Armando Bacot coronated as UNC’s all-time rebounding king in N.C. State victory

“I instructed you I might get it,” Armando Bacot quipped at reporters within the tunnel as he headed into the North Carolina locker room following Saturday night’s win over N.C. State.

Together with his 23-point, 18-rebound efficiency, Bacot topped himself the college’s new rebounding king, breaking the profession rebounds report beforehand held by Tyler Hansbrough and profession double-double report held by Billy Cunningham.

After getting a water bottle bathe from his teammates, Bacot reemerged from the locker room after a while carrying white Prada sun shades. (N.C. State’s workforce has made a behavior of carrying comparable shades after their house video games.) The senior large man then confirmed off his new tattoo to the media — a caricature of Dennis Rodman that he had gotten on his calf simply two days prior.

However for as cool as Bacot performed it following the 80-69 victory, he admitted that he was relieved as soon as the stress of breaking these two information was behind him. After grabbing his seventeenth rebound of the sport – and 1,220th of his profession – with seven minutes remaining within the sport, Bacot mentioned it felt like “a weight off (his) shoulder.”

The Tar Heels and Wolfpack performed it shut within the first half, with UNC main 34-33 heading into the break. Bacot had already tallied seven factors and 9 rebounds by then, however he was compelled to play cautiously after selecting up two fast fouls making an attempt to protect N.C. State large man DJ Burns Jr.

“I obtained an excellent begin getting an excellent quantity of rebounds, and I picked up that second foul and I used to be like, ‘Whoa,’ simply not making an attempt to get in foul hassle however making an attempt to remain within the sport and be aggressive,” Bacot mentioned.

As a workforce, UNC struggled to shoot within the first half. The Tar Heels solely linked on 9 of 28 photographs, 13 of which have been three-point makes an attempt. Within the locker room, head coach Hubert Davis implored his workforce to work inside and get to the foul line.

“N.C. State is the worst (within the ACC) at placing individuals on the free throw line,” Hubert Davis mentioned. “So going into the sport, it was necessary for us to assault the basket by way of publish to penetration.”

UNC efficiently executed that sport plan within the second half, attacking the paint exhausting and getting out to a seven-point lead by the under-12 timeout. Bacot scored 10 of UNC’s first 11 second-half factors and continued to crash the glass to notch his 61st profession double-double.

The feat has change into so commonplace for Bacot that even his teammates do not see his double-double performances as something too particular.

“I am already anticipating him to get a double-double inside the first 5 minutes of the sport,” junior guard RJ Davis mentioned.

Maybe that is simply what the all-time nice gamers do: they make the extraordinary strange.

However for Bacot, who’s performed nearly every little thing a basketball participant can do carrying argyle and blue, there’s nonetheless one final bucket checklist merchandise he must verify off earlier than he can take into account himself among the many commemorated Tar Heels of generations previous — win a nationwide championship.

When requested the place he locations himself among the many legends of UNC males’s basketball, Bacot responded coyly.

“I am unable to put myself too excessive as a result of it is nonetheless yet another factor to do,” he mentioned. “But when I get there, then we are able to have a distinct dialogue.”

@lucasthomae

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