North Carolina cruises past San Diego State in First Four - ESPN

DAYTON, Ohio — From the moment North Carolina lost to Duke in Friday's ACC tournament semifinal, anxiety began to build, just as it would for any NCAA tournament bubble team.

Would the Tar Heels make the field or fall short, as many bracketologists had predicted?

«From Friday night after Duke to Sunday around 6 o'clock, we just had no idea,» UNC guard Seth Trimble said.

The answer came Sunday. North Carolina, despite a 1-12 record against Quadrant 1 opponents, was in the tournament, the last team to get a berth. The Heels were an unpopular selection, and the criticism around their inclusion reached some of the players.

But the two days that followed the selections carried different emotions than the two days that preceded them.

«As soon as we saw Sunday evening that we were the 11th seed in Dayton, we knew it was go time,» Trimble said. «So, we dropped it right away. We were able to drop our nerves and jitters and able to play a good game as a team.»

North Carolina didn't merely play a good game but a historic and dominant one, crushing San Diego State 95-68 at UD Arena. The Heels advanced in the South Region, where they will face No. 6 seed Ole Miss on Friday afternoon in Milwaukee.

They left nothing to chance, pulling away with an early 20-2 run and more than doubling the Aztecs' point total at halftime (47-23). North Carolina hit 14 3-pointers, its most in an NCAA tournament game since the 3-point line became official in 1986-87.

Senior guard RJ Davis became the first Heels player to go 6-of-6 on 3-pointers in an NCAA tournament game, surpassing the record of 5-for-5 set by former UNC star and current coach Hubert Davis against Eastern Michigan in 1991. Sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau's 12 assists tied Davis and Kenny