UNC Basketball: Armando Bacot reaches career milestone

Armando Bacot’s junior year with the UNC basketball program has been an impressive one thus far and on Saturday, the forward reached a career milestone in Saturday’s matchup with NC State.

In the second half of Saturday’s home game, Bacot became the 79th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark for their careers. Bacot did so by splitting a pair of free throws in the second half during the blowout as the Dean Dome was electric for the game.

The 6-foot-10, 240-pound forward out of Richmond, Virginia committed to North Carolina as a five-star recruit in the 2018 class. After a bit of a slow freshman season, Bacot has improved in the previous two years and is having a career year here in the 2021-22 season. He’s averaging 16.3 points, 12.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game for the Tar Heels and he’s among the best in the country in terms of double-doubles.

Bacot’s play has put him in a spot to make a run for the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year award here down the stretch with just over a month to go this season.

With Bacot’s emergence, UNC has a legit option in the post which should help them here the rest of the way. If this UNC team wants to go far in March, Bacot is going to be the center piece to that success.

Next up on the scoring list for Bacot is Tommy LaGarde at 1,007 points and then Bob Paxton at 1,010.  Last season, Bacot’s teammate Garrison Brooks reached the milestone in the opening game of the Maui Invitational. Prior to that, Joel Berry also reached that mark in his career.

For more on Bacot and the UNC Basketball program, please make sure to check back with Keeping it Heel.