Tag: UNC Basketball

Caleb Love, UNC basketball jump out to big halftime lead over Marquette

UNC Basketball guard Caleb Love has the Tar Heels up big over Marquette in the first half on Thursday.

There couldn’t have been a better start for the UNC basketball program against Marquette in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. 

The Tar Heels have jumped out to a big lead over the Golden Eagles at the break, backed by 21 first-half points from guard Caleb Love. UNC went into the break in total control with a 53-25 lead and are hoping to put it back on Marquette in the second half.

After struggling against Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament semifinals, Love has found his shot here in the NCAA Tournament. And that’s a great sign for the Tar Heels.

Love enters halftime making six of his 12 shot attempts, including all six from the three-point line. He’s also added a few free throws as the Tar Heels have jumped out to the big lead.

The only thing separating them from a date with No. 1 Baylor is the second half.

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Armando Bacot makes rebounding history for UNC basketball program

UNC basketball forward Armando Bacot just set a new program record in rebounding, passing Brice Johnson.

Armando Bacot is hoping his junior season continues here in March as the UNC basketball program is battling Marquette in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. And already, Bacot is off to a good start.

At the first media timeout with UNC leading early, Bacot has 4 points and 5 rebounds. Those 5 rebounds just made him the new Tar Heels’ record for most rebounds in a single season with 417, passing Brice Johnson’s mark from his historic 2016 season.

Bacot has been fantastic for the Tar Heels this year, posting 24 double-doubles of points and rebounds, helping them get off the bubble and saely into the field of 68.

After a slow freshman season, Bacot got better as the year went on and then improved more last year despite splitting time in a rotation that included Day’Ron Sharpe, Garrison Brooks and Walker Kessler. But the offseason improvement has really shown this season for him as he was named to the All-ACC First Team. 

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Where Marquette has a big advantage over UNC

Marquette could expose UNC in this area of the game on Thursday in the NCAA Tournament.

The UNC basketball program is set to meet Marquette in the 8/9 matchup on Thursday in Forth Worth, Texas. The winner will likely get Baylor in the round of 32 in the East Region.

Going into this game, UNC is playing some of their best basketball of the season while Marquette has struggled down the stretch. The Tar Heels are led by the likes of Armando Bacot, R.J. Davis, Caleb Love and Brady Manek, all who need to have a good game for the Tar Heels to come out with a victory.

But one area Marquette might be able to expose the Tar Heels is in the pick and roll.

Andrei Greska of Paint Touches breaks down why Marquette can find success there:

This is the one area where Marquette will have a clear advantage over North Carolina. Per Synergy, UNC ranks 230th in the country at P&R+Pass defense, which measures defense against both pick and roll action that results in direct shots, plus the pass outs to spot ups and drives from pick and rolls. When Marquette was rolling, it was creating a plethora of open shots both at the rim and beyond the arc, mostly off Tyler Kolek’s wizardry at finding the open guy. MU scores 1.107 points per possession off of Kolek’s passes from pick and rolls. He had 280 of these possessions, 4th most in the country and most by any high major player. Big East teams began choosing to go under screens and deny help in the 2nd half of the season, daring Kolek to beat them with the shot rather than the pass, something that you can say worked well for them.

The Tar Heels are going to have to find a way to get good communication on the switches and not find themselves in a situation where Armando Bacot is out on the perimeter all game.

This could be the biggest difference in the game.

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Can Hubert Davis do what Roy Williams struggled with?

Shaka Smart has caused problems for the UNC basketball program over the years. Can Hubert Davis buck the trend?

Thursday’s first-round matchup between North Carolina and Marquette in the NCAA Tournament will be the first between head coaches Hubert Davis and Shaka Smart in their careers. But Smart is familiar with North Carolina and has gotten the best of the Tar Heels as a head coach.

Smart is 3-0 all-time against North Carolina, winning all three of those games in his time with Texas. And all three came against Roy Williams, which was the legendary coaches’ bugaboo in his career. Whenever the Tar Heels and Longhorns matched up, UNC simply couldn’t find a way to win the game and instead dropped all three.

That included a matchup in the Maui Invitational title game back in 2020.

Smart and the Longhorns had a history of upsetting North Carolina, dating back to 2015. The unranked Longhorns stunned No. 3 North Carolina 84-82 on a buzzer-beater on December 12th, 2015. The win was one of the first real big ones for Smart at Texas and sent UNC to 7-2 overall. A few years later, an unranked Texas team stunned No. 7 North Carolina 92-89 on a neutral court in Las Vegas. The loss was the first for the defending champion Tar Heels as they spoiled a 33-point performance from Coby White.

And finally, last season No.9 Texas got a buzzer-beater from Matt Coleman to beat No. 14 UNC 69-67 in the Maui final.

