North Carolina center Armando Bacot continues to make history in his fifth season with the Tar Heels. Taking advantage of the extra COVID year, Bacot is in his final season with the program and he’s looking to avoid what happened last year when the Tar Heels missed the NCAA Tournament.
So far this season, North Carolina is off to a good start behind the play of Bacot, R.J. Davis, Harrison Ingram, and more, as well as with strong performances on defense.
On Wednesday, the Tar Heels picked up their 14th win and are now 6-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. And during that win, Bacot climbed the ACC all-time rebounding list.
Bacot finished the game with 19 points and 7 rebounds, passing Ralph Sampson for fourth in ACC history. Bacot now has 1,514 rebounds in his career.
Following the game, Hubert Davis was asked about Bacot passing a legend.
“One, Armando has been really good throughout his career. But I think it also shows consistency,” Davis said via Inside Carolina. “You know, in this time in collegiate sports, specifically college basketball, where maybe the headlines are declaring for the draft or the transfer portal, here’s a guy that’s been an institution for five years and really has soaked every bit of the experience that you can from this place. Whether it has been on the court, off the court and in the classroom. And (rebounding is) not the only place that, you know, Armando has excelled. He’s a great student, and he has a degree and I’ve been thankful and appreciative that I’ve been his coach for the last five years, whether it’s been as an assistant coach or head coach.”
Bacot is having another strong season, averaging 14.8 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 54.3 percent from the field.
He struggled early on in the year but has really improved his play as of late and it’s showing. If he can continue to play at a high level, it should mean good things for the Tar Heels down the stretch.
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