Following its 74-73 loss at Georgia Tech on Tuesday, the UNC men’s basketball team arrived back in Chapel Hill around midnight — but no one left the locker room for another hour and a half.
There was an unspoken agreement to hold a team meeting. Players only. They addressed the game, discussing what worked and what didn’t. They acknowledged that Georgia Tech “hit a lot of crazy shots.”
One of the main takeaways though? Move on to the next one. Or, in Armando Bacot’s words, “flush it down the toilet.”
“It was great for us, too, because it allowed us to have some sort of feeling of how we need to play and what we need to do,” the graduate center said. “It let us know, like, we’re human.”
Seeing as No. 3 North Carolina is set to face No. 7 Duke on Saturday, the Tar Heels can not afford to stew on the Atlanta slip-up for long.
Like any given year, the Blue Devils — led by center Kyle Filipowski — are talented from top to bottom. Filipowski’s supporting cast can space the floor, with four players shooting above 40 percent from three.
“I think the game will really be won between me and him,” Bacot said. “Whoever gets in foul trouble first, really.”
Beyond the Xs and Os, though, it’s a rivalry game with considerable implications. For the first time in five years, both blue bloods are ranked heading into the matchup. But as notable as that is, the intensity won’t — and shouldn’t — change, senior guard RJ Davis said.
