Quick Hitters - North Carolina vs. UCLA (NCAA Tournament - Sweet 16)

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 73-66 win over UCLA in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Mar 26, 2022 2:58 AM EDT

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 73-66 win over UCLA in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

Main content:

After a hard fought, closer-than-the-final-score-indicates type game, North Carolina beats UCLA for the sixth time in a row and has now knocked out half of the 2021 Final Four participants in back-to-back games. The Tar Heels will move on to face the first-ever 15 seed to advance to the Elite 8, the St. Peter’s Peacocks.
Caleb Love had a monster night for the Heels, leading the team with a career-high 30 points (27 of which came in the second half), including six threes, four assists, and just one turnover, all while playing the full 40 minutes. His six threes tie the mark for most made by a Tar Heel in a single NCAA Tournament game, which has now happened four times. Love owns two of those.
RJ Davis and Love have scored 30 points in back-to-back games, the first time in Carolina history to have 30-plus point performances in back-to-back NCAA Tournament games.
UCLA held the lead for the majority of the game and kept trying to push out to a larger margin, but each time, the Tar Heels were able to reel the Bruins back in. The game featured eight ties and 14 lead changes.
A big question mark coming in was Jaime Jaquez’s ankle, which he tweaked in UCLA’s 2^nd round game. Jaquez appeared to be moving quite capably. If his ankle bothered him, it didn’t show...in the first half. After halftime Jaquez was a pedestrian 1-11.
Armando Bacot fought through what appeared to be some back issues to record yet another double-double. It’s his 28^th this season, which ties him with Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe for most in the country, and the 46^th of his career. If Bacot gets a double-double against St. Peter’s he will tie Tyler Hansbrough and Sam Perkins for 3^rd-most in the UNC record book. Bacot is also one behind Tim Duncan (yes, THE Tim Duncan) for most in a single season in ACC history.
Staying with Bacot, while much of the adulation will deservedly go to Love for his second-half scoring bonanza, don’t overlook the contributions Bacot made to help capture this victory. To name a few, after picking up his third foul in the second half, he was able to play the remainder of the game without ever picking up his fourth. How about this sequence from the big man that occurred from 2:12-0:15 of the second half: Block on Jaquez, HUGE save on the baseline back out to Love for a game-tying three-pointer, assist to Love for go-ahead three, monster defensive rebound on Jaquez miss, offensive rebound and tip-in for five-point lead with 15 seconds left. Kudos to Bacot for all his great work.
One of the great moves of the game was a substitution decision from Coach Davis. With Brady Manek having missed three straight three-pointers and becoming visibly upset with himself, Hubert Davis sat Manek for a few minutes in favor of Puff Johnson. After a time of collecting himself, Manek come back and….missed another three. But he hit his next attempt to give his team a one-point lead with 4:23 remaining.
A game after committing 21 turnovers against Baylor, Carolina took care of the ball, finishing with just eight. Playing against UCLA, one of the best in the country at hanging onto the ball, it was vital that UNC did the same, and they did exactly that. The Heels finished with just eight turnovers and no player had more than two.
On the heels of being ejected (Manek) and disqualified (Love) against Baylor, I was curious to see how both players would react in this game. To answer my question, both players had taken and made a three-pointer within the first 90 seconds.
The first half was mostly devoid of whistles. There were just seven combined fouls and the under-16:00 media timeout didn’t come until it was already time for the under-12:00.
Love wasn’t the only player to score in double-digits. He was joined by Bacot (14), Manek (13), and Davis (12).
The Tar Heels were an uncharacteristic 0-3 from the free throw line in the first half, but were a perfect 9-9 after halftime.
Unlike the Marquette and Baylor games, in which Carolina blitzed out to a double-digit lead in under 10 minutes, the Tar Heels weren't able to maintain their early lead and trailed the hot-shooting Bruins by eight at one point in the first half. They did, however, make the necessary plays to stop themselves from losing touch with UCLA. Carolina stayed connected enough (three point halftime deficit) to be able to turn things around in the second half.
Carolina is now 14-0 in Caleb Love’s career when he scores 20 or more points. Caleb Love’s 20-point game tonight is the 40^th time this season a Tar Heel has scored 20 or more. By comparison, UNC had just seven 20-point performances all of last season.
When UCLA went up by five at 56-51 and had the ball with 9:24 remaining, it felt like a little bit of a danger zone for UNC. However, a Caleb Love lay-up and three pointer later, this game was tied.
Shout out to the women’s basketball team. Although their season came to a close on Friday night against the top-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks, Courtney Banghart's team is on a phenomenal upward trajectory headed into 2022-23.
I don’t want to be guilty of projecting into the future, BUT if Duke wins on Saturday and North Carolina wins on Sunday, the teams will play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever. Not to mention it would be in the Final Four. Not to mention it would be during Coach K’s final season. You know the TV executives are hoping with everything for that to become a reality.

Box Score

Postgame Press Conference

Coach Hubert Davis & starters

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament against St. Peter's on Sunday, March 27. Tip is at 5:05pm ET on CBS.