Hubert Davis shuts down the idea of UNC being complacent in loss to NC State

Hubert Davis and the North Carolina Tar Heels fell short to NC State in the ACC Championship, but the head coach did not agree with any takes that the Tar Heels got complacent.

Davis chalked it up as sometimes five games in five games catches up to you. The top seeded Tar Heels fell victim to their rival on what was a bad night.

Still, Davis and crew will have a chance to right the wrong in the NCAA Tournament.

“No, I don’t agree with that,” Davis said postgame. “Those are your words. But I think too much is made out of five games in five days. You have a chance to play in this tournament, you have a chance to win a championship. Us growing up, we played three games in one day.

“Getting an opportunity to play at this level in this tournament and for a championship, it doesn’t matter how many overtimes, how many games you play in a row. We knew that they would play with great energy, and they did from the start and throughout the entire game.”

Davis conceded UNC couldn’t find consistent success against the Wolfpack, despite a successful first half.

“I mean, we just couldn’t guard them tonight,” Davis said. “They shot was it 54 percent, 55 percent from the field? That’s just not going to get it done. In regards to us, we’ve talked about all year that it starts with defense and rebounding and taking care of the basketball, and the first thing that I always mention is defense. For us and statistically throughout the ACC, we’ve been No. 1 in terms of all the metrics defensively. Allowing a team, any team to shoot 55 percent for a game, that’s just not going to work.

“It’s a credit that we stayed in the game, but we just didn’t — from a defensive standpoint, we weren’t able to guard them one-on-one, whether it was on the post, isolations out on the wing. Didn’t play the type of defense that you have to have in order to win games like this.”

RJ Davis came to play, putting up 30 points, six rebounds and five assists. Armando Bacot even had a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

But it simply wasn’t enough to overcome NC State’s attack. Now, UNC will regroup Sunday and prepare for its next opponent.

With Selection Sunday here, Davis and the Tar Heels have a chance to bounce back.