Lucas: March 27 Basketball Notebook

By Adam Lucas

For the second straight NCAA Tournament game, one of the biggest pregame storylines revolves around RJ Davis facing off against another All-America caliber opponent. On Saturday, it was Michigan State's Tyson Walker. Tomorrow night, it's Alabama's Mark Sears, who is adept both at putting the ball in the basket from the field and getting to the free throw line.

Sears was terrific in last year's four-overtime game in Portland, shooting 8-for-13 from the field, including seven three-pointers, while playing a whopping 55 minutes. He had five assists but also committed five turnovers in that game. "That game was a war," he recalled Wednesday. "Four overtimes. After the first two overtimes I was like, 'Man, when is this thing going to end?'"

"I have a lot of respect for his game and the way he orchestrates the offense," RJ Davis said. "He's able to get to his spots. He does a good job of setting his man up and using ball screens. He's the head of the snake. They put in a lot of actions for him to be great and for him to find shots for himself and for his teammates."

Notes: The biggest Alabama storyline concerns the availability of Crimson Tide sharpshooter Latrell Wrightsell, who suffered a head injury early in the round of 32 against Grand Canyon University. Tide head coach Nate Oats announced immediately after that game that Wrightsell would be available against Carolina. On Wednesday, however, Oats said Wrightsell is "day to day" and is being reevaluated. He also suggested that Wrightsell, who suffered another head injury earlier this season, could be cleared to play but only a limited number of minutes. His status is important for the Tide because he is one of the best three-point shooters in the country on a team that shoots an extremely high number of three-pointers. According to Ken Pomeroy, Alabama's 3PA/FGA ratio ranks in the top 15 nationally, and Wrightsell is a 44.3 percent shooter from beyond the arc…

Last year's four-overtime loss in Portland against Alabama isn't the only history between the players and coaches involved in this game. Oats grimaced Wednesday when he recounted Cormac Ryan's performance for Notre Dame against Alabama in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Ryan hit seven of his nine three-point attempts as the 11^th seeded Irish upended the sixth seeded Crimson Tide. "He killed us," Oats said Wednesday, before indicating he also tried to recruit Ryan in the transfer portal. And Carolina's head coach has a little Alabama history of his own—his final college victory as a player came against the Tide in the 1992 NCAA Tournament. Davis correctly recalled he went 2-for-17 in the previous game, a win over Miami (Ohio) in the first round. But on a 1992 squad that was heavily reliant on his offense, he scored a team-high 16 points in the second round…

Sports worlds collided on Tuesday afternoon when the Tar Heels arrived at the team hotel in Los Angeles. When the bus pulled up, it was greeted by dozens of fans standing behind barricades wearing Carolina blue and white jerseys. From afar, the scene made sense. Team send-offs and welcomes have been an important part of Tar Heel basketball in March ever since Roy Williams began emphasizing them.

But as the bus drew closer, the color of the Carolina blue jerseys wasn't quite correct…and they were striped…and they weren't Tar Heel jerseys. Instead, they were soccer jerseys. It turned out that the Argentinian national team was staying at the same hotel and had a 7:30 match against Costa Rica at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Players still enjoyed interacting with the soccer fans, and given the fun had by both groups, it's a safe guess there are some new Tar Heels in the Argentinian soccer world. Lionel Messi, in case you're wondering, isn't with the team due to injury, which means a missed opportunity for an epic Messi/Armando Bacot collaboration…A fun interview with Mitch Kupchak is part of this week's Carolina Insider podcast. In addition, there's an exclusive conversation with Hubert Davis in which he delves into a couple unique topics, including his gameday intensity.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

RJ Davis

Cormac Ryan

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