Report: Hubert Davis motivated Pete Nance with Lemon Oreos before breakout performance
The North Carolina Tar Heels kept their slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive on Saturday with a 71-63 win over the No. 6 ranked Virginia Cavaliers. It was a game that was defined as “must-win” by many analysts across the country, and the Tar Heels finally got their win of the year over a Top 10 opponent. North Carolina was propelled by a breakout performance from Pete Nance–who poured in 22 points and swatted four blocks. Following the big win, North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis revealed how he motivated Nance before the game. Davis gave him and package of Oreos and he ate them all.
Check out the tweet from Ross Martin of InsideCarolina.com.
Nance finished the game connecting on seven of his ten shots from the field, including hitting all four of his three-pointers. So, the strategy clearly worked. Lemon Oreos seem like a pretty random treat to get a player fired up, but hey, whatever gets him to play his best. It’s also funny that he was able to eat a whole pack of Oreos right before the game and play as well as he did.
This season, the Ohio native has averaged 9.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. Before Saturday night against Virginia, Nance’s season-high this year came against the Syracuse Orange on Oct. 24, when he pumped in 21 points. He drilled six of 17 field goals in that one, grabbed four rebounds, dished out three assists, and grabbed three steals. Last season, Nance averaged 14.6 points and 6.5 rebounds for the Northwestern Wildcats.
The Tar Heels have definitely needed more from Nance this season and maybe they’ll continue to get more–right as we start rolling into March. The Tar Heels are still tight roping a dangerous line with their hopes of getting in the NCAA Tournament having very little room for error.
To finish of their regular season, North Carolina will face off against the Florida State Seminoles (Feb. 27) and the Duke Blue Devils (Mar. 4).