The No. 11 seed UNC men's basketball team (23-13, 13-7 ACC) overpowered San Diego State (21-10, 14-6 MWC), 95-68, to advance to the first round of the NCAA tournament on Tuesday evening in the First Four at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.
North Carolina entered the tournament with its lowest seed in program history after earning the final at-large bid in the Big Dance. But the Tar Heels showed no signs of being the last team in, shooting 60.9 percent from the field, 77.8 percent from three and 100 percent on free throws in the first half to build a 24 point lead. Graduate guard RJ Davis scored a game-high 26 points on 8-12 shooting. Davis went a perfect 6-6 from three.
But in the opening three minutes, the Tar Heels struggled to take care of the ball, recording six turnovers through the first six minutes.
UNC worked to make up for it. As the Aztecs went on an almost three minute scoring drought, UNC went on an 8-0 run behind five points from graduate guard RJ Davis.
SDSU's offense remained stagnant while UNC relied on trips to the line. The Tar Heels went on a 7-0 run scoring free throws alone thanks to junior guard Seth Trimble's two trips to the charity stripe.
Although a San Diego State basket broke up the scoring, North Carolina went right back to work. The Tar Heels went on an 11-0 run that carried them through the six-minute mark. UNC led 33-13 as the team's scoring brigade continued.
The Aztecs scored two threes in the dying minutes of the first half, but it didn't slow down UNC. Davis hit a buzzer beater trey to push North Carolina to a 47-23 entering halftime.
North Carolina opened the second half with the same energy, rattling off a quick six point run that started with a Davis three. Withers and junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin found room inside to push the score to 57-30 with over 15 minutes left.
Davis continued to ignite the Tar Heels, scoring five more points over the course of a minute as Trimble, first-year guard Ian Jackson and sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau supplied points of their own.
