North Carolina star center Armando Bacot updates injury status following 103-101 loss to Alabama

North Carolina star center Armando Bacot was surprisingly absent late in the final two overtimes of the Tar Heels’ four-overtime loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide on Sunday night in the Phil Knight Invitational. The ‘Heels lost 103-101 in a marathon of a game, but Bacot was nowhere to be found on the floor when his team needed him late. Following the loss, Bacot reported that he felt a “sharp pain” in his right ankle, according to Ross Martin of InsideCarolina.com. He was hobbling when he was doing post-game interviews on Sunday night. The star center said he will try his hardest to play on Wednesday against the Indiana Hoosiers. We’ll have to see how the ankle responds in the next few days.

Armando Bacot has been a double-double machine

Bacot recorded yet another double-double on Sunday night in the losing effort, pumping in 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, before exiting the game with the injury. The performance gave Bacot the 52nd double-double of his storied Tar Heel career thus far–ranking him second for double-doubles in UNC basketball history.

He was previously tied with Antawn Jamison with 51 double-doubles for his career, before Sunday night. Bacot did not play in either the third or fourth overtime periods.

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He’s been a double-double machine throughout his prolific career for the Tar Heels. Bacot ended up playing an instrumental role in guiding his team on a remarkable Final Four run during the 2021-2022 college basketball season. During that NCAA Tournament run, he became the only player in NCAA Tournament history to record a double-double in all six games of a single tournament.

Bacot averaged 16.3 points per game on 56.9% shooting during his junior campaign. He finished third in the NCAA in rebounding as well with 13.1 boards per game.

On3’s Sam Gillenwater also contributed to this article.