Quick Hitters - North Carolina vs. Marquette (NCAA Tournament - 1st Round)

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 95-63 win over Marquette on Thursday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Mar 18, 2022 12:20 AM EDT

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 95-63 win over Marquette on Thursday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

We all saw this coming, right? In blitzing Marquette, North Carolina set an NCAA Tournament record for largest margin of victory in an 8 vs. 9 matchup. The Tar Heels finally broke their Shaka Smart curse; they were 0-3 against him in his Texas tenure.
The 28-point halftime lead was the 2^nd largest NCAA Tournament halftime lead in Carolina history, behind only the 29-point lead against Rhode Island in the second round in 1993.
The victory means that Hubert Davis picks up an NCAA Tournament victory in his very first attempt as a head coach.
One of the big questions coming into the game: Would Carolina be tough enough to match Marquette’s tough-guy act? The answer was a resounding yes. We found that “yes” both on the scoreboard and in how the Tar Heels reacted when physically pushed around. There was no backing down. Hubert Davis was visibly elated to see his team’s response.
One of the important storylines was how Carolina would deal with Marquette’s leading scorer and matchup problem Justin Lewis. Coming into the game, the redshirt freshman is averaging 17.1 points and 7.9 rebounds. Here’s how Carolina handled it (the way they handle every tough situation): They called Leaky Black’s number. The Leaky Lockdown was in full effect on Thursday afternoon. Lewis went scoreless in the first half and eventually hit two meaningless threes in the second to finish with six points, a season low. A reminder that Leaky Black was not selected as the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
A game after struggling with his shot against Virginia Tech, Brady Manek went off. He poured in a season-high 28 points, including five threes, while sporting a nice shiner on his right eye. He also added 11 rebounds, one of two Tar Heels to record a double-double. You can imagine who recorded the other.
With 17 points and 10 rebounds, Armando Bacot recorded his 26^th double-double this season, furthering his Carolina single-season record. Bacot also has 44 in his career, which ties him with Mitch Kupchak for fifth in UNC history.
With those 10 rebounds, Armando Bacot set the Carolina single-season rebounding record. He now has 422, besting Brice Johnson’s 416 in the 2015-16 season.
In a weird stretch of the first half, Marquette was whistled for three technical fouls over the course of 77 seconds.
Those technical fouls resulted in five UNC free throws, of which they missed three. Other than that the Tar Heels were 12-12 from the line.
One of the stories of the first half was Carolina’s three-point shooting. The Heels hit 10 threes in the first 20 minutes, which ties with the NC State game in Chapel Hill for most in a first half this season. Of those 10, Caleb Love nailed six, which ties a career high and also matches the most made in an NCAA Tournament game by a Tar Heel.
The 13 total made three pointers is the most ever by a Carolina team in an NCAA Tournament game.
On paper, Carolina held a large rebounding advantage. And that’s exactly how the game script played out. The Tar Heels wound up with a season-high 52 rebounds while Marquette grabbed 37. Those 52 rebounds were spread around nicely – seven different Tar Heels had at least three rebounds.
RJ Davis did his very best Kendall Marshall impression, dishing out 12 (TWELVE!) assists, while committing just one turnover. That is the most assists for a Tar Heel in a game this season and trails only Kendall Marshall’s 14 for most by a Carolina player in an NCAA Tournament game.
Carolina assisted on an absurd 29 of their 34 made baskets, which translates to 85.3%. For reference, the previous high this season was 72.4%, but every other game has been in the 60s or below.
Puff Johnson sneakily joined Manek, Love, and Bacot in scoring double-digits. The sophomore had 11 points off the bench.
If there’s any consistency I’ve found in Coach Davis’ substitution patterns, is that he’s consistently inconsistent. With Roy Williams, you could almost set your watch to what subs would come in and when. Today, Dontrez Styles was the first sub in the game, which I’m guessing precisely nobody saw coming. Styles responded well with six points and six rebounds, including a couple highlight-reel dunks.
A added benefit of the mammoth margin of victory is that no Tar Heel played more than 34 minutes. Now they’ll need to take time to rest and recuperate before Saturday’s showdown with top-seeded Baylor.
Roy Williams is such a gracious man. In an arena packed with both UNC and Kansas fans, there was a never-ending line of people waiting to talk to him or take a picture. He just smiled and greeted every one of them like they were his best friend.

Box Score

Postgame press conference (Hubert Davis, Armando Bacot, Caleb Love, Brady Manek)

Leaky Black Postgame

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament against Baylor on Saturday, March 19. Tip will be at 12:10pm ET on CBS.