UNC's Armando Bacot records first career double-double in win over Gardner-Webb

Armando Bacot rebounded the ball and readied himself to shoot. 

But the 6-foot-10 center brought the ball down too low. A smaller Gardner-Webb defender got his hand on it, stripped Bacot and ran down the court. This happened at least five or six times, three of them leading to turnovers in the North Carolina men’s basketball team’s 77-61 victory over the Bulldogs. 

It's a habit that Bacot will need to break.

“He’s a big dude; he is going to be a really good player,” head coach Roy Williams said after the game. “We got to have more attention to detail. We work all the time on not bringing the ball low and dribbling it. He had three turnovers, and I thought he had 33.” 

Based on Williams’ comments, you wouldn’t have been able to tell that Bacot actually had a career night. The first-year forward went 6-9 with 12 points and 11 rebounds, marking his first collegiate double-double. In his head coach’s mind, though, Bacot could've been better. 

“He goes up and makes one of those blocks that nobody else on our team could make,” Williams said. “I do like the six-for-nine. I think he could do a lot more.” 

When Bacot plays at his best, graduate transfer forward Justin Pierce said he's "a huge part of the team," while graduate transfer guard Christian Keeling feels that Bacot could get 20 and 20 any night he wants. Bacot may agree with his teammates sentiments, but he wasn’t overly thrilled with his performance on Friday. 

“I left a lot of points on the table, could’ve gotten a lot more rebounds,” Bacot said. “Definitely could’ve blocked a lot more shots. I could’ve played way better...

“That wasn’t my best.” 

However, first-year guard Cole Anthony argued that Bacot set the tone on Friday night. 

“He showed everyone how good he is and how good he can be,” Anthony said. “I expect him to bring that every night from now on.” 

Still, there's always room for improvement.

“I mean, he had a double-double,” junior wing Andrew Platek said, laughing. “If you look at the stats sheet, he did have a really good game. But, there’s things in our offense and our defense specifically that we all need to work on. 

“I’m not blaming Armando because I thought he played really well tonight, but we all got to improve on these little things and just do a better job of what Coach wants us to do, because then we’ll all be successful."

For Bacot, he needs to focus on not dropping too low and building his confidence, something his teammates think will come with time as he grows in maturity. 

“He can be really good,” sophomore guard Leaky Black said. “It’s really just a confidence thing for him, too. As soon as we get him to fully buy in and be confident in himself, he’ll be alright.”

Maybe that confidence will come sooner than they think. Even through a sloppy game that happened to be a career night, Bacot is learning. Friday night’s game against Gardner-Webb was just a glimpse at what he can do.

“He’s just scratching the surface, and we just need him to be consistent in his effort in every play, every day of practice,” Pierce said, “because as soon as he learns to do that, he’s going to be a monster. 

“Double doubles are going to be the norm for him.”

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