North Carolina claimed at least a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title with a 84-51 win against Notre Dame on Tuesday night in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The No. 7 Tar Heels (24-6, 16-3 ACC) remain a game ahead of second-place Duke heading into the regular-season finale on Saturday against the No. 9 Blue Devils in Durham, N.C.
North Carolina beat Duke 93-84 in the first meeting on Feb. 3.
ACC scoring leader RJ Davis had 22 points and five assists in his final home game, Armando Bacot and Cormac Ryan scored 14 points each and Harrison Ingram finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds for North Carolina, which has won five in a row.
Tae Davis scored 11 points as the lone player in double figures for Notre Dame (12-18, 7-12). Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry contributed nine points apiece for the Fighting Irish, who had won five of six.
In the lone regular-season matchup between North Carolina and Notre Dame this season, the Tar Heels never trailed, pulling away in the final 10 minutes of the first half to take a 41-25 lead into the break.
Burton made a layup to cut Notre Dame’s deficit to 18-16 with 9:41 left in the half, but he missed a 3-pointer 38 seconds later that would have given the Fighting Irish a lead.
RJ Davis then nailed a trey to spark an 8-0 surge and the Tar Heels took their first double-digit lead at 26-16 with 7:19 remaining.
Tae Davis ended the run with a layup, but that was as close as Notre Dame would get the rest of the way.
North Carolina extended its lead to as much as 17 points before taking the 16-point edge into the break.
The Tar Heels kept rolling to start the second half, scoring the first 16 points to extend the lead to 57-25. The Fighting Irish didn’t get closer than 20 the rest of the way.
Notre Dame shot 30.5 percent from the field, while North Carolina made 45.1 percent of its attempts from the floor.
–Field Level Media