Hubert Davis just about tore off his gray and Carolina Blue checkered sport coat.
Right in front of the UNC men's basketball head coach — who was pacing frantically back and forth on the sideline just a few minutes into the second half — graduate guard Cormac Ryan attempted to curl off a screen and collided with N.C. State's DJ Horne, resulting in a double foul. Davis gestured wildly — almost to the point of punching through his blazer — and ripped off his glasses. Before the Tar Heels inbounded the ball, he clapped his hands and stomped the floor, imploring his team to do better.
Fired up is an understatement.
“He got super chippy, and it was a lot of fun,” graduate center Armando Bacot said. “When you see coach on the sidelines being animated, it’s one of those things where it really turns us up.”
Davis’ passion on the sidelines and in the locker room was the catalyst in North Carolina’s 79-70 comeback home victory over N.C. State on Saturday. The Tar Heels trailed 45-37 at the break — the most points a UNC opponent has scored in a first half all season.But thanks to a fiery halftime speech from Davis, UNC was able to overcome the largest halftime deficit the Tar Heels have prevailed over since 2021 against Florida State.
In the second half, the Wolfpack shot only 22 percent from the field — the lowest the Tar Heels have held an opponent to in a half all season.
But before that could happen, Davis had to address a few things in the locker room at half. The head coach, naturally, was fired up. First-year guard Elliot Cadeau said Davis pointed to him and all his teammates, saying they weren’t bringing it defensively.
“He felt like they were just playing harder than us,” Cadeau said. “And he said ‘That’s unacceptable, no team should ever play harder than us.’”
