Every time Armando Bacot corralled an entry pass — in the short corner or low post — he knew it was time to go to work.
On one occasion, the graduate center smacked the ball so loud prior to his post move, the sound was audible from the nosebleeds of the Dean E. Smith Center. He then employed a nifty spin move to notch one of his 11 baskets on the day.
Bacot’s dominant 25-point, 12-rebound performance was the centerpiece of UNC’s scoring attack against Virginia Tech. In the second half alone, the big man amassed 19 points as part of North Carolina’s 54 in the paint that helped lift the Tar Heels past the Hokies, 96-81.
“We felt like it was an advantage for us to dominate points in the paint,” head coach Hubert Davis said. “It’s been an emphasis every day since the beginning of the year, but we talked about getting back to that [today].”
Leading up to Saturday’s game, Davis was not happy with how his team had shied away from attacking the rim. He pointed to the fact North Carolina has shot more 3-pointers than free throws since its loss at Georgia Tech.
This time around, it was a different story. The Tar Heels not only shot more free throws (23) than 3-pointers (21), but they also generated the second-most points in the paint all season as a result.
It wasn’t just Bacot. Forwards Harrison Ingram, Jalen Washington, and JaeLyn Withers all recorded multiple baskets. It didn’t matter who was mixed in at the four or five, because in the wise words of Bacot, “everybody ate”.
As for the graduate center, he did most of his fine dining in the second half.
Bacot didn’t score a basket until nearly 10 minutes into the game. From there, he tallied three layups over a 2-minute stretch — an appetizer for what was to come. When foul trouble plagued the Hokies' size, the Tar Heels looked to their preseason All-American to lead the way.
