Armando Bacot addresses comments saying ACC runs through him

North Carolina veteran Armando Bacot made a bold declaration after UNC’s win over Duke in February that the ACC runs through him and the Tar Heels. Now, those quotes are motivation for a hungry and surging Duke team ahead of the rematch.

Bacot was technically correct, though. Carolina enters the final game of the regular season with a share of the ACC regular season crown belonging to them. If the Heels knock off Duke, they’ll own the ACC title outright — lose and they’ll split it with the Blue Devils. So yes, the ACC did in fact run through Bacot and Chapel Hill this season.

But the Duke players and fans won’t care about the semantics of whether Bacot’s statement is right or wrong; they’re just incensed that he asserted Carolina has the big brother in the conference. When asked ahead of Saturday’s game if he stands by his comments, Bacot admitted they may have riled folks up but also says he believes in what he stated.

“I think when I said it, it was taken out of context, like, which is fair. I know I guess I got to be smart about how I say things, but I don’t regret saying it and it’ll be a great game,” said Bacot. He even complimented UNC’s bitter rival:

“I think Duke has been in the last — since we beat them, probably the top 3-4 team in the country. Just, it’s going to be a tough game. It’ll be fiery.”

Particularly, Bacot was asked if he expects and even more physical and competitive matchup down low with Blue Devil star Kyle Filipowski, in part, due to his comments after the last game.

“For sure. But I think it’ll be a fire lit up under him regardless, because it’s his last game playing in Cameron Indoor Stadium,” answered the Tar Heel big man. “And obviously, they want to go out with a win. We know what’s at stake for both teams, so we ready.”

The ACC does run through North Carolina in the standings, but tonight, it runs through Durham and Cameron Indoor Stadium. North Carolina has a shot to box out Duke and take the regular season throne all for their own, and begin the ACC Tournament as the unquestioned 1-seed. Or, Duke could make Armando Bacot rue those words if the Blue Devils take down UNC.

As always, a great one coming up in a couple hours between these two bitter rivals.