MILWAUKEE, WI – One thing that jumped out about North Carolina during its practice Monday night in Dayton was how locked in the Tar Heels were.

It was serious business and carried over to Tuesday, when the dialed-in Heels tore apart San Deigo State in advancing to the formal first round of the NCAA Tournament.

So, when the Heels met with the media in their locker room before holding a 40-minute practice open to the press and a gathering of fans, it was no surprise to see this club almost stone-faced in their focus. Full forward, task-at-hand, business-trip stuff.

“We just want to carry that momentum into tomorrow coming in with a sense of urgency like we did in the first game,” said freshman wing Drake Powell.

The Tar Heels (23-13) remain a target of criticism for getting into the big dance when many observers and pundits didn’t believe their resume was worthy. All that did was elevate the arm-locked approach this group exuded in Dayton and now in their stay in Milwaukee.

They trended this way as the postseason grew closer winning six of their final seven games. Then in Charlotte at the ACC Tournament, it went up a notch strengthening even more when the Heels trimmed 23 points off of Duke’s 24-point lead in the ACC semifinals followed by head coach Hubert Davis’ show of love and support for Jae’Lyn Withers after the veteran’s well-documented lane violation.

If this group could get closer, tighter, and more locked in, the national media helped by nudging the Heels that way even more.

“I would say so, yeah,” Withers said, acknowledging the narrative has given the team a chip on their shoulders. “We definitely use that as motivation to limit, if anything, not have the mishaps on defense or turnovers or the missed box outs. It really helps us on those type of things.”

But even without that, this was a path Carolina was traveling. Now having won nine of their last 11 games by an average of 18.1 points, there’s no taking their collective feet off the accelerator now.

“We’re never satisfied,” junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin said. “Just continue to put the foot on the gas, continue to build good habits and make things (happen) on both ends of the floor. We’re just trying to play at the highest level with the highest intensity and high energy.”

Up next for the 11th-seed Heels is 6-seed Mississippi, a club that is 22-11 and battle tested after a season in the SEC. The Rebels have played six games against common opponents as the Heels going 2-4 while UNC went 0-4 losing to Florida, Auburn, Alabama, and Louisville. The Rebels beat Alabama and Louisville.

But for the Heels, as much as they’ve prepped for Ole Miss, they say Friday is more about them and how they play. How they use the added chip while carrying over their locked-in nature from Dayton.

“You want to have your best basketball in March,” Powell said. “And we need to sustain what we did so we can make this run.”