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"He told me to change them and it worked out," Love joked.
Whether the switch to Carolina blue sneakers was truly the
stimulus for Love's monster second half will matter little to
Tar Heels fans. Either way, their team advances deeper in the
NCAA Tournament.
Love exploded for 27 of his career-high 30 points in the second
half and No. 8 North Carolina downed No. 4 UCLA 73-66 in an East
Region Sweet 16 game.
Love hit both the game-tying and go-ahead 3-pointers during the
final 100 seconds to deliver North Carolina (27-9) another NCAA
Tournament win in Hubert Davis' first year as head coach. The
Tar Heels will face Cinderella No. 15 seed Saint Peter's on
Sunday in the Elite Eight.
Armando Bacot accounted for 14 points and 15 rebounds and Brady
Manek added 13 points and eight boards as North Carolina
outrebounded UCLA 43-34.
Love made six of the first eight shots he took in the second
half, at one point scoring 12 straight North Carolina points.
His fastbreak layup and 3-pointer knotted the game at 56 with
7:48 to go.
Manek drained a trey from the left wing to give the Tar Heels a
61-60 lead with 4:23 left, but Jules Bernard responded with a
UCLA basket 34 seconds later.
With North Carolina facing a 64-61 deficit, Love missed a
3-pointer but got a second chance when Bacot dove out of bounds
for the offensive rebound. He flung it out to Love, who knocked
down the game-tying triple with 1:40 to go.
"That changed the game," UCLA coach Mick Cronin said. "We get
that rebound, it's a different (game). But you never know what
happens, but obviously that's going to keep me up at night."
The Tar Heels then got a defensive rebound on Jaime Jaquez Jr.'s
miss, and Love created space for himself to hit the go-ahead
trey from the top of the key with 1:03 left.
A Bacot tip-in with 15 seconds left made the margin five and
sealed the win.
"None of us wanted to go home and we knew it was a great
opportunity ahead of us," Bacot said. "I was just going all out
just trying to affect the game in as many ways as possible."
Bernard finished with 16 points to lead UCLA (27-8), which was
aiming for its second straight Final Four trip. Tyger Campbell
scored 15 points and dished six assists, Johnny Juzang had 14
points and Jaquez added 10.
Manek scored five to power North Carolina to a quick 10-5 lead
before the Bruins took over. Bernard's 3-pointer sent UCLA on an
extended 17-4 run. The Bruins made 11 of their first 19 shots
from the field and twice led by eight points.
Manek and RJ Davis sank consecutive 3-pointers to stem the tide
for the Tar Heels, cutting their deficit to 24-22.
Jaquez, playing on a sprained ankle, made a jumper with 61
seconds left to give UCLA a 31-28 lead entering the break.
There were 10 lead changes and two ties in the first 10 minutes
of the second half alone. The back-and-forth included a 7-0
sprint from North Carolina fueled by five points from RJ Davis,
who finished the night with 12 points and seven rebounds.
That was when Love really got going.
"My teammates just are wonderful and our coaching staff is the
best in the country," Love said, "so they put us in position to
win, and that's what we did."
--Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
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