All three games have been close but for some reason, Smart had Williams’ number in these games.

Alas, a new opportunity awaits the Tar Heels under Davis. This is not only a chance for the Tar Heels to avenge a first-round loss to Wisconsin a year ago in the tournament. This won’t be an easy task at all and Smart is familiar with how UNC wants to play, so he’s going to have a gameplan ready.

It’s just up to UNC to deliver Davis a win and get a bugaboo off of the program’s back.

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Caleb Love could boost his NBA draft stock during the tournament

This tournament could be vital to Caleb Love’s future.

Two of the primary reasons for the North Carolina Tar Heels’ turnaround in the 2021-22 campaign have been Armando Bacot and Caleb Love. Bacot drew rave reviews from Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Love hasn’t been a slouch for the Tar Heels either.

This season he saw a slight boost in minutes played per night and it has resulted in more positive results on the hardwood. Love is averaging 15.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.2 steals on 33.6 minutes per game.

In the regular-season finale, Love poured in a season-high 22 points as UNC ruined Coach K’s final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. That mark of 22 points has been achieved a total of seven times during the regular season. More of that level of play can only help his draft stock, should he declare following the season.

Recently 247Sports highlighted Love as one of the players who could give their NBA draft stock a boost in the tournament.

What 247Sports Says…

Ryan Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

After a really tough freshman season, former five-star Caleb Love made big strides during his sophomore season. Even so, Love has still taken North Carolina fans and NBA scouts on a roller coaster ride. When he’s making shots from deep and taking care of the ball, his potential as a combo guard with irrational confidence that can make plays off the bounce is intriguing. On the other hand, he can be a danger to himself and his team due to questionable shot selection and decision making. This UNC team has a chance to be dangerous over the next couple of weeks and they’ll need Love to be at his best.

Current projections have Love as a late second-rounder or undrafted. However, a strong showing against Marquette and beyond could go a long way in elevating his status, should the five-star from the 2022 cycle opt to leave Chapel Hill following the season in hopes of going pro.

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UNC basketball commit Seth Trimble POTY honors in Wisconsin

Four-star UNC basketball commit Seth Trimble picks up a big honor on Wednesday as his season winds down.

Class of 2022 UNC basketball commit Seth Trimble is hoping to end his senior year at Menomonee Falls with a state title. He helped lead his team to the WIAA Division 1 State Semifinals this Friday with the chance to advance to the title game.

But before then, Trimble picked up a big honor as his high school career winds down.

On Wednesday, Trimble was named the Gatorade Wisconsin Boys Basketball Player of the Year as he announced via his Twitter account. The award is given out each year to the top player in every state and then a national award is handed out.

Trimble is averaging 27.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game as he has been a key component for Menomonee Falls success this season. The four-star guard has also upped his recruiting stock as well, being UNC’s highest-ranked recruit in the 247Sports rankings. 

The 6-foot-3, 184-pound combo guard picked UNC over 13 other offers including Iowa, Illinois, Creighton, Wisconsin, USC, and Virginia among others.

Marquette, Shaka Smart looking to end bad trends in NCAA Tournament

The Marquette Golden Eagles are looking to earn their first NCAA Tournament win since 2013.

The UNC basketball program is set to face off against Marquette in the 8/9 matchup in the East Region on Thursday, and this should be a game that goes down to the wire.

The Tar Heels played some of their best basketball from mid-February to early March, punching their ticket to the tournament after being on the bubble for a few weeks. Meanwhile, Marquette had a bit of a bumpy road in February despite beating Villanova.

Under Shaka Smart who is in his first year as head coach of the program, the Golden Eagles are trying to end a bad trend. They are 0-2 in their last two appearances (2019 and 2017) and haven’t won a game since their Elite 8 run in 2013. Smart has had his struggles as well.

Since 2013, he’s 1-4 including 0-3 with Texas and 1-1 with VCU.

Alan Bykowski of CrackedSidewalks.com talked about Marquette trying to buck a trend here on Thursday:

I’m not sure how well-known the story is outside Milwaukee, but there were reports that Shaka Smart was very close to becoming Marquette’s head coach back in 2014 when Buzz Williams left. It began with reports that members of Marquette’s administration along with alum Doc Rivers flew out to Virginia to seal the deal with Smart, which was reported as a “done deal” by a local insider. It got to the point that local news media was reporting Smart had taken the job. Instead, Smart and Marquette didn’t come to an agreement and we ended up with Steve Wojciechowski. Marquette fans are hoping that was maybe a cosmic error. Since then, Marquette is 0-2 in NCAA Tournament games and Shaka Smart is 0-4. Maybe Smart was supposed to be here all along and the NCAA gods were punishing both of us for not coming to an agreement sooner. We’ll hope to see both of those trends flip in Fort Worth.

