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NEW YORK – Tired and perhaps a bit emotionally sapped, North Carolina exited the ACC Tournament earlier than it wanted Friday night, but the Tar Heels are hardly down and out.
They have more basketball to play, thanks to a late-season push catapulting them over the NCAA Tournament fence and squarely into the field, despite a 72-59 loss to Virginia Tech in the semifinals at Barclays Center.
Thursday night was impressive Carolina in its 20-point win over Virginia, though Friday night was largely unimpressive Carolina. Maybe the Tar Heels ran out of gas, and if so, getting some extra time to recuperate and regroup before the next, more important phase of their journey isn’t such a bad thing.
“Yeah, it was disappointing just because we came in with the thought of winning the championship,” UNC junior Armando Bacot said following the loss to the Hokies. “But like (UNC) Coach (Hubert Davis) said, I'm still encouraged, though, because we've done a good job all year just responding to adversity.
“We're all confident in ourselves. We're just moving on to the next step, and we're just ready for the tournament. We'll come prepared.”
Carolina (24-9) will be in the NCAA Tournament. The Heels won’t have to sweat out the rest of the weekend wondering if they are in or out of the field. The win last week at Duke essentially assured them a spot. But where they are seeded, who they will play, when, and where won’t be determined until sometime after 6 PM on Sunday.
The mission between now and then is to physically recover, especially since Davis acknowledged Friday night his team was experiencing some wear and tear Friday night. The starters need to rest, hydrate, and de-escalate for a day or two. At least until Sunday evening.
The benefit of going out early enough in the ACC Tournament is getting that additional rest. It will also give the Heels time to process the manner in which they were disposed by the Hokies and that they won’t take part in a net-cutting ceremony Saturday night.
Davis wants the focus at some point to shift to how far the Heels have come over the last seven weeks. Always positive, the rookie head coach didn’t miss a beat when addressing his team following the loss Friday night.
“One of the things I said after the game is I don't want them to be discouraged, I want them to be encouraged,” he said. “I know that we're disappointed that we did not play better and we did not win tonight, but over the last month and a half, two months, I can't tell you how proud I am of this group.
“I mean, I told them I remember that bus ride coming back from at Wake Forest, and to think that at that point that this group, led by Armando, we won 12 out of 15. Just as a team, perseverance and fight, and I'm proud to be their coach.”
January 22 was a low point for this UNC squad. Carolina lost by 22 points that night at Wake Forest, five days after falling by 28 at Miami. It was a horrendous week, one of the worst ever in regular season play in the proud program’s history.
And as Davis fielded questions from the media via zoom afterward, he took a departure from his usually upbeat message, saying the Hurricanes and Demon Deacons were more talented than his team. He was dismayed, almost coming off as despondent.
But he guided them in the right direction.
Dawson Garcia left the program two days later, and Davis started reinventing the team. They’ve gone 12-3 since with a series of close, punch-pail wins, a few routs, and the historic triumph at Duke last week.
The team that walked off the floor in Brooklyn is more what it has shown since Winston-Salem, than what it displayed before. Ugliness settled in that week for a while, but not now.
Carolina shot just 36.7 percent from the floor and had a rough time defensively in the second half versus the Hokies. But by the time Bacot got to the dais for the postgame presser, he was already moving forward.
“I don't think that affected our confidence at all,” he said about the loss. “They just played a great game. They made shots. They're a tough team. It's hard to beat a good team three times in a row, but we feel good about where we're at right now.
“We're ready for Sunday to figure out what we can play, and I feel like we're in a good spot.”
Certainly, much better than a few weeks ago.
