UNC responds to critics with First Four rout of San Diego State

DAYTON, Ohio — RJ Davis connected on all six of his 3-point attempts and finished with a team-high 26 points to lead North Carolina to a 95-68 First Four rout of San Diego State on Tuesday.Jae’Lyn Withers added 10 points and 10 rebounds for North Carolina (23-13), which advances as the No. 11 seed to play No. 6 Ole Miss on Friday in a first round Midwest Region game in Milwaukee.Davis, who came out of the blowout with seven minutes left, hit his final trey of the game with 7:36 left, putting North Carolina up 82-42.The six triples from Davis matched North Carolina’s single-game NCAA Tournament record, set four times previously by Shammond Williams, Marcus Paige and twice by Caleb Love.Davis surpassed the Tar Heels’ record for best overall 3-point shooting effort in an NCAA Tournament game. Current North Carolina coach Hubert Davis went 5-for-5 in an East Region semifinal on March 22, 1991, in a 93-67 win over Eastern Michigan.Nick Boyd and Wayne McKinney III finished with 12 points apiece for San Diego State (21-10), which finished the season in disappointing fashion one year after reaching the Sweet 16 and two years after losing in the national final to Connecticut.San Diego State took its worst loss since a 30-point defeat in the Sweet 16 to eventual national champion UConn in March 2024.North Carolina was under heavy scrutiny as the final team selected by the NCAA Tournament committee because of its poor record against Quad 1 competition and the fact its athletic director was the chair of the selection committee.

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