By JEFF WALLNER Associated Press
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — RJ Davis and his North Carolina teammates certainly looked as though they belonged in the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday night.
Davis scored 26 points and shot 6 of 6 from 3-point range to help the Tar Heels silence some skeptics with a dominant 95-68 victory over San Diego State in their First Four matchup.
UNC was a controversial NCAA selection on Sunday, but the Tar Heels played like a team with something to prove.
“We know we deserved to be here,” junior guard Seth Trimble said.
North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said his players were simply focused on the task at hand.
“I don’t think it was a weight on us to try to get into the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “My communication with them is to focus on us. It’s not the noise on the outside in terms of comments and critics. Focusing on our preparation, our practice and our play.”
Some hot shooting from long range didn’t hurt.
RJ Davis’ six 3-pointers tied Caleb Love’s program record for an NCAA Tournament game. Love had six against UCLA in 2022.
Hubert Davis went 5 for 5 from deep against Eastern Michigan in 1991.
“As a head coach, I don’t know what it looks like to exist without him on the sideline and on the floor, and I don’t want to think about it,” Hubert Davis said about RJ Davis.
The 14 made 3-pointers were the most for North Carolina in an NCAA Tournament game. UNC drained 13 against Marquette in 2022.
“I know that we hit a record number of 3s here, but made shots come and go,” Hubert Davis said. “The thing I was most proud of is we were getting steals and deflections, and I thought our defense was real good.”
Trimble had 16 points for the Tar Heels in a matchup of No. 11 seeds. They advanced to play No. 6 seed Mississippi in a South Region game Friday in Milwaukee.
Nick Boyd and Wayne McKinney III each scored 12 for the Aztecs (21-10).
North Carolina shot 61% in the first half and went 7 of 9 from 3-point range. RJ Davis’ long 3 just before the halftime buzzer gave the Tar Heels their largest lead to that point, 47-23.
“I think we did a good job of sticking to our game plan and playing Carolina basketball,” he said. “We got out in transition, we shared the ball.”
North Carolina (23-13) seemed a long shot to make the tournament with a 1-12 record in Quadrant 1 games, but was chosen Sunday thanks to a strong nonconference schedule and other metrics.
The Tar Heels were out to show the world they belonged, and San Diego State took the brunt of it.
“Obviously, we wish we’d have given them more of a game,” Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said. “We hang our hat on our defense, and we couldn’t get stops. We knew we had to play in the 70s to have a chance, and they were up in the 90s.”
Unstoppable
San Diego State led the nation in field goal percentage defense, but had no answer for the Tar Heels. It was the most points the Aztecs allowed all season. The previous high was 80 in a loss to then-No. 3 Gonzaga on Nov. 18.
North Carolina shot 52.6% from the field, and 58.3% from 3-point range.
“We know who we are on the offensive end,” Trimble said. “We know what we’re capable of. This doesn’t surprise me, what we did tonight. It’s what I expect every single night.”
Extra work
Despite not knowing whether they were in or out, the Tar Heels practiced on Sunday, hours before the tournament selection show, and prepared to play.
“Yeah, we practiced on Sunday and then when we got here, and because of flight delays, this was the only practice that we had,” Hubert Davis said. “But it was a really good 40-minute practice. Look, we’ve had 98 practices and 35 games. We knew what we needed to do.”