March 19 (UPI) — Eighth-seeded North Carolina defeated defending champion Baylor 93-86 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, pulling off a striking overtime upset even after blowing a 25-point lead in the final minutes of the game.
With the victory, the Tar Heels (26-9) are headed to Philadelphia and the Sweet 16 with first-year coach Hubert Davis.
UNC’s RJ Davis scored a career-high 30 points along with six assists and five rebounds, blowing past his previous combined total of nine points in his last two NCAA tournament games.
Brady Manek scored a season-high 26 points but was ejected in the second half over a foul just as UNC established its 25-point lead.
Baylor (27-7) executed a comeback to tie it, sending the game into overtime.
Baylor’s Adam Flagler scored 27 points, James Akinjo had 20 points and Jeremy Sochan clocked 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The Baylor Bears earned the national title after defeating Gonzaga 86-70 in last year’s championship game. Since 2017, there hasn’t been a defending national champion to make it out of the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend, ESPN reports.
The outcome upended a lot of brackets, according to a tweet from NCAA March Madness. More than three-quarters of NCAA tournament brackets predicted that Baylor was headed to the Sweet 16. Just 15.66% of brackets had picked UNC for the third round.
UNC will face off next week against UCLA or Saint Mary’s, depending on the outcome of Saturday evening’s matchup in Portland.