For North Carolina, they are looking to avoid losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time ever. They fell to Wisconsin in the 8/9 game a year ago.

Something has to give…

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ESPN analyst picks UNC to pull off big upset in NCAA Tournament

This ESPN analyst predicts that the UNC Basketball program will pull off a big upset in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has made a living making mock brackets for the NCAA Tournament year-round. It’s fair to say he has one of the best jobs in all of sports.

As we get ready for the first round to tip-off on Thursday, Lunardi spent some time making predictions now that the field of 68 is set.  He went through the bracket, game-by-game until the national championship where he picked the team to win it all.

But as Lunardi went through the bracket, he had some upsets including one notable one.

Lunardi picked the No. 8 seed Tar Heels to win their first-round matchup against Marquette and then pull off a big upset by stunning Baylor in the round of 32. From there, he has UNC beating No. 5 Saint Mary’s in the Sweet 16 to set up a matchup with No. 2 Kentucky.

However, that’s where the Tar Heels run ends:

That’s a pretty bold projection from Lunardi, especially with how UNC’s season has gone this year. Just a few weeks back, they were a bubble team in Lunardi’s projections before turning it around.

But the Tar Heels are playing some of their best basketball right now and might be able to pull off a few upsets.

Let’s hope Lunardi’s right, and UNC can make a run at this thing.

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How Armando Bacot can exploit Marquette’s defense

Why UNC basketball forward Armando Bacot could be the biggest x-factor Thursday against Marquette.

When it comes to Thursday’s matchup between UNC and Marquette, there will be a few key factors that should determine the outcome of the game.

But what’s working in UNC’s favor is that they will likely have the best player on the court in junior Armando Bacot.

The forward has put together an impressive campaign here in 2021-22, averaging 16.5 points, and 12.5 rebounds per game while recording 24 double-doubles on the year. He’s what really makes UNC’s offense go and if he has a big game, the Tar Heels could advance.

Going into this game, I talked to Alan Bykowski of CrackedSidewalks.com to break down the matchup and one of the topics was how UNC can exploit Marquette’s defense. He offered up this answer which should bode well for the Tar Heels:

Marquette’s defense is different than what people familiar with Shaka Smart will expect. They run some press, but it’s designed more to slow down the opposing offense and run 8-10 seconds off the shot clock before you can get into your sets. That is evidenced with the opponent possession length being #321 nationally. Olivier-Maxence Prosper will spearhead that press when they run it and his 6’8″ frame and athleticism makes him a one-man press. Once you get across half-court, this is a switchable team that generally sticks to man and plays physically. They have an elite shot blocker in Kur Kuath and a number of versatile defenders that really take pride on that end.

Marquette’s Achilles’ heel on defense is definitely their rebounding. Both bigs are pretty slight and other than Lewis, no one on this team is great at getting to the loose balls. We’ve seen guys like Ryan Kalkbrenner and Adama Sanogo really give this team fits and when you also have a big that can hit threes like Butler’s Bryce Golden it can be a long day for Golden Eagle fans. When I wrote capsules on potential matchups in the 7/10 and 8/9 games, the guy that stood out here is Armando Bacot, who I think is going to have a field day with Marquette’s big men.

He could legitimately go for 20 points and 20 rebounds in this game and it wouldn’t be a surprise. Add in Manek’s ability to draw the bigs to the arc and there are definitely some matchups UNC can exploit.

Now, a fair warning. Many thought UNC had the rebounding edge last year in their first round game against Wisconsin. And rightfully so. The Tar Heels had Bacot, Day’Ron Sharpe, Garrison Brooks and Walker Kessler. But it didn’t matter because Wisconsin hit their shots and eventually one.

UNC has to be careful of that again…

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UNC Basketball’s NCAA Tournament history as a No. 8 seed

We take a look at the UNC basketball program’s history as a number eight seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The UNC basketball program sat on the bubble as early as three weeks ago with their NCAA Tournament hopes potentially fading. But a string of wins and an upset over Duke helped propel the Tar Heels into the field where they earned a No. 8 seed in the East Region.

UNC matches up against No. 9 Marquette on Thursday with the winner likely getting No. 1 Baylor in the round of 32. For the Tar Heels, they have a history with the No. 8 seed, including some big ups and some downs in the tournament.

This will be the fifth time North Carolina will be a No. 8 seed going back to 1990, 2000, 2013, 2021, and now 2022. They are 7-4 overall as a No. 8 seed and have reached the Final Four once, the Elite 8 once, and the Sweet 16 twice.

Let’s take a look UNC’s history as a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament as they get set to take on the Golden Eagles.