CHAPEL HILL – Hubert Davis doesn’t cuss.

He really doesn’t.

How do his players truly know this? If he didn’t last season, as nasty as it was for North Carolina, Davis would have let loose some bombs at some point. But he never did.

Not this season, either. Though, he hasn’t had as many reasons to, as the third-ranked Tar Heels are now 16-3 overall and 8-0 in the ACC after demolishing Wake Forest in the second half Monday night on their way to an 85-64 victory at the Smith Center.

Yet, Carolina’s coach still found spots to unleash on his team using his personal go-to word.

“At halftime, Coach Davis, he ripped into us,” said junior forward Harrison Ingram, as the Tar Heels trailed 34-33 at the intermission. “In the second half, we came out with energy and we won.”

UNC rode a 23-point outburst after halftime by senior guard RJ Davis, who finished with a career-high 36 points. They Heels also shut down the Demon Deacons, holding them to 26.7 percent shooting from the floor, including 0-for-9 from the perimeter, and outrebounded Wake 24-12.

Part of the inspiration for Carolina’s upgrade in performance came from their heated coach’s lips.

“Just yelling,” Ingram said. “A lot of yelling, just trying to motivate us and telling us they were kicking our butt down in the trenches, they were out-physicaling us. They were bullying us, and I mean, we don’t like getting bullied.”

No, the Tar Heels don’t, and neither does their coach.

Davis can appear quite animated during games. He must burn a ton of calories, and certainly earns his preferred soda on ice afterward. And while he never cusses, he does have a go-to attention-grabbing word, that when used, it makes the hair on the players’ necks stand up.

“Fart. Fart,” Ingram said laughing, divulging what was once a secret within the walls of Carolina’s locker room. “It caught me off guard the first time I was here.”

Example?

“What the fart are you doing?” Ingram said, cracking up with laughter.

So, Davis does toss out some four-letter F-words, but not the one that rolls off the tongues of most coaches.

It’s a word most six-year-olds find most amusing, and adults find rather uncomfortable. But within the framework of the Tar Heels, it actually carries noteworthy meaning.

“You can see the energy around him as he’s going on and saying it,” RJ Davis said. “It’s like he means business. So, it’s like, ‘alright coach, we’ve got it.’”

But because it’s technically not a swear word, though might be considered one in the Davis household, it impacts the players deep within them, Ingram said.

“Yelling hurts so much more when they don’t curse, because it’s not disrespectful,” he said. “It’s so nice but so mean at the same time. I feel like that’s what he does a good job of.”

Given that Carolina has won nine consecutive games and has developed a lunchpail reputation to go along with his propensity for massive scoring binges, it appears Davis and “fart” have become synonymous with UNC’s hoops success.