Hubert Davis saw confidence from North Carolina in final minute vs. Syracuse
North Carolina eked out a 72-68 win against Syracuse on the road on Tuesday and head coach Hubert Davis wasn’t surprised that his team was cool, calm and collected in critical moments. They’ve played in them all year.
In 21 games played this season by North Carolina, 13 have finished with a single-digit margin. In those games, the Tar Heels are now 8-5.
“I saw confidence and I saw a sense of calmness because we’ve been there before,” Davis said. “We’ve been there before, this year. We ain’t even gotta go back to last year. This year I feel like we’ve been in so many late-game situations and sometimes it didn’t turn out our way and sometimes they have.”
After giving up a 66-65 lead with 1:28 left as Syracuse buried a 3, North Carolina clamped down and scored the final six points of the game to seal up a road win.
“So the experience of being in those situations allow you to be focused, allow you to be calm and be able to execute and that’s what we did tonight,” Davis said.
WATCH: North Carolina, Syracuse ends in wild, controversial fashion
Trailing by a point with fewer than 30 seconds to play against North Carolina at home, Syracuse freshman point guard Judah Mintz drove into the lane with a chance to give the Orange a lead. Instead, he picked up a Flagrant 1 foul.
The officials initially called an offensive foul on the floor as Mintz bowled over North Carolina defender RJ Davis. But after replay review, the officials deemed that Mintz catching Davis in the jaw with his elbow was worthy of Flagrant 1 designation, giving the Tar Heels two shots and the ball — and, virtually, the win.
And as Flagrant 1 fouls go, this was a questionable one.