Column: In UNC's ACC championship loss, the hungrier team won

WASHINGTON - Saturday had all the elements of a locker room following a loss. Hushed voices. Little dialogue. Players with their heads buried in their phones, at least, if they hadn’t hit the showers already. 

That was UNC. Now enter the N.C. State locker.

Sitting in front of a plastic tarp (presumably to protect the locker room’s wood paneling from popped champagne, or whatever non-alcoholic option there is for collegiate players), N.C. State’s Mohamed Diarra and Ben Middlebrooks could only shake their goggled heads. Not only had they beat rival UNC, an 84-76 win to claim an ACC championship, but they were now part of history. Something that extends further than their lifetimes.

The last time UNC won the ACC championship, in 2016, most of the Tar Heels were in middle or high school. But for the Wolfpack? N.C. State’s last title came in 1987, when these players were still over a decade away from conception.

If North Carolina was, in Armando Bacot’s words, “desperate” to win the ACC tournament, then N.C. State was starving. On Saturday, the Wolfpack was the hungrier team — literally, in the case of Diarra, who was fasting for Ramadan. It was a desire only a team that’s faced a 37-year championship drought could possibly know.

“We’ve been getting crushed — when I say we, I mean N.C. State — by not delivering any championship in 37 years,” N.C. State head coach Kevin Keatts said. “Well, they can’t say that now, because we got one tonight.”

Junior wing Harrison Ingram, reflecting on the loss in UNC’s locker room, looked down at the floor. His palms rubbed his knees.

Arguably North Carolina’s most loquacious player was now lost for words — lost for reasons — to explain the defeat.

“I’m an energy guy; I didn’t bring energy out,” Ingram said. “They played harder than us. I don’t know, I feel like a lot of times, we will make mistakes defensively, but because we played so hard, because we were so locked in together, that makes up for it. But today, I don’t know.”

On Friday, Bacot talked about making every game a street fight. He said with the addition of Ingram and graduate guard Cormac Ryan, “it’s been night and day just how physical we are as a team.”

“We’re going out there and looking for a fight."

If Saturday was a bout, N.C. State certainly punched first. The Wolfpack led by 10 points after six minutes of play, with ACC tournament MVP DJ Burns Jr. doing most of the work. Burns finished with 20 points and seven assists, battling in the post against Bacot and taking advantage of double teams to kick out to open teammates for triples.

UNC head coach Hubert Davis spoke about not wanting to give Burns a “steady diet” in terms of doubling him versus going one-on-one. But no matter the Tar Heels’ constantly-shifting defensive strategy, Burns feasted.

“All season, early on, I thought I did a good job,” Bacot said. ”I think, going into this game, I allowed him to catch the ball where he wanted to."

It wasn’t easy for Burns, who joked after the game, “my legs hurt right now.” But he did so with an ACC Championship hat on and a piece of net hanging from his goggles. 

The other DJ — N.C. State graduate guard DJ Horne — also terrorized the Tar Heels. UNC managed to take him out of the equation, as he fouled out in the final minutes, but not before finishing with a team-high 29 points.  He, alongside the rest of the Wolfpack, seemingly couldn’t miss. N.C. State shot 55 percent from the field. Burns, late in the first half, even made the first 3-pointer of his whole college career.

Sitting on the bench, UNC point guard Elliot Cadeau couldn’t believe it. He was incredulous, and understandably so. For how could he, a first-year at a seven-time national champion program, possibly comprehend the historic longing of his opponent?

While the Tar Heels were looking to bolster their resume for a one seed in the NCAA tournament, the Wolfpack was searching — clawing — for a ticket into the Big Dance. UNC wanted to win. N.C. State had to.

One team competed for its 19^th ACC championship. The other? Its first in nearly four decades. Davis was recently recognized as ACC Coach of the Year. And Keatts? He was fighting to keep his job.

“They were more desperate,” Ingram said. “And they played harder than us from the start to the finish.”

The Wolfpack was competing for something bigger than just them. Something monumental. Generational. And as a result, N.C. State poured everything out, emptying the tank to pull off five wins in five days — for the first time, and according to Keatts, likely the last time in ACC history.

“It’s a great story,” Keatts said. “It’ll be a great story for a long time. I have no idea if anybody will ever win five days in a row to win a championship [again].”

So, Tar Heel nation, put your ego aside and enjoy Saturday for what it was. A miracle. A long shot. All the good storylines.

UNC will still gather for Selection Sunday. The Tar Heels are all but guaranteed a one seed. Everything will be OK. If it’s any consolation, the last North Carolina national championship team to also win the conference tournament was the 1982 squad.  That was the Michael Jordan game-winner. The next year, N.C. State claimed the NCAA title in one of the most improbable championships in college basketball history.

Even when the Tar Heels and Wolfpack were equals, they really weren't. UNC has won four national titles since the '80s. N.C. State has had to wait over three decades to win a title, period.

At least for now, enjoy the Cinderella story, albeit if North Carolina was the evil stepsister.

@shelbymswanson

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com