FORT WORTH, TX – Imagine the moment: Hubert Davis addressing the team with overtime looming in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in a verifiable road game.

Baylor fans are loud and everywhere inside Dickies Arena, and two of the Tar Heels sitting and taking in his instruction are Justin McKoy and Dontrez Styles.

Starters Armando Bacot, Leaky Black, and RJ Davis are also seated. Along with McKoy and Styles, they are the quintet about the take the floor in the most important five basketball minutes of their lives. All five of them.

Setting the scene: UNC had just allowed Baylor a 38-13 run over the final 10:08 of regulation, turning a 25-point Carolina cakewalk in to a teeth-gnashing aneurysm for the blue bloods and thriller for the new bloods.

So, with Brady Manek and his 26 points in 28 minutes having been ejected as the impetus for the game’s reversal sitting in the locker room, and crunch-time killer Caleb Love disqualified for fouls at the 6:15 mark, this was UNC’s lineup for the overtime period.

Never during the season had a UNC player found himself in the next-man-up situation quite like what faced McKoy and Styles. UNC’s bench had wilted away as the season has gone on. Hubert Davis’ commitment to an iron five was the motor he would use to take this train as far as he could.

But with two crucial parts out, UNC’s coach turned to the subs. Their opportunities had come.

“Well, today was a great example of that. It really was,” UNC’s rookie head coach said. “And, you know, I always say that you will always get an opportunity with me. The thing I can't guarantee is when, where, how, and the manner in which it will come.”

It came in a big way on a big stage in a big game.

A 6-foot-6 freshman, Styles was on the floor for 25 minutes Saturday, nine more than his previous high at UNC. In fact, he had played 10 or more minutes just five times entering this contest, and four of those games were routs. So, he had never been in this situation. Not even close.

He scored nine points and may have drained the most important three-pointer of the season for the Tar Heels. UNC needed something to help it relax, and 24 seconds into overtime, Styles delivered, knocking down a long three from the left wing. UNC took the lead for good.

Styles also defended, kept alive one ball the Heels ended up corralling, and he didn’t buckle in such a dramatic moment. How on earth was this inexperienced newbie ready to perform in this magnified environment?

“I would say just trust my work,” said Styles, who also had three rebounds, an assist, and two steals. “You know, I put in a lot of work after practice, before practice, just trusted that. I think Coach Davis was trusting me to go out there and perform.”

McKoy spent the previous two years at Virginia, averaging 11 minutes a game last season for the ACC regular season champs. He even started three games for Tony Bennett.

But he hadn’t been in anything like this scenario as a Tar Heel. It appears McKoy’s confidence has waned over the last couple of months, but the 6-foot-8 local product stepped up. He defended, had a steal, pulled down three rebounds, and had an assist – along with three turnovers – while playing the last 10 minutes of the game, including overtime.

He had some issues, as did Styles, but when McKoy sank a pair of free throws with 3.9 seconds remaining in overtime, he had more than done his share in helping Carolina advance to the Sweet 16.

“I would say also Coach Davis,” McKoy replied, when asked how he was ready to handle the big assignment. “He told us in the huddle, and he told us I'd say a thousand times at practice, that we're going to be in big moments and we need to be ready.

“So each practice we drilled it. And just being ready to step up, having their support all season just in my ear, having me ready, it made it easy to step up.”

There is no way UNC (26-9) would have moved on to the next round of the East Region and recorded its third win over a top seed as an eight seed in the big dance without the contributions from Styles and McKoy.

Davis doesn’t go to his bench often, to which he has drawn criticism at times, but he had to Saturday night, and they helped the Heels notch a vital victory.