After ACC Tournament loss, UNC will begin NCAA play Thursday

The waiting game is over. The Tar Heels are headed to Florida.

On Sunday night, as they gathered at Coach Roy Williams’ house to watch and celebrate Selection Sunday, the members of the No. 19 North Carolina men’s basketball team learned they would be headed to Jacksonville, Fla., as a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. UNC will take on No. 13 Harvard on Thursday.

With a win, the Tar Heels would then play Saturday against either Arkansas or Wofford.

“Two things get me a little excited about this year’s team heading into the NCAA Tournament,” said Williams in a statement after the announcement.

“One, we are getting healthier, which always makes it easier. And the other thing is we gained something during the ACC Tournament. I think at times we played very, very well. We showed some toughness.”

Indeed they did.

The Tar Heels, a No. 5 seed in the conference tournament, played four games in a four-day span, slowly chipping away until they reached the championship game against Notre Dame on Saturday night in Greensboro.

UNC, on a quest toward its 18th conference championship, eventually fell to the Irish 90-82. But it was the journey to the championship game — rather than its result — Saturday that gives the Tar Heels a reason to be confident as they prepare for Thursday’s matchup against Harvard.

The team that once struggled earlier in the year to close out games closed out three in a row during the ACC Tournament: Boston College on Wednesday, No. 14 Louisville on Thursday, and No. 3 Virginia on Friday.

When Louisville pulled within one point, UNC surged to win by 10. When the third best team in the nation rallied from double digits to make it close, the Tar Heels maintained their composure.

Brice Johnson knows this.

“People probably counted us out at the beginning of the tournament. They didn’t think we’d make it this far,” he said. “People were probably looking past us when Louisville was up 10, and they said, ‘Louisville is probably going to beat them.’ But we showed toughness.”

70-60.

“And (Saturday) people probably looked past us just because it’s Virginia. They’re the No. 3 team in the country. And we showed a lot of toughness.”

71-67.

Now UNC will have to channel that toughness and composure into one more stretch, the most critical run of the year that ends in either heartbreak or jubilation.

Harvard is coming off of an emotional win over Yale in the Ivy League special playoff that secured its tournament berth. But the Crimson’s most glaring loss of the year certainly came at the hands of Virginia in December, a 76-27 thrashing.

Still, Williams isn’t taking Harvard lightly.

Sharing the conference title with Yale, Harvard (22-7, 11-3 Ivy League) recorded its fifth straight title. This will be Harvard’s fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

The school boasts one of the nation’s best scoring defenses. Harvard ranks 12th in the nation in points allowed and has the conference defensive player of the year on its team.

“I really, really enjoy and like (Harvard head coach) Tommy Amaker. We competed against him when he was at Duke and I was an assistant here,” Williams said.

“I talk to Tommy on the road all the time. I think he’s a marvelous person. He’s done a really nice job there. Our team will be focused on Harvard. We won’t be looking past them.”

The other things Williams and the Tar Heels won’t look past: heart.

“You can’t really say that the five guys on the court didn’t want to win (the ACC Tournament),” junior guard Marcus Paige said.

“These guys played their tails off,” Williams followed. “Are they perfect? No. Not by any means. But they’ve really given a lot here.”

And now it’s time to give more.

sports@dailytarheel.com

CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this story mischaracterized the occasion of Harvard’s recent win over Yale. The game was a special playoff, not the conclusion of a tournament. The story has been updated to reflect this change. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.