The North Carolina Tar Heels jumped out on Saint Peters and were never threatened in a dominate 69-49 win. Armando Bacot led the charge for UNC with 20 points and 22 rebounds. Bacot’s perfomance led to him being named the East Region’s most outstanding player. Brady Manek scored 19 points and Caleb Love scored 14 points for the Heels. UNC held Saint Peters to 30% shooting from the floor, 25% from three, and were a +16 on the glass. After the first 10 minutes of this game the result was never really in doubt. Outside of a brief stretch in the 2nd half when Saint Peters made four out of five shots, the Peacocks never applied much pressure to UNC.
UNC has advanced to its 21st Final Four – the most in NCAA history. The Tar Heels also celebrated their 130th NCAA win, passing Kentucky for the most in NCAA history.
Next up for the Tar Heels is the rubber match with Duke. It will be the first time these two storied programs will meet in the Final Four. After the game Coach Hubert Davis spoke about enjoying the moment and when the time comes UNC will start preparing for Duke. Davis had his players focused on Saint Peter’s and not looking ahead at what was possibly down the road.
“We keep our eyes straight ahead and we ignore all the noise,” Coach Hubert Davis said. “I consistently tell them to turn down or turn off the noise of the phone, family and friends. If you do that and just focus on our preparation and our practice, then
our play will be good. And that’s what we’re going to do this upcoming week.”
Now that the Heels have advanced it is only right that UNC will meet Duke in the Superdome, where some of the most historic moments in Final Four’s history have happened. Will another historic moment happen for UNC in the Final Four?