CHARLOTTE — During the opening 30 minutes of its first-round game in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament Thursday, North Carolina barely resembled a No. 1 seed. First came the careless turnovers against 16th-seeded Wagner. Then the missed layups and several botched dunk attempts.

It was as if the Tar Heels still were in a fog from losing in the ACC tournament final last week. All Coach Hubert Davis could do was pace anxiously in front of his bench, arms folded and brow furrowed, even with North Carolina holding a double-digit lead at Spectrum Center.

Over the final 10 minutes, the gravity of the moment weighed down Wagner and propelled the Tar Heels into an uprising that overwhelmed a severely compromised opponent, producing a 90-62 triumph that earned North Carolina a meeting with No. 9 seed Michigan State in Saturday’s round of 32.

“It hasn’t been any secret,” Davis said. “We’ve identified what allows us to have success, and that’s get after it defensively, rebound and take care of the basketball. I felt like in the first half we had moments where we weren’t checking any of those boxes, and that’s something, as you continue to move forward and specifically against Michigan State, you just can’t do that. You’ve got to be sound in all three of those areas.”

North Carolina had a margin for error to overcome those breakdowns in facing the Northeast Conference champion, a team with just seven healthy players that already had played a game in the NCAA tournament, defeating Howard, 69-66, in Tuesday’s First Four in Dayton, Ohio.

The Tar Heels’ spotty performance in the first half included six turnovers that led to nine points for Wagner. Armando Bacot, a first-team all-ACC selection, missed a dunk, as did fellow graduate forward Jae’Lyn Withers.

Withers managed to regroup, though, and contributed a two-handed dunk on a lob pass from Elliot Cadeau to open a 70-50 lead with 8:33 to play in the second half. The transfer from Louisville wound up with 16 points and 10 rebounds, both season highs.

Bacot, meanwhile, had 20 points and 15 rebounds, adding to a record-setting career in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels’ all-time leading rebounder (1,697) and the ACC career leader in games played (167) extended his streak of NCAA tournament games with at least 15 rebounds to six.

“If you lose, you go home,” said Bacot, who was 7 for 13 from the field and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. “It’s just one of those things that’s an even more sense of urgency to just go out there and play my best. All the years we’ve worked to get to this point, so just super locked in and trying to win.”

This season on many levels has been a redemption tour for Bacot, who passed up an opportunity to play in the NBA to come back for a final season after North Carolina did not receive an NCAA tournament berth last year. It was the first time since 2010 the Tar Heels missed the NCAA tournament.

In 2021-22, Bacot was part of a team that reached the NCAA tournament championship game. North Carolina lost to Kansas, 72-69, with Bacot collecting game highs of 15 points and 15 rebounds. That outcome also has served as fuel for the Tar Heels’ quest for an eighth national championship.

“It’s been on my mind all season, especially more toward the end, that what Armando means to me personally but also what he’s meant to this program and this university and this community,” Davis said. “I just told them in the locker room where all my comments come from there’s a desperation because I want to see Armando and everyone, I want them to see and experience the things that us as coaches have seen and experienced.”

As much as Bacot’s presence has inspired the Tar Heels, so, too, has the floor generalship and occasionally sublime shot-making of RJ Davis. The senior point guard scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, including 13 points over the final 10:46. The ACC player of the year has three straight games with at least 22 points.

Davis was coming off a 30-point performance in the loss to North Carolina State in the ACC championship game at Capital One Arena.

“Attention to detail is definitely number one,” Davis said of corrections needed before the next game. “I feel like, after the game today, we slacked off in that area a little bit. On the defensive end, a couple of times in the first half there was miscommunication or no communication that kind of led to open threes or getting the 50-50 loose balls. We’re usually on top of that. We’ve got to do a better job going into Saturday because Michigan State is a really good ballclub.”