Men's Basketball

North Carolina Dominant in Rebounding, Routs Florida State, 92-67, in ACC Tournament Quarterfinals

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Armando Bacot scored 14 points and grabbed 10 of his team's 48 rebounds as fourth-ranked North Carolina rolled into the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament semifinals with a 92-67 victory Thursday.

Bacot got the double-double with a rebound on his final play before being pulled midway through the second half, and unanimous ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis scored a game-high 18 points.

Winning their sixth in a row, the Tar Heels flexed their muscles on the boards, at one point grabbing four offensive rebounds on the same possession late in the first half. By halftime, the Seminoles had just six total rebounds.

A combination of rebounding domination and some timely shooting - as Florida State went ice cold from the floor - helped UNC (26-6, 18-3 ACC) pull away. Shooting for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the ACC's regular-season champions face Wake Forest or Pitt on Friday night with a spot in the final on the line.

No. 11 Duke could be there for a rematch from last week and a third meeting between the Tobacco Road rivals in the past two months. UNC has not reached an ACC Tournament final since 2018 and hasn't won it since 2016, when it was also in Washington, D.C.

Unlike the Blue Devils, FSU didn't pose much of a challenge to UNC, which also got 14 from Cormac Ryan, who went 3 of 4 from 3-point range fresh off his leading performance at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Primo Spears led ninth-seeded Florida State (17-16, 10-11) with 17 points. Spears did so in his old home arena after playing last season at Georgetown.

OF NOTE

  • UNC moves to 107-51 all-time in the ACC Tournament and will make its 54th trip to the semifinals on Friday. The Tar Heels boast a 35-18 mark in the 53 previous semifinal appearances.
  • The Tar Heels will meet either four-seed Pitt or five-seed at 7 p.m. on Friday in the semifinals with the game airing on ESPN. North Carolina extends its all-time series lead over Florida State, winning 56 of the 72 meetings and increasing its winning streak to five games over the Seminoles. The Tar Heels are now 6-3 in ACC Tournament meetings versus Florida State.
  • As the top seed in the ACC Tournament, North Carolina boasts an all-time record of 52-15. The Tar Heels are now 7-0 all-time against the No. 9 seeded teams in the ACC Tournament.
  • North Carolina’s Armando Bacot notched his 15th double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds on Thursday. It marked his sixth double-double in the ACC Tournament all time, tying him for third in conference history.
  • With his 83rd career double-double, Bacot is now one shy of tying Virginia’s Ralph Sampson for the second-most double-doubles in ACC history. Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan holds the all-time record with 87.
  • North Carolina's 16-point halftime lead marked just the seventh time in program history that the Tar Heels have led by 16-or-more points at the break during the ACC Tournament and just the third time in the 21st century.
  • The 25-point win was North Carolina’s largest margin of victory in the ACC Tournament since March 10, 2021, when the Tar Heels defeated Notre Dame by 42.
  • The Tar Heels recorded 46 points in the paint and 23 points off turnovers.
  • Florida State tallied just 22 rebounds, the fourth-lowest total in an ACC Tournament quarterfinal game.
  • The Tar Heels’ advantage of 26 in the rebounding category marked the fifth-highest total in an ACC Tournament game.