'Shocked': UNC basketball's season-ending loss ends Armando Bacot, RJ Davis era
Rodd BaxleyLOS ANGELES – One day you’re playing cards, telling jokes and pointing out where LeBron James’ locker is in the Los Angeles Lakers’ locker room.
The next day, there’s a deafening silence, somber, soft-spoken tones and a shock of finality that this is the last time you’ll be in any locker room with the same 14 players.
Heads are buried in hands, towels are draped over heads and eyes are welling with tears.
That was the scene in UNC basketball’s locker room at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday following the Tar Heels’ season-ending loss to Alabama in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
One victory away from 30 on the season and the chance to play for a Final Four berth. UNC (29-8) had the lead with 90 seconds left and Alabama (24-11) had it with 0.9 seconds left, gearing up to celebrate its Elite Eight berth.
“I mean, I'm definitely hurt. I think we all are … a little shocked,” said Armando Bacot, who played his 169th and final game as a Tar Heel.
“. … And it's tough losing. It's not easy losing, especially as talented as a team we are. We felt we had the chance to win the national championship this year.”
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It was a defeat that will likely sting and haunt the Tar Heels for some time, because it was a defeat in which they didn’t bring their best. Following a 54-point first half, UNC missed 15 of its first 17 shots in the second half and things didn't get better.
A missed dunk by Bacot, followed by a pause in which he briefly stood to the side with his hands on his head, and an uncharacteristically off night for All-American guard RJ Davis seemed to be signs that it might not go UNC’s way.
“I've talked all season about the little details that make big things happen, not just necessarily shots – rebounds, free throws, loose balls,” UNC head coach Hubert Davis said. “At the end of the day, they made, down the stretch, more plays than us. Unfortunately, we came out on the short end.”
From an ACC regular-season championship and a No. 1 seed in March Madness to the abrupt ending of a journey that seemed destined to end in Phoenix as one of the teams competing for a national title.
“Best team I've ever played on,” Bacot said. “The amount of fun we had and the love we have for each other, I mean, it was amazing. It's obviously tough that we lost, because we played so hard and we cared about each other so much, and we loved each other so much.”
Bu instead of a trip to Arizona, UNC is left to think about what could have been and what’s next. It’s the end for Bacot. It could be the end for Davis, who was noncommittal on whether he would be back for a fifth year.
Either way, it’s the end for a duo that stuck with the Tar Heels. A duo that played through a pandemic before a magical ride to the Final Four. A duo that vowed to get UNC back on track after the disappointment of the 2022-23 season.
“It was rocky, but in a good way,” Bacot said. “Just the fun-ness I brought to Carolina was different. … I think it would be tough to talk about Carolina without bringing up me and RJ, and the things we’ve done.”
Bacot and Davis will be forever linked by their connection and commitment to UNC, where they experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Thursday just happened to be one of the lows, a season-ending stunner that is all too familiar every year for every team but one in March Madness.
“I feel like me and Mando have a lot of love for this place. We didn’t want things to end how they did last year,” RJ Davis said.
“We wanted to come back and restore success in this program. It wasn’t just me and him, it was a whole collective, group thing. This sucks, because of how much we believed in each other and felt like we could’ve done a lot of great things.”
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached atrbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.