Reactions to North Carolina's dominant NCAA Tournament start over San Diego State

Coming into the 2025 NCAA Tournament, there was plenty of talk concerning the final teams who got into the field. One of the Last 4 In was North Carolina, which had decent metrics but had lost to almost every good team they played, including getting swept by Duke, with the last game coming without Cooper Flagg in the ACC Tournament.

After getting into the field with just one Quad 1 victory, the Heels had to play on Tuesday night against San Diego State, one of the most consistent defensive units in all of College Basketball. The big matchup was wondering how the Heels would do against the Aztec defenders.

At one point, UNC was up just 13-11 in a game that seemed to go as expected. Then, out of nowhere, the Tar Heels went on a 22-3 run to blow the game wide open. The Aztecs’ defense was nowhere to be found, as they surrendered a season-high 47 points in the first half and allowed North Carolina to shoot 61% from the field and 7/9 from three-point range in a 47-23 deficit after just 20 minutes.

RJ Davis, an All-ACC guard and former Conference Player of the Year, had 11 points to lead all scorers. Seth Trimble had 10 off the bench, with the duo nearly outscoring San Diego State by themselves. The Aztecs shot just 27% from the field and the key guard duo of Miles Byrd and Nick Boyd combined for just six points on 2/13 shooting.

There are still 20 minutes left in the game, but many reactions include looking ahead to what else UNC can do in the NCAA Tournament. We’ve seen 11 seeds make runs before, including NC State from just a year ago. Assuming the Heels hold on, they’ll take on the Ole Miss Rebels in the Round of 64. UNC might have a run in them based on how they look right now.