After elbowing Baylor’s Jeremy Sochan in the face while boxing out in the paint, UNC’s Brady Manek was called for a flagrant-2 foul and ejected from the contest. The senior forward walked back to the locker room with 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field.

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Baylor stormed back after Manek’s exit, immediately rattling off a 9-0 run to cut down the deficit. Behind a tenacious full-court press that forced several Tar Heels turnovers, the Bears managed to come back from 25 down to tie the game at 80 before the end of regulation.

North Carolina didn’t fold, though, outscoring Baylor 13-6 in the overtime period to capture a 93-86 win and advance to the Sweet 16.

“None of us wanted to go home,” Tar Heels big man Armando Bacot said. “We don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave my brothers. It was a tough last five minutes in overtime. All year, we’ve just been hearing different things about us — how we’re a soft team, how we don’t like to fight.

“Today, I think we really showed that we can fight. Just to persevere in a moment like that and just come together, I’m just so proud and glad we won.”

Should Brady Manek have been ejected?

The flagrant-2 foul call elicited a strong response on social media, as many fans and analysts felt Manek’s actions didn’t rise to that level. Had Manek been called for a flagrant-1 foul, he would have been able to continue playing.

Here’s how the NCAA men’s basketball rulebook defines flagrant-1 and flagrant-2 fouls:

There is certainly an argument to be made that Manek’s elbow fell under the flagrant-1 category, but the officiating crew reviewed the play and considered it more than just “excessive and unnecessary.”

A flagrant-2 personal foul is a personal foul that involves contact with an opponent that is not only excessive, but also severe (brutal, harsh, cruel) or extreme (dangerous, punishing),while the ball is live.

How did North Carolina players react to Brady Manek’s ejection?

Leaky Black: “When he got ejected, we were just trying to regroup and just tell everybody to keep their composure. There was a lot of time left, but we knew we could do it. " RJ Davis: “When we got back into the locker room, we all gave him a big hug, just to be happy for him. You just want to do it for him, and we got it done. " Justin McKoy: “We really just wanted to do it for him. It’s his last year. The way I looked at it was, I don’t want it to be his last game. I want to see him out there again. So, I was like, ‘Let’s go win this for him. ‘” Dontrez Styles: “We just knew everybody had to step up, come off the bench. Brady’s a hell of a player. He’s one of our best players, one of the best players in the country, in my opinion. So, we had to step up for him and do it for him. "

Will Brady Manek be suspended?

Manek will not face a suspension. He would have only been suspended if he was called for a flagrant-2 foul as the result of being involved in a fight, per the NCAA rulebook.

North Carolina will play the winner of the UCLA-St. Mary’s game.