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CHAPEL HILL – Contrary to what most people would have expected, Hubert Davis didn’t tear the rims off the baskets for Sunday’s practice and run his team until every player vomited.
That's exactly what the Tar Heels expected a day after getting blitzed by Wake Forest, 98-76.
Screaming, yelling, and a practice paying for their sins is what they had in mind. Instead, Davis took a different approach.
“Coach Davis, we all know how intense he is, he came in (Sunday) and he was really encouraging,” senior wing Leaky Black said. “We were all coming in expecting, ‘Ah, one of the worst practices ever,’ but he came in really encouraged and really positive.”
Perhaps Davis understood his players had already taken a beating. First, on the court in Winston-Salem, four days after a 28-point loss at Miami, and then on social media. The players know what is out there. It is a regular part of their lives, fully intertwined with daily business, so thinking they would avoid the chatter makes little sense.
“He knows the social media in this generation, and obviously we look at social media, we see everything,” Black said. “And he knows at the end of the day we’re just kids and this game can take a lot on you mentally, and he knows that. And once you get your confidence it’s easier.”
Davis has been criticized at times for making overly positive remarks about his team and some of the players’ abilities. Though, he went the other direction in his postgame press conference at Wake, noting that the Hurricanes and Demon Deacons are more talented than his players.
And by the time Davis showed up for practice Sunday, with the Heels a day away from hosting Virginia Tech, he chose to give them big hugs for their morale and psyche, and because the kick in their rears had already occurred.
What was done was done, so as of Sunday afternoon, everyone in the program was charged with the mission of climbing out of the mess they created last week, which began with Davis’ tender approach and a part of his faith.
“I gave them a Bible verse, James 1:2, and it talks about finding joy and persevering through hard times,” Davis said following UNC’s 78-68 victory over the Hokies.
Junior and leading scorer and rebounder Armando Bacot said, “the coaches wanted to make sure our morale was good” and that it worked.
Graduate Brady Manek credited Davis' message with refocusing the team so they understand two bad games in the same week don't define their season.
“Coach told us to keep thinking positive," Manek said. "Everything that we want to do this season is still available, everything that we want to achieve is still achievable, and that really got all of our spirits back up, and we played really well tonight because of it.”
The fresh-start mindset was challenged, though. Carolina met more in-game adversity, something they didn’t handle well at all last week, and too often this season have allowed to exacerbate into longer negative stretches, particularly in its six defeats.
Virginia Tech used a 15-2 run in the first half to take the lead after the Tar Heels opened the game playing at a high level. The run eventually reached 25-7 spanning 8:22 on the clock, but all the Heels did was close the first half on a run of their own, outscoring the Hokies 13-4 to take a 37-33 lead into the locker room.
They didn’t really swat away the Tech purge, they simply played through it unfettered and came out just fine.
“There was a togetherness about this team that I was just proud of them about,” Davis said. “In the huddle, this was the first time where guys were talking about toughness, toughness, perseverance, and let’s stick together.
“And the communication amongst teammates, the energy was really good in the huddle, even when it looked like things were turning, we all stayed together. I was really, really proud of them tonight.”
Their coach eased the players’ stress. He allowed them to disrobe the stench from the historically bad two-game trip last week, and with it they came out on the other end free, clear-headed, and ready to march forward.
“It was huge, because the two losses that we had felt pretty bad,” Black said. “But seeing him, the captain, come in and encourage us and feeding us positivity as kids, you see that and it’s like, ‘let’s go.’”
And they did.
