By Brian Murphy, WRAL

North Carolina Tar Heels	68
Wake Forest Demon Deacons	59
Final

With just days before the selection committee sets the field, North Carolina is either one of the last teams in the NCAA Tournament or one of the first teams out of the 68-team event.

The Tar Heels’ status seems to change daily with conference tournament results from across the nation pushing them up or down, in and out.

One thing is clear: UNC needs to keep winning.

The fifth-seeded Tar Heels played with that level of desperation Thursday against No. 4 Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, holding off the just-as-desperate Demon Deacons for a hotly contested 68-59 win.

“There’s a level of toughness here that has been developed over the last seven or eight months that we’ve been together, and we were in these type of situations earlier in the year and weren’t able to get stronger,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “We were able to do it today. As a coach, to be able to see these guys perform under pressure and do it together is one of the most amazing things that you can see as a coach.”

UNC plays Friday against top-seeded Duke, who is likely to be without star Cooper Flagg and standout defender Maliq Brown. It will be another chance for the Tar Heels to secure another resume-boosting win.

Senior RJ Davis’ 3-pointer with 2:43 remaining gave UNC a 61-57 lead. It was the first time either team led by more than two points since the 12:46 mark of the second half. Davis led the Tar Heels with 23 points and made 5-of-6 3-point attempts.

“They ran a play that they’ve been running since Dean Smith,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said of Davis’ late 3-pointer. “I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way; it’s just the Carolina way. He got open for a three, and he nailed it.”

Ven-Allen Lubin had 10 points and 13 rebounds for UNC. He had five points in the final 3:14, including back-to-back dunks.

“It was just electric, and making plays like that, just knowing that coach always emphasizes going to the offensive boards, getting us second-chance opportunities,” said Lubin, who played through foul trouble. “Just the way I wanted to attack the rim and give our team a chance to give us a win, it was very important that I just had to make those two dunks.”

Wake Forest is now 21-11 and was hoping to make a late push for the tournament. Hunter Sallis, an All-ACC first-team selection, led Wake Forest with 25 points. He played all 40 minutes.

The Tar Heels (22-12) do get to play on. And get a chance to improve the 1-11 mark against top competition that sullies their NCAA resume. UNC is 0-2 against Duke this season, including a loss in the regular-season finale in Chapel Hill.

“We want that competition,” Lubin said. “We want our revenge.”

North Carolina defeated No. 12 seed Notre Dame in Wednesday’s second round. Combined with other outcomes, it was enough to move the Tar Heels into the bracket in several projections, including ESPN’s. BracketMatrix, which aggregates more than 100 bracket projections, has UNC as the last team in as of Thursday afternoon.

But being on that line leaves UNC vulnerable to upsets in conference tournaments across the nation as other teams look to lock up their bids.

“My communication with them in regards to the NCAA Tournament has been zero,” Hubert Davis said. “What is real for us is our improvement as a team. What is real for us has been the opponent right in front of us.”

In a sign of how quickly things can change, ESPN bracket guru Joe Lunardi downplayed the Tar Heels’ chances on Wednesday.

“Short of every bubble team ahead of them losing early and there being no bid stealers, Carolina probably has to beat Duke to go to the tournament,” Lunardi said. “Although there’s an outside chance that beating Wake would be enough.”

He added: “They pass the talent test and the eye test. But we’re all getting tired of saying 1-11 Quad 1. But pick any other school in America, if Colorado State was 1-11 Quad 1, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

Source: wralsportsfan.com