UNC basketball's Armando Bacot has historic game vs. NC State in win marred by scary injury

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina basketball continued its dominance against NC State in Chapel Hill with a 80-69 victory against the Wolfpack on Saturday.

Powered by a record-breaking performance from Armando Bacot, the Tar Heels (14-6, 6-3 ACC) pulled away in the second half to beat the Wolfpack (15-5, 5-4) for the 30th time in 37 meetings at the Smith Center.

Armando Bacot makes history

Senior forward Armando Bacot set a pair of program records against the Wolfpack.

The senior forward notched his 61st career double-double and became UNC's all-time rebounding leader with 23 points and 18 rebounds on Saturday.

Bacot, who broke a tie with Billy Cunningham for the double-double record, grabbed his 10th rebound with 15:53 left in the second half. He had 15 points and 10 rebounds at that point in the game.

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He grabbed his 17th rebound with just under seven minutes left to pass Tyler Hansbrough (1,219 rebounds) on the all-time list.

Bacot started the evening with seven points and nine rebounds in the first half. In the first 19 games, UNC’s double-double machine averaged 17.6 points and 11.2 rebounds.

RJ Davis carries Carolina

Despite shooting 32% in the first half, the Tar Heels carried a 34-33 lead into the locker room.

Junior guard RJ Davis carried Carolina with 16 points, making three of four shots and all eight of his free-throw attempts. Davis scored those points in a 9-minute stretch to help UNC rally from an early 20-12 deficit.

In the first five games of January, Davis made 16 of 28 shots (57%) from long range. He finished with 26 points, including a 14-for-14 performance at the line, on Saturday.

Caleb Love had 16 points to join Bacot and Davis in double figures.

Up next

The Tar Heels head to New York to face Syracuse (13-7, 6-3) on Tuesday (9 p.m., ESPN). Following its game against the Orange, UNC doesn’t play again until it welcomes Pitt (12-6, 5-2) to the Smith Center on Feb. 1 (7 p.m., ACC Network).

Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: UNC basketball led by Armando Bacot in win against NC State