'Quarterback of the defense': Bacot takes on vocal role in UNC's ACC quarterfinal win over FSU

WASHINGTON — Armando Bacot would like you to call him "Three and D" now. The first part, the three, is likely a joke, given away by a sly grin when the graduate was asked about the moniker.

To his credit, Bacot’s last basket in the Dean E. Smith Center was a 3-pointer (he actually hit two on senior night). Sitting in a banquet room at the Washington Marriott at Metro Center, Bacot hinted at reporters that he may be the target for a few pick-and-pop plays at the 2024 ACC tournament.

“We’ll see,” he said with a smile, hand perched upon his chin as if deep in thought.

Armando Bacot spoke to the media on Wednesday and answered questions about his new nickname: “Three and D.”

Today, Bacot finished with a double-double in the No. 1 seed Tar Heels’ thrashing of No. 9 seed FSU in the ACC tournament quarterfinals.

Story to come. pic.twitter.com/8xWMe35jS3

— Shelby Swanson (she/her) (@shelbymswanson) March 14, 2024

If you didn’t watch No. 4 North Carolina’s 92-67 beating of Florida State in the ACC tournament quarterfinals — spoiler alert — Bacot didn’t even attempt a shot from behind the arc. So, three? Not so much. But D? Yes. The recent All-ACC defensive team selectee finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and although the stats don’t indicate it, a critical defense effort — disrupting, boxing out, and most importantly, communicating.

“From a defensive standpoint, he's been fantastic for us this year,” head coach Hubert Davis said on Wednesday, later adding, “In large part our defense has improved because he has improved.”

Junior forward Harrison Ingram called Bacot the quarterback of the defense.  First-year point guard Elliot Cadeau agreed. But as for "Three and D"?

“Armando?” Cadeau asked, eyebrows raised. “Oh, no. I don’t think so.”

The origins of the name are rooted in recent history: After being named to the All-ACC defensive team on Monday, Bacot walked up to Davis in practice on Tuesday and pitched the new nickname.

“I’m shooting like 50, 40, 90, so, it looked good,” Bacot said of his shooting splits on Wednesday, as if to prove his point.

Quick correction: “Well, not 90. Like 80.”

Despite the final score of Thursday's quarterfinal bout, FSU gave UNC fits early due to the Seminoles’ dribble penetration. With eight minutes remaining in the first half and UNC up 20-16, Florida State’s Jamir Watkins went to work.

“He’s going to the right!” Davis yelled from the sideline.

Almost on cue, Watkins curled around a high ball screen and drove in, finishing over Ingram.

The ensuing media timeout gave the UNC coaching staff a moment to address things. Assistant coach Pat Sullivan, red in the face, screamed at Ingram: “He’s getting to his right every time!”

Bacot didn’t talk directly to Ingram after the play. Rather, Bacot talked at him during the later action — calling out ball screens — and UNC made the adjustment.

“I think that’s the whole game,” Ingram said of Bacot’s communication.

The graduate center responded out of the 8-minute media timeout with a two-handed slam. From there, UNC went on a 33-17 run to close out the first half.

Bacot scored six more points in that stretch, but most importantly, he was the vocal leader of UNC’s defense. He called out screens, as Davis might put it, early and often — making the jobs of North Carolina’s guards easier.

But this isn’t easy for Bacot, according to his mom, Christie Lomax. She said he’s never been shy, but he also isn’t “the type that’s going to yell and scream at you and tell you what to do.”

This year, however, the forward had to step outside of his comfort zone.

“Armando is a quiet, cool, collected guy,” said Lomax, donning a T-shirt with her son’s likeness and a matching “ABJ” silver chain necklace. “But being a vet, coming back a fifth year to continue to play how we’re playing is why he came back. So he knows his role and the things where he needed to pick up to make sure we keep moving along.”

“To see him being more vocal has been awesome.”

And after a first half championed by Bacot barking orders from the front court, the graduate forward stepped into the spotlight. With less than a minute before halftime, he pulled down two offensive rebounds in the same possession and finished the play, finally, with a layup.

Bacot flexed. He roared. 

And then, as he jogged back up the court, the tough facade faded into a friendly smile.

“That’s typical him,” Lomax told the Daily Tar Heel. “Typical him.”

Bacot bounced from one media obligation to another following the game. After a lengthy on-air interview, the graduate rejoined his head coach outside the locker room. Standing next to his wife, Leslie, Davis greeted Bacot: “Good job, slime.”

Leslie exchanged a look with Bacot.

“You don’t like that name?” the center asked.

Leslie just laughed and replied, “I’ll do ‘Three and D.’

Her husband, UNC’s head coach, still isn’t sold on the nickname. And it’s not due to a lack of confidence. Rather, Davis has known Bacot since he was 15. He understands his limits just as he knows his strengths. And with Bacot and the Tar Heels two wins away from their first ACC tournament title since 2016, Davis needs his big man to stick to his strengths.

“He's been going around saying 'I'm a Three and D guy,'” Davis said on Wednesday. “I just — I like him to be a D guy.”

@shelbymswanson

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com 

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