Tuesday, Feb. 13) and Virginia Tech (Saturday, Feb. 17) – before heading to UVA on Saturday, Feb. 24 for a showdown between the ACC’s top two teams.
Losing any of their first four upcoming games would likely further hurt the Tar Heels in the NET rankings, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
If UNC plays like it did Saturday, I smell another winning streak incoming.
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