North Carolina Hangs on to Upset No. 1 Seed Baylor in Overtime, Advance to Sweet 16
The eighth-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels upset the No. 1 Baylor Bears 93-86 in overtime in the second round of the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament on Saturday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
North Carolina blew a 25-point second-half lead, allowing Baylor to force overtime, but the Tar Heels avoided being on the wrong end of one of the greatest comebacks in NCAA tourney history by outscoring the Bears 13-6 in the extra session.
Baylor, which won the national championship last season, became the first of the four top seeds to lose in this year's tournament.
The Tar Heels rode a strong performance from guard RJ Davis, who paced the team with 30 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Brady Manek added 26 points and five boards.
UNC was the far more efficient team offensively, shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 44.0 percent from beyond the arc, compared to 34.6 percent from the floor and 24.3 percent from deep for Baylor.
In his first season as head coach after taking over for Roy Williams, Hubert Davis has the Tar Heels in the Sweet 16, marking the furthest they have advanced in the NCAA tournament since making it to the Sweet 16 in 2019.
Notable Stats
RJ Davis, G, UNC: 8/17 FG for 30 PTS, 6 AST, 5 REB
Brady Manek, F, UNC: 8/13 FG for 26 PTS, 5 REB
Armando Bacot, F, UNC: 4/10 FG for 15 PTS, 16 REB, 4 AST, 3 BLK
Adam Flagler, G, BAY: 10/25 FG for 27 PTS, 3 REB
James Akinjo, G, BAY: 6/20 FG for 20 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST, 3 STL
Jeremy Sochan, F, BAY: 4/14 FG for 15 PTS, 11 REB, 3 AST
Davis Dominates for Tar Heels
Davis picked the perfect time for one of his best performances of the season, as the sophomore point guard was red hot from the field.
After dishing out 12 assists in North Carolina's first-round win over Marquette, Davis took on a more active role as a shooter Saturday.
It was clear in the early going that he would be a problem for Baylor, as he scored the Tar Heels' first eight points and was a big part of a 9-0 UNC run after the Bears started the game with a 4-0 lead:
Davis' offensive excellence was a theme throughout the first half, especially from beyond the arc, as he made four of his six attempts from long range:
He even showed off his playmaking ability on a few occasions, including this slick feed to Armando Bacot:
With Baylor struggling to contain Davis, UNC Barstool and Adam Zagoria of Zags Blog chimed in regarding the talented guard's hot hand:
By the time the opening 20 minutes concluded, North Carolina was ahead by 13 points, thus placing the Bears on high upset alert.
John Fanta of Fox Sports marveled at how efficient UNC was from the field in the first half with Davis leading the way:
It was widely expected that the defending national champs would tighten things up in the second half, but that wasn't easy given Davis and the UNC offensive attack.
Even on the occasions when Baylor played solid defense, North Carolina made buckets, including this contested triple by Davis:
As good as Davis was, it wasn't a one-man show for UNC. Manek proved to be a handful as well and enjoyed some dominant stretches.
He showcased his versatility by scoring in transition in addition to knocking down shots from beyond the arc:
In fact, the only thing that could slow Manek in the second half was an ejection, as he was called for a flagrant-2 foul about midway through the half and ejected from the game.
That was a huge turning point, as Baylor took over during Manek's absence since UNC had essentially no one else to lean on besides Davis.
The Bears placed almost all of their defensive emphasis on Davis at that point, and the decision worked wonders, as they shockingly tied the game and forced overtime.
Ultimately, Baylor could not fully contain Davis in overtime, though, as he made perhaps the play of the game by extending the UNC lead from three to six with 1:18 remaining thanks to an acrobatic and-one:
To call the overtime bounce-back by Davis and the Tar Heels impressive would be an understatement, as they were run ragged over the final 10 minutes of regulation.
They somehow managed to forget the 25-point collapse, though, and pulled off the upset.
Baylor Shows Remarkable Grit in Near-Comeback
Most teams tend to fold when facing a 25-point deficit three-quarters of the way through a game, but there was no quit in the Bears.
Baylor seemed done until the momentum suddenly swung thanks to the ejection of Manek.
What followed was a 31-9 run that helped Baylor go from down 25 to down three back with less than two minutes remaining in regulation.
When Baylor was on a 20-4 run, former North Carolina head coach Roy Williams looked to be in a state of shock in the stands:
Williams hadn't seen anything yet, though, as the Bears cut into the lead even more, thanks to clutch shots like this triple from Matthew Mayer:
Just a couple of minutes later, guard James Akinjo made up for the poor shooting day he was having up to that point with an old-fashioned three-point play to pull the Bears to within three:
More Akinjo heroics followed after a pair of missed free throws from Bacot, as he completed another and-one to tie the game with 15.8 seconds left:
Despite everything that happened, UNC had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but a long three-point attempt by Davis missed:
It stands to reason that Baylor might have emptied the tank in coming back during regulation since it was constantly applying defensive pressure and racing down the court on offense.
The Bears didn't seem to have the same energy in overtime, and that came back to bite them, as UNC regrouped and avoided what would have been a historic collapse.
Even though Baylor lost and saw its title dreams end in the second round as a No. 1 seed, it did something special in Saturday's game.
What's Next
North Carolina advances to the Sweet 16 where it will face the winner of Saturday's second-round East Region game between No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Saint Mary's next week.
