How Hubert Davis, North Carolina Turned Around Its Season, Advanced To Final Four Against Rival Duke

More than 20 minutes had passed since North Carolina defeated Saint Peter’s, 69-49, on Sunday night to advance to the Final Four, and the Tar Heels’ fans wouldn’t leave. During the game, they wore their familiar Carolina blue gear and had turned the Wells Fargo Center into a decidedly pro-UNC arena even though the Saint Peter’s campus is 90 miles away and the Peacocks had become the NCAA tournament’s ultimate Cinderella.

And now, it was time to celebrate and honor the team’s coach, who last month wasn’t exactly the state’s most popular figure.

“Hubert Davis!,” the fans shouted as confetti fell on the court and the players and staff rejoiced. “Hubert Davis! Hubert Davis!”

A minute later, they began to look ahead.

“We want Duke!,” they screamed. “We want Duke! We want Duke!”

They got their wish, remarkably, as North Carolina faces Duke on Saturday for the first time in NCAA tournament history. The game is assuredly going to dominate the conversation heading into the Final Four, as the schools are among the sport’s Blue Blood programs, are about 12 miles apart and are bitter rivals, having played each other 257 times.

Still, for all of the Tar Heels’ history of success, it was almost impossible to believe six weeks ago that they would make their NCAA-record 21st Final Four appearance this season. On Feb. 16, the Tar Heels lost, 76-67, at home against lowly Pittsburgh, falling to 18-8 and 48th in the KenPom ranking. If the NCAA tournament field had been selected that day, North Carolina likely wouldn’t be chosen.

Since then, the Tar Heels have won 10 of their past 11 games, the only loss coming against Virginia Tech, 72-59, in the ACC tournament semifinals. That stretch includes a 94-81 victory at Duke on March 5, ruining Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game, and four impressive NCAA tournament victories. Williams attributes the turnaround to the team’s improvement on defense, rebounding, turnovers and mentality.

“I just felt like the narrative with this group was that they weren’t tough, they weren’t resilient, they did not — this wasn’t a team of perseverance,” Williams said last Thursday. “I said the other way that can change is you’re going to have to change it. I’ve never felt and I’ve never talked to them specifically about like an underdog role, but I have motivated them and challenged them to change the narrative of us not being competitive and competing and shying away from physicality.”

Throughout the NCAA tournament, the Tar Heels have been physical and defensive-minded, holding their four opponents to 36.2% shooting and holding a 191-142 rebounding advantage. On Sunday, they faced a Saint Peter’s team that had become the first No. 15 seed to make the Elite Eight, a run that included victories over Kentucky and Purdue, two teams that North Carolina had lost to by nine points and 29 points, respectively, early in the season. But Saint Peter’s couldn’t handle North Carolina, as the Peacocks shot just 30% from the field and were outrebounded by a 49-33 margin.

Junior forward Armando Bacot was particularly impressive on Sunday, scoring a team-high 20 points and grabbing 22 rebounds, tied for the most for a North Carolina in an NCAA tournament game. He was named the East Regional’s Most Outstanding Player.

“Since I’ve been here, my first two years was just so tough,” said Bacot, a first-team All-ACC selection this season. “And people kind of pushed North Carolina to the side and (said) how we were done and all this and that. And I’m just so glad to make it to the Final Four, finally, and kind of cement myself. We’re not done yet. But just so you know, cement myself and us as a team, me and (senior) Leaky (Black), specifically, to be able to say we won.

Near the end of the game, the usually stoic Davis got emotional and wept as he hugged several players, including Bacot and Black, the team’s veterans. Davis said he was thinking about all that has happened since April 5, 2021, the day he was hired to replace longtime North Carolina coach Roy Williams, who had retired four days earlier. Davis was an assistant under Williams since 2012 when he left a cushy ESPN job to get into the grind of coaching at his alma mater.

“It’s been a wild 11 and a half months,” Davis said. “And I’ve said a number of times it’s been so busy the last 11 and a half months, I haven’t really had time to think. And it was the first time that I can remember in the last 11 and a half months that I could take a deep breath, and it just came out.”

He added: “It’s not just this year. It’s everything. What this job has meant to me, how it’s impacted my wife and my kids, the players, their parents, recruiting. It’s just been a lot. And when I finally could take a deep breath and it looked like we were going to win, I just couldn’t hold it in.”

Before this season, Black was the only player on the North Carolina roster to win an NCAA tournament game for the Tar Heels, having been a freshman reserve on the 2019 team that lost to Auburn in the Sweet 16. The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and North Carolina lost in the first round of last year’s tournament. North Carolina senior forward Brady Manek, who transferred from Oklahoma last April, had also won two NCAA tournament games when he played for the Sooners.

That lack of winning experience on the roster motivated Davis, too, who knows what it’s like to compete on the biggest stage. He was a junior on the 1991 North Carolina team that lost in the Final Four and was an assistant on the 2016 Tar Heels’ team that lost in the national title game and the 2017 team that won the championship. That was North Carolina’s sixth national title, the third most in history behind UCLA’s 11 and Kentucky’s eight.

On Saturday night, the Tar Heels continue their quest for another championship when they play Duke in the second game of a Final Four doubleheader at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Kansas and Villanova play in the opener, with the winners facing each other for the title on Monday night.

“I am so happy right now because I can’t wait for (the players) to walk into that stadium and see how big that place is,” Davis said. “I can’t wait for them to see the hotel with their pictures all over the place. I can’t wait to have that practice on Saturday and have that feeling, only four teams are practicing that day. And I can’t wait until they run out of that tunnel and it’s 80,000 watching them play.”

It’s a scene Davis has experienced multiple times and one he’s eager to bask in again. North Carolina is scheduled to travel to New Orleans on Wednesday.

“I’d like to leave tonight,” Davis said, laughing. “I want to get there tonight.”