SOUTH BEND, IN – The paint on the walls of North Carolina’s locker room may not have actually peeled away Wednesday night, but it was certainly challenged at staying intact.

In perhaps the most impassioned halftime of the season for the Tar Heels, the players got an earful from multiple coaches, including their head coach, who never says swear words, but may have been driven close to the brink with UNC turning in by far its worst half of the season.

Carolina defeated Notre Dame, 63-59, at Purcell Pavilion, but the Tar Heels appeared dead in the water as the intermission arrived. They had just 19 points, were 5-for-27 from the field – the worst half for the program since 1980 – and had no assists against eight turnovers.

In need of serious reviving, assistant coach Brad Frederick and Director of Operations Eric Hoots lit into the team.

“I think they gave us a spark,” a smiling Caleb Love said about Frederick and Hoots. “And (Jeff) Coach (Jeff) Lebo came in with his. (Head) Coach (Hubert) Davis obviously was hot, and we needed all of it.”

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Davis doesn’t swear. But if there was ever a time he might cross that line and unleash some profanity, halftime Wednesday night would have made some sense. The Heels pushed Davis and the staff that far with their performance over the first 20 minutes.

“If there was a time,” forward Pete Nance said about Davis blaring some cuss words, “it was definitely today.”

The message hit home and was perhaps a bit personal. A team dangling on life support with respect to its NCAA Tournament chances, however, playing as poorly as it was versus a club with two wins in ACC play, needed that kind of jolt. The first 20 minutes were inexcusable, which the players were told in no uncertain terms.

“Basically like, do we care,” Love said Hoots asked them. “I can’t repeat what he said. Just know it helped us.”

The tongue lashing certainly did.

After trailing 27-19 at halftime, the Tar Heels (17-11, 9-8 ACC) opened the second half with the ball and wisely went right to Armando Bacot, who caught the entry pass before the Irish could double-team him, then turned and scored. RJ Davis’ assist on the play was UNC’s first of the night.

A steal by Davis a minute later, that he turned into points, was followed by another steal by Davis almost immediately after the Irish inbound, leading to Love swishing a 3-pointer off a feed from Davis. Five points in 12 seconds, and a 7-2 UNC spurt in the first 89 seconds of the half was reflective of the bump the Heels got from their halftime blistering.

Layups by Leaky Black, Bacot, and Davis, plus a jumper by Davis in transition gave Carolina a 34-31 lead just 4:30 into the second half. It scored 19 points by the intermission, but 15 in the first 270 seconds after halftime.

“Our energy and our body language wasn’t up to par,” RJ Davis said. “So, coming out in the second half with my good spirit and good energy, (I tried) just to get the team going and have a good spark. That sequence where I stole the ball twice and get us baskets, I felt like that brought us some life.”

Carolina and the Fighting Irish traded leads several times in the half, with Notre Dame holding a 52-51 advantage with 5:56 remaining. This was precisely in the same neighborhood of the game in which the Heels struggled in recent losses to Pittsburgh, Duke, Miami, and NC State.

But instead of wilting, they flexed outscoring the Irish 12-7 the rest of the way. The fuel infused at halftime was still with them. As was the reality that a loss would have been exceptionally damaging.

“The fact of the matter is our season was on the line,” Bacot said. “If we lose that, there’s no chance unless we make a run in the ACC Tournament. So, we really knew what was at stake.”

As for their head coach cussing, which likely will never happen, it’s something the Heels want to avoid. That it’s even asked of the players is an indication of how poor they were over the first 20 minutes

“He was definitely furious,” said RJ Davis. “We know he’s not going to curse or anything, but he was definitely getting to that point because we know how good we are and this is frustrating when we don’t play our best, hardest, and the energy’s not there.”

UNC wasn’t exactly poetry in motion in the second half, shooting 18-for-42, but it played with tremendous energy and competed, which is why the Heels ended in the win column, courtesy of their heated halftime.