March Madness 2022: North Carolina routs Marquette in Hubert Davis’ NCAA Tournament coaching debut

Hubert Davis was fast to level out the primary NCAA Match victory for Caleb Love and different North Carolina gamers.

The Tar Heels coach was much less curious about what it meant to win his event debut for a storied program that is also his alma mater.

Brady Manek scored 28 factors and Love wanted simply 19 minutes to tie Carolina’s single-game event file of six 3-pointers in a 95-63 rout of Marquette on Thursday, the largest blowout in a matchup of 8-9 seeds in event historical past.

Love scored 21 of his 23 factors earlier than halftime because the eighth-seeded Tar Heels (25-9) constructed a 28-point lead. They play defending nationwide champion Baylor on Saturday.

The win was in stark distinction to final yr, when the Tar Heels despatched Roy Williams into retirement together with his solely opening-round loss in 30 NCAA appearances.

“Truthfully, it actually doesn’t imply something to me personally,” mentioned Davis, a participant from 1988-92. “After I see Caleb and Brady and Armando (Bacot) enjoying effectively like they did as we speak, I do know all of the arduous work that was put in through the summer time and late nights, early within the mornings. It’s virtually like a father. I’ve obtained three youngsters, and it’s a sense of simply being proud.”

Shaka Good’s return to Texas was a dud a yr after he took the Marquette job amid questions on his future as coach of the Texas Longhorns following a stunning first-round loss to Abilene Christian.

Olivier-Maxence Prosper scored 16 factors for the No. 9 seed Golden Eagles (19-13), who misplaced their third consecutive first-round recreation.

“I advised the fellows within the locker room after the sport, we’re not going to guage the whole thing of our season primarily based on one recreation,” Good mentioned. “We’re clearly actually, actually disillusioned and upset with how as we speak’s recreation went. It’s lower than commonplace that we set.”

Manek, the Oklahoma switch who had a pair of first-round wins with the Sooners, completed with 5 3s as he and Love mixed to go 11 of 23 from lengthy vary.

Bacot matched Manek’s double-double whereas grabbing 10 rebounds on his strategy to the college season file (422). He scored 17 factors. RJ Davis had a career-high 12 assists.

Good, who misplaced all three of his first-round video games in six seasons with the Longhorns, had one in all three Marquette technical fouls in a span of 90 seconds late within the first half when he complained a few no-call. Kur Kuath obtained one for hanging on the rim after a dunk. Darryl Morsell was penalized on evaluate after a scramble for a free ball.

Simply earlier than the tech spree, Morsell ended up nose-to-nose with Love after attempting to take the ball out of his fingers when Love was referred to as for stepping on the midcourt line whereas attempting to dribble across the stocky Marquette guard.

“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Love mentioned. “We don’t again down from something. Simply my aggressive nature and my crew’s aggressive nature, simply got here out and, you already know, we performed it good.”

The Tar Heels have been already up 18 when gamers from each groups needed to be separated. It rapidly obtained worse from there.

Carolina completed the primary half on a 16-4 run for a 53-25 lead, and Manek made it a 34-point recreation (67-33) with consecutive 3s early within the second half. The largest lead for the Tar Heels was 35.

BIG PICTURE

North Carolina: The final time Carolina performed Marquette within the NCAA Match, in 2011, the Tar Heels had 25 factors at halftime. They bounced again to win that recreation 81-63.

Marquette: A strong taking pictures crew a lot of the season, the Golden Eagles struggled badly from the sector early. They have been taking pictures 22% after three misses on the rim in the identical sequence. They completed at 36%.

NO BACKING DOWN

After the Love-Morsell standoff, Davis turned to his bench with emphatic phrases of encouragement.

“I’ve been clear and definitive to the fellows about what we have to do on the market on the ground,” Davis mentioned. “There’s been various occasions the place groups have tried to push us round. And the one approach that you would be able to change that narrative of individuals pondering they’ll do that’s if you happen to swing again and be the primary one to swing.”