North Carolina wins, Hubert Davis makes history against St. Peter’s

The North Carolina Tar Heels punched their ticket to the Final Four with a dominant 69-49 win over 15-seed and Cinderella story St. Peter’s. In Hubert Davis’ first year as head coach, the team has found its rhythm down the stretch as an 8-seed and makes him the first rookie Final Four coach since 1998.

Center Armando Bacot led the way for North Carolina with 20 points and 22 rebounds, tying Tim Duncan’s ACC record for most double-doubles in a single season with his 29th. Forward Brady Manek also scored 19 and guard Caleb Love added 14.

North Carolina grabbed the lead early, holding St. Peter’s to just 19 points on poor shooting numbers in the first half. The length of the Tar Heels on offense and defense created problems and opened space for the veterans to make plays and go on runs.

While St. Peter’s loss also brings one of the NCAA Tournament’s greatest stories to an end. The small school turned national darling exits after three wins over Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue in the East Region. Although they miss the Final Four, the Elite Eight appearance was a first for a 15-seed.

The Elite Eight win for North Carolina sets up a rematch of the regular season finale against in-state rival Duke. In that meeting, the Tar Heels spoiled Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. This time, they can send their biggest rival packing for good with a loss in his final career game.

Hubert Davis motivates North Carolina

Speaking during an early timeout with the CBS Broadcast team, Davis walked into his interview shaking his head at his team’s lack of offense. He was asked how things shifted for his team after they started the game scoring at will.

“Yeah, because we were taking the ball to the basket,” Davis answered. “Exactly what we wanted to do. We talked about attacking the basket through post or penetration — and then we went away from it. It’s a lot of zero, one pass jump shots and that’s just — that’s not good offense. We’ve gotta get back to attacking the basket.”

His team seemed to get the message, building a lead as large as 18 points with four minutes remaining in the half. Good North Carolina shooting paired with a large amount of missed layups by St. Peter’s combined in the Tar Heels’ favor as they dominated the first half. The Peacocks missed 12-of-13 shots during the stretch.