UNC misses out on ACC tournament title game after tough loss to Florida State
North Carolina fell short of duplicating a second-half comeback against Florida State on Friday and lost 69-66 in their ACC tournament semifinal in the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Seminoles advanced to face Georgia Tech in the ACC championship game Saturday at 8:30 p.m. The Yellow Jackets moved into the title game after Virginia had a positive COVID-19 test and had to withdraw from the tournament.
“Whenever you play against a team as talented as Carolina, it’s a grind, and we were fortunate enough tonight to make a couple plays there toward the end that gave us a chance to win,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said.
The Tar Heels (18-10) trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half and were down 11 at halftime. But just like their rally from a 16-point deficit in their 78-70 win over FSU on Feb. 27 in Chapel Hill, they slowly came back and even briefly took the lead.
UNC guard Caleb Love made a 3-pointer in front of UNC coach Roy Williams to tie the game at 59. As he made the shot, he said something that got a nod of approval from Williams as he ran up the floor.
Sardaar Calhoun answered for the Seminoles with a 3 on the ensuing possession, but he put the Heels in position to re-take the lead after a Kerwin Walton floater. Calhoun fouled R.J. Davis in the body well after his 3-point attempt left his hands. Davis made all three free throws with 3:14 remaining to put the Heels up 64-62.
It was the last time UNC led. The Heels made just one basket in the closing three minutes of the game.
“Bottom line is their defense late in the game was much stronger than our offense was,” Williams said. “We did not get a good shot at all after R.J. made three free throws to put us up. We never got another good shot after that the whole time.”
Anthony Polite, a 44 percent shooter from 3-point range, made arguable the biggest shot of them all when he drilled his first 3-pointer of the game to give the Noles a 65-64 lead with 2:06 left.
In the final minute, Love took a wild shot, trying to scoop the ball under Scottie Barnes with the shot clock running out. He redeemed himself on the ensuing defensive possession when he stepped in front of M.J. Walker and took a charge.
But FSU made it hard for the Heels to get a clean shot offensively. Davis had a brief opening on a drive to the basket but as he got to the rim, it quickly closed up and he missed with 36 seconds left.
Armando Bacot, who had 12 points and six rebounds for the Heels, said the Noles were unique defensively because of their length, athleticism and depth. FSU held UNC to a season-low 33 percent shooting from the floor.
“They’re switching, they’re fronting the post, not letting us get into our sets, so it was a tough thing,” Bacot said. “It’s kind of a game of just playing freelance the whole time out there, trying to just go and score one-on-one because it was just hard to get any offense versus them.”
But they did get more free throws, and it plagued them late just as they did in the first half. Down three with 20 seconds left, Day’Ron Sharpe had a chance to pull UNC back within one. But the freshman forward, a 50 percent free throw shooter, missed both attempts.
Carolina will look back at the free throws it missed that could have helped it win the game. The Heels shot just 14 of 25 from the line.
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 7:42 PM with the headline "UNC misses out on ACC tournament title game after tough loss to Florida State."