NEW ORLEANS — First, Armando Bacot put his forehead on the pitch and lay on his back. The pain in his right ankle was so bad that he clenched his blue Carolina jersey between his teeth and writhed on the Superdome floor.
Bacot’s teammate Caleb Love stared at Bacot’s ankle as the other Tar Heels formed a circle around Bacot. He was on his feet by then, but was unable to put weight on his ankle after he landed awkwardly at North Carolina forward Leaky Black’s foot as he tried to block Duke’s Paolo Banchero in a layup attempt.
The arena’s roar, reaching volumes that seemed unheard before even for a legendary North Carolina-Duke game, turned into muffled murmurs as fans turned to each other and questioned. doing now?”
A 6-foot-10 physical Bacot dominating the hoop became one of the lifebloods of the number eight Tar Heels’ deep tournament run. After beating Duke on Saturday, they’ll face #1-seeded Kansas in Monday night’s Division 1 men’s championship game.
Bacot had one of the best rebounding seasons ever, recording at least 15 rebounds in 13 games. He landed a pair of free throws in extra time to help him beat the reigning champion Baylor in the second round. In the round of 16 against UCLA, he caught a loose ball before it went out-of-bounds and threw it into the game to save possession and save the Tar Heels season.
Bacot was knocking the Blue Devils down low pole against Duke, using all of his 240 pounds to propel the defenders for rebounds and strong chases into the rim. But this has been the Tar Heels MO for the entire season.
“First and foremost, we want to feed the ball to Armando, plain and simple, point, last but not least,” said North Carolina Coach Hubert Davis. Said. “We want him to dominate the task in the lower ranks.”
But on Saturday, Bacot looked ready for the night, and possibly the season, as he limped off the field, barely holding the weight of his body on his right ankle. With less than five minutes left, Bacot has already taken over 15 rebounds in a tie game where every possession can make the difference between a win or a loss.
“Something came to my mind and I’m like, ‘I’m playing in the greatest college basketball game of all time,'” Bacot told reporters after his return and finishing with 11 points and 21. rebound “There’s no way I’m sitting down.”
Davis suggested that Bacot play at all costs in Monday night’s championship game.
“He’s going to play. He’s going to play even if he’s standing there,” Davis said, perhaps half jokingly. He’ll just sit there in the middle of the road.”
Davis told reporters that Bacot had no fractures in X-rays taken immediately after the game. Bacot worked on the ankle for about two hours on Saturday night, rehabilitated in the pool on Sunday morning, and donned a compression sleeve to make sure he was as ready as possible for Monday’s game, Davis said. advantage.
“If I don’t play, who knows what McCormack might do,” said Bacot, referring to Kansas forward David McCormack, who scored 25 points on 12-to-10 shooting in the Jayhawks’ 81-65 win over Villanova on Saturday.
Kansas had faced an underpowered Villanova team, evident in the Jayhawks’ dominant semifinal win.
Championship Games at NCAA Tournaments
Wildcats second-highest scorer and best defender Justin Moore tore his right Achilles tendon in the final minutes of Villanova’s defeat of Houston in a regional semifinal, and replacing him against Kansas was easier said than done.
Villanova missed out on Moore’s lead defensively as much as she missed out on her ability to get points and offensive pressure from quarterback Collin Gillespie.
Returning to his game against Duke on Saturday, Bacot limped up and down the court, preferring his right ankle, but was unable to provide the exact same lift he was used to pulling down the rebounds. But when asked how he felt after the game, Bacot chuckled and said, “I feel great. I feel great. Better than ever.”
It’s not uncommon for players to deal with nuisance injuries this late in a season, especially those who constantly collide with oversized opponents and are knocked down multiple times in a game. Davis said he didn’t think he was a “slightly injured” player, and Bacot, who was crucial in getting his team to this point, expects to make some sort of impact in Monday’s championship game. or someone else.
“If I have to go out there and get a few rebounds and strengthen the wall,” Bacot said, “foul a few times or whatever, that’s what I’m going to do.”
UCLA guard Tyus Edney was crucial to the Bruins’ title race during the 1994-95 season. Against Missouri in the second round, Edney drove the length of the field and hit the game-winning shot to keep the Bruins’ season alive. However, he hurt his ankle in the final against Arkansas and played only three minutes.
But Bacot said he had no chance of missing out on his biggest game of the season, after the Tar Heels were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tournament by a score of 14-19 in their second season by Wisconsin in their freshman year. he later joined the tournament this year after many thought he was too mediocre to go that far.
“My right leg had to be amputated so that I could not play,” he said.