Armando Bacot after Miami loss: 'I'm blank right now'

North Carolina fell to Miami 80-72 on Monday night, marking the fourth loss for the program in the last five games. Even star Armando Bacot is at a loss for words given the team’s recent struggles.

The 2022 national runner up, UNC now finds itself fighting for its NCAA Tournament life. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had the Tar Heels as one of the “Last Four In” as of Monday.

“I’m honestly just blank right now,” Bacot told reporters after the game. “Not really processing anything. I don’t really know how I feel right now.”

Miami built a sizeable lead in the contest against North Carolina in the second half then was able to close it out as the Tar Heels made a run of it late.

The loss was North Carolina’s fourth in the last five games. And you don’t need to remind Bacot of the importance of the closing stretch.

“We’ve got to figure something out because we’ve got a tough stretch coming up,” Bacot said. “It doesn’t get easier, so we’ve got to figure it out.

“It’s tough how it’s been all year. This is not how any of us wanted it to go, but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to figure out something.”

ESPN has North Carolina as “Last Four In”

ESPN’s latest bracketology from Joe Lunardi still has Armando Bacot and North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament field, but just barely.

Currently Lunardi has North Carolina in a play-in game as the No. 11 seed in the West Region. The pairing has North Carolina playing a play-in game against Mississippi State for the right to reach the opening round action.

The Tar Heels, under Lunardi’s projection, would be slotted to Des Moines for opening-round action.

The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight would be played in Las Vegas.

But obviously — as Bacot pointed out — the Tar Heels have a lot of work to do if they want to even remotely consider Sin City.