Before turning the page to the rivalry, the Tar Heels closed the book on their first ACC loss of the season with a locker room conversation in the wee hours.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina’s game-week preparation for Saturday night’s rivalry showdown against Duke effectively began after midnight Tuesday, when the Tar Heels returned home in the wee hours from Georgia Tech and their first ACC loss of the season.
Big man Armando Bacot and guard RJ Davis said rather than dispersing, UNC players ended up staying together in the team’s locker room at the Smith Center and talking things out as a group, with the conversation going on for perhaps 90 minutes or maybe even two hours.
“Just talking about the game and what we could’ve done better,” Bacot said Thursday. “But we know we’ve got to just flush it in the toilet and prepare for the game on Saturday, because we’re going to be playing a totally different team, and it’s going to be a different atmosphere.
“It was somewhat tough, because we definitely should’ve won that game and we felt like we just left so much on the table and we wanted to keep the (winning) streak going. But we kind of just soaked it all in on Tuesday (night) and just moved on.”
Strictly by definition, it was a gathering that could be considered a players-only meeting — coach Hubert Davis said he didn’t participate — held hours after Carolina’s worst performance of the season. The Tar Heels arrived back in Chapel Hill around 12:40 a.m., and Hubert Davis went home and re-watched his team’s 74-73 loss that just had occurred at Georgia Tech. He said he didn’t get to bed that night until about 3:45 a.m.
“Them having a meeting getting back, that doesn’t surprise me,” Hubert Davis said Thursday. “This has been a together group from the start since all of them stepped on campus. So hearing that they had a meeting when we got back and talked about our team, that’s something that brings joy to my heart, because this is their team. And for them to be able to do that, that does not surprise me at all.”
An airing of grievances with heated confrontations it was not in any way, based on the descriptions Bacot and RJ Davis offered Thursday. Davis, the ACC’s top scorer at 21.9 points per game, called it a natural kind of conversation that just developed and flowed and continued on its own between the collective group, with input coming from many voices around the locker room. Plus, the next day (Wednesday) was an off-day from practice on the UNC players’ schedules.
“It was all of us,” RJ Davis said Thursday. “There wasn’t just one person talking and rambling. Everyone shared their thoughts. … It was a tough loss and on the road. They’re not easy games to win. We just got back, kind of just sat with our thoughts and just talked about the whole game, really, just to see what worked and how can we improve leading into Duke on Saturday.”
The third-ranked Tar Heels (17-4 overall, 9-1 ACC) saw their 10-game winning streak snapped Tuesday night in Atlanta, as they suffered their first loss in 45 days, since coming up short against Kentucky on Dec. 16. UNC shot a season-worst 36.4 percent from the field and a season-worst 52.9 percent on free throw attempts during the defeat at Georgia Tech, and also missed on polishing off an unbeaten month of January.
Meanwhile, No. 7 Duke (16-4, 7-2) will arrive having won 11 of its last 12 games, after picking up a road victory Monday night at Virginia Tech. Carolina has lost three of Duke’s last four visits to Chapel Hill, and the Blue Devils swept the teams’ two meetings last season.
“It’s obviously a game that you didn’t want to lose,” RJ Davis said, referring to Georgia Tech. “But at the same time, just to not overact and stay composed and keep our composure leading up into this game (against Duke). Because it’s a lot of our teammates’ first time playing in the Duke-UNC rivalry game. So it’ll be really brand new, just the overall energy and the environment that’s leading up into this game.
“But at the same time, just kind of treat it like it’s the next game, because it’s the next game on the schedule. And not get too caught up in social media and people (direct messaging) you and saying that you have to win this game. Kind of just ignore all that and focus on the next game and our preparation.”
Bacot said Thursday he couldn’t help but look back and view the loss to Georgia Tech as a proverbial trap game. “They lost their best player and still beat us,” Bacot said, referring to freshman forward Baye Ndongo, the Yellow Jackets’ second-leading scorer and top rebounder, who didn’t return due to a head injury suffered 4½ minutes into Tuesday night’s game.
UNC built a 36-25 lead during the first half that night, but all of that margin had evaporated by halftime. At the end, Georgia Tech freshman Naithan George’s driving lefty lay-in high over the outstretched Bacot delivered the go-ahead bucket with 7.7 seconds remaining, and ultimately lifted the Yellow Jackets to victory. The 6-foot-3 George scaled the 6-11 Bacot — barely — after RJ Davis’ scooping transition score in transition over the Yellow Jackets’ 6-9 Tafara Gapare gave Carolina a 73-72 lead with 34.6 seconds left. The Tar Heels needed perhaps only one stop from there, and Bacot’s man-to-man defense on the dancing and driving George was commendable, but not enough to prevent him from converting.
Then, UNC came out of a timeout with 4.6 seconds remaining and inbounded to Bacot, who pitched to the darting Davis. He attacked on the dribble and put up a runner while absorbing some contact from Georgia Tech center Ebenezer Dowuona, the NC State transfer. That game-winning try missed in the dying seconds. The Tar Heels, who had entered 5-0 in road games this season, wanted a foul call that never came. Davis ended up in a seated position, his arms extended and looking toward referee Ted Valentine in a beseeching manner. Georgia Tech’s student fans responded by pouring out of their seats and Carolina had to navigate a court-storming celebration at McCamish Pavilion.
“It was definitely a trap game,” Bacot said Thursday. “I think we didn’t come in there with that killer instinct. We were up 11 early, and I think we thought it would be smooth sailing, and they kept playing. But it was great for us, too, because it allowed us to have some sort of feeling of how we need to play and what we need to do. And it let us know we’re human.”
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