Crystal Wise/Fort Worth Magazine
North Carolina's Armando Bacot, left, challenges a shot from Baylor's Jeremy Sochan on Saturday.
No one since Maj. Gen. Ripley Arnold put stakes in the ground and claimed ownership of a place in these parts quite like North Carolina’s basketball team this weekend.
The No. 8-seed Tar Heels pulled out a stick and dominated a full 40 minutes against No. 9 Marquette on Thursday and the first 30 minutes against NCAA Tournament defending champion Baylor, the No. 1 seed, on Saturday in the second round.
And then, whether Baylor’s power of prayer or a press -- or both -- we had a scrap on our hands unseen since early 20th century Hell’s Half Acre at 1:30 in the morning. Fort Worth is known as the place where the east peters out, and North Carolina of the eastern seaboard looked like it might fit the definition.
Baylor, enjoying a chronic vigor, managed to come back from 25 points down with 10 minutes to go to force overtime before it was the one who ultimately petered out, finally succumbing to North Carolina 93-86 at Dickies Arena.
Fort Worth, hosting the NCAA Tournament for the first time, got a full mouthful taste of the madness synonymous with the NCAA’s basketball festival each March.
“Baylor is defending champions. They were a No. 1 seed, and they are absolutely unbelievable,” said North Carolina coach Hubert Davis afterward. “And you just had two teams that were fighting and scratching and kicking and clawing on every pass, every rebound, every cut, every shot, every free throw. And when that happens, at times, physicality happens.”
Baylor dug a hole deeper than the Palo Duro Canyon in the first half with eight turnovers that North Carolina turned into 15 points. North Carolina led by 13 after the first 20 minutes and kept the pedal to the floor in increasing its lead to 25 with 10 minutes left in the game riding the broad shoulders of Brady Manek, who obviously felt very comfortable in Fort Worth.
He’s no stranger here, having played at Oklahoma before transferring east. There might be an NIL opportunity for whichever hotel Manek stayed in. He was as good as any performer in Fort Worth this week and had 26 points through the first 30 minutes of Saturday's game.
And then the worm turned. Manek was ejected for a Flagrant 2 for an elbow striking an opponent. Those can be intentional in basketball. This one appeared anything but.
Baylor outscored North Carolina 38-13 in the last 10 minutes.
A Bears victory would have been historic.
“Never underestimate the heart of a champion,” said Baylor coach Scott Drew. “I thought our guys really displayed that, having a chance to have the largest comeback in NCAA history in the last 10 minutes. Really proud of their effort and just how they carried themselves all year long. 15 and zero, face a bunch of injuries, adversity. We could have gone away, end up win in conference.
“You get down 25, it's easy to fold. These guys don't. Give North Carolina a lot of credit. They got a lot of great players and a great program.”
Added Drew: His team likely ran out of gas expending all its energy merely trying to get back in the game.
The Tar Heels, a college basketball blue blood if there ever was one, is going back to the Sweet 16 in its 52nd appearance in the tournament, second most all-time to Kentucky's 59. North Carolina is the only team to play in the Final Four in each of the last eight decades.
North Carolina heads to Philadelphia for the East Regional semifinals to play UCLA or St. Mary’s.
In the second game, No. 1 Kansas outlasted Creighton 79-72 in a Midwest region second-round game, a result pleasing to Greg Tice, who drove down from Wichita, Kansas. Kansas heads to Chicago for the Sweet 16.
It was a good weekend for Fort Worth and Dickies Arena, which hosted near capacity crowds for the Round-of-64 games Thursday and Round-of-32 games on Saturday.
Fort Worth and Dickies Arena received high grades from Tice and others as a tournament destination.
“We love [the city]. We went to the Kimbell Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Fay Jones chapel,” said Tice, speaking for his wife who joined him on the trip and of the Marty Leonard Chapel, which was designed by Fay Jones. “I’m an architect, so I like that stuff.
“It’s been a great weekend.”
