UNC Basketball Big Man Armando Bacot Gets Back to Outworking Foes

The UNC basketball offense flows when Armando Bacot commands the paint with authority.

Photo credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

UNC basketball's 96-81 home win over unranked Virginia Tech (14-11, 6-8 ACC) on Saturday afternoon marked Armando Bacot's fifth straight double-double outing. The graduate center's 25 points and 12 rebounds anchored the No. 7 Tar Heels (20-6, 12-3 ACC) in their get-right performance following Tuesday night's 86-79 loss at Syracuse.

It's the first time Bacot has reeled off five straight double-double stat lines in ACC play since his eight in a row in 2021-22. And his season-high 11 field goals in a tied-season-high 16 attempts are further indicators of the fifth-year Tar Heel's suddenly amplified presence down low.

Third-year UNC basketball head coach Hubert Davis touched on that welcomed sight, explaining during Saturday's postgame presser that it all comes down to the big man's in-game work ethic:

"He outworked them. I mean, it is what it is.

"You know, you can call whatever play. You can design whatever halfcourt set. If the player is not going to work hard to catch the ball where we want them to catch it in order to be able to do something, it's just a waste of time.

"And so, you know, one of the things that Armando did really well is, in transition, his ability just to seal his man right in the middle of the paint. It's the perfect place to get him the ball because they can't double-team him — it's in transition.

Armando Bacot was a man on a mission in the 2nd half! 💪@UNC_Basketball | @CPISecurity pic.twitter.com/9f4lAa4JJa

— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) February 17, 2024

"He just did a really good job of getting low-post position, sealing. It was a really nice job by our players to get him the ball when he was open near the basket.

"We felt like it was an advantage for us to dominate points in the paint. It was an emphasis. It's been an emphasis every day since the beginning of the year.

"But we talked about getting back to that because, over the last four or five games, we were shooting more threes than we were getting to the free throw line. And so, that was a huge emphasis for us.

"And Armando was fantastic offensively."

NEXT UNC BASKETBALL GAME: at No. 21 Virginia (20-6, 11-4 ACC), 4 p.m. ET Saturday (ESPN)

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