The Tar Heels Made a Statement in the Dayton, But Need to Go Further to Prove a Point

UNC’s First Four match-up against San Diego State was over before it started.

The Aztecs did their best to keep it close, pulling to within two (13-11) with 12:37 remaining in the 1st, but a quick 20-2 run put the Tar Heels up 20 with 6:48 remaining in the half and on their way to a 27 point blowout (95-68) in Dayton.

“We did a good job of sticking to our game plan and playing Carolina basketball,” RJ Davis said when asked how they were able to be successful offensively against a San Diego State team that hadn’t given up more than 80 points all season. “We got out in transition, we shared the ball and that’s what got us going.”

The Tar Heels were clearly playing with a chip on their shoulders. Ever since the brackets were announced the selection committee, led by North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham, has been heavily criticized. After going 1-12 against quad one teams, including a ACC Tournament loss to #1 Duke, no one outside of Carolina faithful believed the Tar Heels deserved to play in the NCAA Tournament.

RJ Davis and company bottled up all that hate and used it as fuel Tuesday night.

“We know we deserved to be here,” Seth Trimble said after the win. “We’re not looking to send a message to anybody else. We’re just looking to compete as a team and be the team that we know that we’re capable of being. I think we did that tonight. We’ll go through that when we get to Milwaukee and go from there. We hear what people say. We don’t really care. It is what it is. We’re focused on us.”

Even though the Tar Heels say they weren’t trying to send a message, they did and everyone received it, but the job is not done. The doubters remain and the only way to silence them is to make it past this weekend and into the Sweet 16. With all of the emotions they experienced this week (making it to the ACC Tournament Semifinals, losing to Duke, making the NCAA Tournament, being told they don’t deserve to dance) their hate-fueled tank may be running on “E.” But if they can continue to channel that “us against the world mentality” in Milwaukee, Carolina will be the high-seeded squad no one wants to see.

Notes:

• RJ Davis was 6 for 6 from three-point range, setting a UNC record for highest percentage in an NCAA Tournament game. Hubert Davis was 5 for 5 vs. Eastern Michigan in 1991 in the Sweet 16.

• RJ Davis tied the UNC record for all games for most three-pointers made without a miss. Jason Capel also was 6 for 6 in the 2001 ACC Tournament quarterfinals vs. Clemson.

• Carolina became the first team in NCAA Tournament history to score 95 points and shoot 50% or better from the floor (52.6%), 50% from three (58.3%) and 85% from the free throw line (87.5%).

• Carolina set a school record for three-pointers made in an NCAA Tournament game with 14. Six different Tar Heels made threes (six by RJ Davis, three by Ian Jackson, two by Jae’Lyn Withers and one each by Elliot Cadeau, Drake Powell and Dante Mayo Jr.