Hubert Davis had his Tar Heels prepared for battle coming into Thursday’s NCAA Tournament first round game versus Marquette…and it showed. UNC jumped out to an early lead against the Golden Eagles and never looked back, using a 20-2 run with 8:44 remaining in the 1st half to shut the door on any type of Marquette comeback hopes, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
When they couldn’t score the ball in the basket, Shaka Smart’s team starting playing bully ball – using physical play and trash talk to try and disrupt the Heels’ rhythm. It didn’t work. The Tar Heels blew out Marquette, 96-63.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Caleb Love said, who got had a few tense moments with Marquette guard Darryl Morsell. “You know, we don’t back down from anything. My competitive nature and my team’s competitive nature came out. We played it smart and came out with the win.”
During the spicy on-court moments, instead of trying to calm his guys, Davis encouraged them to continue to play tough.
“If someone is going to try to push us around, we’re going to push back. If they’re going to elbow, we’ll elbow them back. If they going to kick us, we’re going to kick them back.”
“I’ve been clear and definitive to the guys about what we need to do out there on the floor,” David continued. “There’s been a number of times where teams have tried to push us around and the only way that you can change that narrative of people thinking that they can do that, is that you swing back or you be the first one to swing. I told the guys before the game there’s three types of people. There’s people that don’t want to fight, there’s people that do want to fight, and there’s people that are looking for a fight. I said, I want a bunch of guys, 17 guys in the locker room that are looking for a fight as we go up there and compete. And that’s what they did. And I’m very, very, very proud of them.”
UNC looked like a different team today. The fight Davis said he wanted was there from tip-off. This isn’t the same Tar Heel team that suffered several blowout losses during the season. These guys are tougher, battle tested and looking for a fight. That’s the kind of team you need to be in March. Now we’ll see how far it gets them.
Postgame Notes:
- This was Carolina’s first NCAA Tournament win since beating Washington in the 2nd round in Columbus, Ohio, on 3/24/2019.
- Hubert Davis is 1-0 as a head coach in NCAA Tournament games.
- Carolina’s 32-point win is the largest in an 8-9 game in NCAA Tournament history (previous was 75-45 win by No. 8 Michigan over No. 9 Tennessee in 2011). It was UNC’s largest win in an NCAA game since a 103-64 win over Texas Southern in 2017.
- This was Carolina’s 25th win of the season, extending UNC’s NCAA record to 39 25-win seasons.
- The 95 points were the most by UNC in an NCAA game since scoring 103 in 2017 first round vs. Texas Southern.
- Carolina made 13 threes, most ever by UNC in an NCAA game (previous 12 vs. Oakland in 2005 first round).
- Carolina attempted 35 threes, most ever by UNC in an NCAA game (previous 31 vs. Texas A&M in 2018 2nd round).
- Carolina had 29 assists on 34 field goals. The 29 assists were the fourth most by UNC in an NCAA game and the most since the Tar Heels had a school-record 36 vs. Loyola Marymount in 1988 (assistant coach Jeff Lebo had seven in that game).
- The 29 assists are a season-high (previous 22 vs. Florida State).
- Carolina led by 28 at the half, its second-largest halftime lead in an NCAA game. Largest is 29 vs. Rhode Island in 1993 2nd round.
- Caleb Love tied UNC’s single-game NCAA Tourney record with six three-pointers (all in the first half) and Brady Manek made five. This was the first time UNC ever had two players make five or a more 3FGs in an NCAA game.
- Love tied UNC’s NCAA Tourney record previously accomplished by Shammond Williams in 1998 2nd round vs. Charlotte and Marcus Paige in 2016 regional semifinal vs. Indiana.
- Manek’s five threes tied the fourth most in an NCAA game by a Tar Heel.
- Love scored 21 of his 23 points in the first half. It was the first time a Tar Heel scored 20 points in a half in an NCAA game since Paige scored 20 in the second half against Arkansas in the 2015 2nd round.
- Manek scored a season-high 28 points (previous was 24 against Tennessee and at Louisville). It was his ninth 20-point game of the season and fourth in the last five games.
- Manek was 10 for 15 from the floor; he tied his season-high with 10 field goals (one off his career best). He made 10 at Louisville.
- Manek also led UNC with 11 boards (tied season high) for his fourth double-double as a Tar Heel (12th career). It was the first NCAA Tourney game two Tar Heels had double-doubles since Tyler Zeller, Reggie Bullock and John Henson all had double-doubles against Ohio in 2012.
- Manek was a season-high plus 31 (previous highs were plus 29 at Boston College and home vs. NC State).
- RJ Davis had a career-high 12 assists and only one turnover. The 12 assists are the most by a Tar Heel this season, the most by a Tar Heel since Kendall Marshall had 12 vs. Maryland in the 2012 ACC Tournament and equal the second-most by a Tar Heel in an NCAA game. Marshall had 14 against Washington in 2011 2nd round; Kenny Smith also had 12 vs. Notre Dame in the 1987 regional semifinal.
- Armando Bacot had his 26th double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds. That equals the second-most doubles in ACC single-season history. Tim Duncan (Wake Forest) had 29 in 1996-97, Tom Burleson (NC State) had 26 in 1973-74 and Len Chappell (Wake Forest) had 26 in 1961-62.
- Bacot set the single-season UNC rebound record. He had 10 today and has 422 this season. The previous record was 416 by Brice Johnson in 2015-16. Bacot broke the record in his 34th game; Johnson played 40 games in 2015-16.
- Leaky Black had a season-high eight assists, seven rebounds and held Marquette’s leading scorer, Justin Lewis, to six points. Lewis came into the game averaging 17.1 points and was shooting 45.1% from the floor. Black held him to 2 of 15 field goals.
- Carolina is 13-2 over the last four seasons when Black has five or more assists.
- Puff Johnson scored 11 points, his second career game in double figures. He was 5 for 7 from the floor. The five field goals were a career high.
- Dontrez Styles had six points and a season-best six rebounds.