North Carolina's season ended with a splat Sunday, as Texas A&M blew out the Tar Heels, 86-65, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Those A&M letters could have stood for "Ambushed" and "Manhandled," because that's what the underdog Aggies did to North Carolina before what was basically a home crowd for the Tar Heels in Charlotte's Spectrum Center.
Said UNC coach Roy Williams of Texas A&M's inside dominance: "They blocked 70,000 shots."
It was actually only eight, but it felt like more on a day when UNC blocked zero shots of its own and kept getting stoned in the paint.
Said Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy: "We rattled their confidence a little bit."
A little bit? UNC had won 30 NCAA Tournament games in a row in the state of North Carolina, not losing one since 1979. But the Tar Heels not only were beaten Sunday, they were absolutely embarrassed.
UNC, which won the national title in 2017 and made the national final in 2016, this time lost in the round of 32.
Texas A&M was longer, stronger, more athletic, more graceful, more motivated and better coached. Texas A&M (22-12) had lost four of its last seven games entering the NCAA Tournament, but the Aggies crushed UNC inside and also caught the Tar Heels on a day when nobody in baby blue could shoot straight. If John Fox had been there, the former Carolina Panthers coach would have said the Tar Heels picked a bad day to have a bad day.
