'It's gone in the blink of an eye': Cormac Ryan reflects on his college basketball career after Senior Night win
UNC graduate student guard Cormac Ryan (3) before the men’s basketball game against Notre Dame in the Dean E. Smith Center on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. UNC won 84-51.
Cormac Ryan is intense.
He’s intense during pregame meals. He’s intense during summer scrimmages. He’s so intense that he kicks water coolers. He’s intense in how much he loves basketball. He’s intense when he yells, which is often. He’s intense in his celebration when graduate big man Armando Bacot hits a three.
UNC graduate student guard Cormac Ryan (3) celebrates after UNC graduate student forward/center Armando Bacot (5) scores during the men’s basketball game against Notre Dame at the Dean E. Smith Center on Tuesday March 5, 2024. UNC won 84-51.
He's the one guy you don't want to mess with on the UNC men’s basketball team. Junior wing Harrison Ingram admitted he's still a bit scared of him after a shoving altercation during a summer scrimmage. Ryan started cursing him out, to which Ingram replied, "Yo. Chill."
“He's a crash out,” Ingram said.
The 25-year-old Ryan, scored 14 and went 4-9 from the field inUNC's 84-51 win over Notre Dame – his alma mater – on Senior Night in his final home game after a six-year college basketball career. While his current teammates call their elder intense, Ryan would describe himself as passionate.
"I always just go out and compete," Ryan said. "I really, and I say this with all due respect, I could care less who we're playing. I try and bring the same level of intensity and fire to every game."
UNC graduate student guard Cormac Ryan (3) fights for a basket during the men’s basketball game against Notre Dame in the Dean E. Smith Center on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. UNC won 84-51.
His former teammates, including Fighting Irish forward Matt Zona, agree.
“He hates losing and doesn't take losing,” Zona said. “Not that he doesn't take losing well, but he doesn't want to lose, nor does anyone. But I think his competitiveness is something that separates him from other people."
Ryan may not always have the most points every night, but for the Tar Heels, who rank No. 6 in adjusted defensive efficiency per KenPom, Ryan's defense is key.
Coming into the game at the Dean E. Smith Center, Notre Dame’s Markus Burton averaged 27 points over his last three games.
Against UNC he had nine. Was that all Ryan? No, but he was a vital piece. And by rotating coverage between sophomore guard Seth Trimble and senior guard RJ Davis, the three shut down the best of the Fighting Irish.
“He brings so much to this team that allows us to be successful,” head coach Hubert Davis said after last week’s victory over N.C. State. “Not just the shooting and his leadership, but his competitiveness to step up and defend.”
Saturday wasn't Ryan’s best offensive game in Carolina blue – a season-high 20 points against Kentucky and six made threes against Virginia in Charlottesville stick out – but he was focused on the other senior honorees. He wanted to ensure the team sent RJ Davis, Bacot and the other graduates "on a high note."
As soon as Bacot hit his second three, and Notre Dame called a timeout, Ryan and Ingram were right there in his face, jumping on him to celebrate.
UNC graduate student guard Cormac Ryan (3) celebrates after UNC graduate student forward Armando Bacot (5) scores during the men’s basketball game against Notre Dame at the Dean E. Smith Center on Tuesday March 5, 2024. UNC won 84-51.
“He loves Armando and all the guys and he was so happy to see him make the three,” Cormac’s father Mike Ryan said. “He was so happy to see Armando be happy.”
Ryan's the oldest on the team – the only Tar Heel not born in this century – and his teammates let him know it.
“We call him old every day,” Ingram said. “I mean, this is like his third Senior Night, right?”
Even in his old age, after UNC beat Duke on Feb. 3, Ryan ran and joined the throng of students climbing poles, burning shoes and raging on Franklin Street.
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UNC students celebrate the men's basketball team's victory over Duke by rushing Franklin Street on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024.
That’s just who he is: intense. And that intensity has left a mark.
“That’s the sad part for me – I only get to coach him for one year,” Hubert Davis said. “What he has brought to this team and this program in just one year, he has left a legacy. By the person he is, by the player, by the teammate he is.”
The season is not over. UNC will travel to Washington D.C. to play for the ACC tournament next week after a final game in Durham, and then comes the NCAA tournament. But the clock is ticking down on the minutes left of Ryan’s career.
“The seasons fly by and I've been playing in college a long time but it still feels like it's gone in the blink of an eye,” Ryan said. “So I'm happy to have had this opportunity to come here and play in such a special program. But yeah, it felt like a blink of an eye.”
The end of Ryan’s college basketball career may be imminent, but according to Mike Ryan, there are still some shots left in his son.
“I don't think his basketball journey is coming to an end,” Mike Ryan said. “But his college basketball journey is coming to an end.”
