Wake Forest, UNC enter ACC matchup clinging to NCAA bubble

CHARLOTTE -- North Carolina and Wake Forest meet in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament quarterfinals with similar mindsets in terms of their overall postseason outlook.

Many projections suggest both teams need a victory Thursday afternoon to keep alive their NCAA Tournament hopes.

"Our eyes and our preparation is on what is real," Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis said. "And what is real is our preparation in regards to our play (Thursday) against a very good Wake Forest team."

Fifth-seeded North Carolina (21-12) cruised past 12th-seeded Notre Dame 76-56 in a second-round game on Wednesday. Fourth-seeded Wake Forest (21-10) received a double-bye into the quarterfinals. For these longtime ACC members, it's their first tournament meeting in 25 years.

The Tar Heels aren't complaining about the assignments on back-to-back days.

"That's the great thing about the tournament, to have these quick turnarounds and be able to play the next game," North Carolina guard RJ Davis said.

Wake Forest produced its highest regular-season finish since 2008-09. It's the first time the Demon Deacons received a double-bye into the quarterfinals since the ACC tournament instituted this format.

Now is the time to build on what has been achieved so far, according to coach Steve Forbes.

"You just have to play to who you are," he said. "If you try to do something else, you're just tricking yourself and it's going to be over. So we have to go down there, defend, rebound the ball and take care of it."

The Demon Deacons are bound to pay particular attention to North Carolina's Jae'Lyn Withers, who sank a career-high seven 3-pointers in the Notre Dame game. It was the first time Withers hit more than four.

Forbes said the Demon Deacons should have momentum going into the tournament after defeating visiting Georgia Tech 69-43 on Saturday in the regular-season finale.

Senior guard Hunter Sallis (18.0 ppg), a first-team all-ACC selection for the second year in a row, has led the Demon Deacons in scoring 16 times this season.

Forbes said the Demon Deacons must be intentional with everything they do in the tournament.

"We need to get the ball in the right people's hands, which we usually do pretty well, and we need to make open shots and not force things," Forbes said. "... We also need some energy off the bench with Parker (Friedrichsen), Omaha (Biliew) and Juke (Harris). It's too late to reinvent the wheel."

Cameron Hildreth, in his fourth season, will equal the Wake Forest record for games Thursday when he appears in his 131st contest.

The Demon Deacons won the lone regular-season matchup with the Tar Heels 67-66 on Jan. 21 at home. Hildreth had 20 points in that game while RJ Davis tallied 21 for the Tar Heels.

"I think one of the things is they're really good individual defenders," Hubert Davis said of the Demon Deacons. "They can guard the ball. ... They've got athleticism and length, so they make it tough to be able to get consistent good shots, high-percentage shots on the offensive end."

The North Carolina-Wake Forest winner meets the winner of the first quarterfinal between No. 1 Duke and Georgia Tech.

--Bob Sutton, Field Level Media