NCAA tournament observations from UNC vs Marquette in first round East Region game
At Dickies Arena for today’s first-round game against Marquette, the eighth-seeded Tar Heels plan to do what they didn’t last season — when they lost to Wisconsin 85-62 in the NCAA tournament’s opening round — and advance to the round of 32.
North Carolina’s brief appearance in last year’s tournament has remained a topic of conversation among its players this season.
Forward Armando Bacot said having a repeat of last season was unacceptable.
“That left a bad taste in all of our mouths and it’s something that coach (Hubert) Davis emphasized earlier on in the week and just telling us that it won’t go down like that,” Bacot said. “I would say for all of us, we packed four or five outfits so we don’t plan on going home early.”
Sophomore guard R.J. Davis went so far as to say this year’s tournament appearance offered the chance at “redemption.”
“We all have a mentality of just to win, play together, toughness,” Davis said. “So I refuse to have the same outcome as last year.”
Ol’ Roy in the building
Former UNC coach Roy Williams and his wife Wanda brought their support to Dickies Arena. Williams never missed a home game in Chapel Hill, but only attended four previous Carolina games away from the Dean E. Smith Center.
The Heels are 2-2 in those games. The losses both came in the Hall of Fame Tipoff in Uncasville, Connecticut, when they lost to Purdue and Tennessee on consecutive days. The wins came at College of Charleston and in overtime at Louisville.
Commonwealth support
Some of the fans from Norfolk State, which lost to Baylor in the opening game in Fort Worth, stayed behind to root for Carolina’s Armando Bacot. The 6-foot-9 Richmond native played three years at Trinity Episcopal High School before playing his senior season at IMG Academy in Florida. It appeared that the NSU fans cheered for anything related to home. They cheered the loudest when Richmond’s upset of Iowa was shown on the video board.
When in Texas
If not for the Carolina blue shirts, the Tar Heels’ pep band looked like it was created deep in the heart of Texas. Most of the band members donned cowboy hats that they proudly displayed even while playing songs during the Heels first round win over Marquette. Even the band director added a twist of Texas style to his outfit. He pinned a Texas Rangers badge to his UNC pullover.
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 3:52 PM with the headline "NCAA tournament observations from UNC vs Marquette in first round East Region game."