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Apparently, some of the Tar Heels saw it coming.
After UNC’s maddening loss to Clemson Tuesday night, several players admitted they had the deadly Duke hangover by not getting fully ready for their next game 36 hours later on the same floor where they manhandled the Blue Devils.
Armando Bacot, himself included, said a few players were late for shoot around before the game, and even Hubert Davis acknowledged the in-between practices and drills did not go very well.
“The tougher team won,” Davis said, “Clemson had more energy, effort, attention to detail. They were more deserving of winning the game.”
One strategy of veteran coaches in most sports is to treat a big win like a loss in how they prepare for their next game. Davis can’t be everywhere and in each of his players’ heads, so maybe he didn’t see it coming, but Bacot and R.J. Davis (who combined for 46 points) were forthright after the 80-76 defeat to the stronger Tigers that they weren’t ready to go from the tipoff.
And that’s all it took for Clemson to ring up a quick 13-point lead (eventually 16) that caused Hubert to burn a timeout before the first official media break. He said afterward that he did not talk strategy, only effort, and his team responded by outscoring the Tigers by 12 points for the rest of the game. Even that was too little too late.
Clemson is infamous for losing its first 59 games in Chapel Hill, with some very good clubs over the years, before that streak was snapped in 2020 in overtime against Roy Williams’ worst team of his 18-year tenure. Now the talented, well-coached squad of Brad Brownell beat the Tar Heels again, boosting its NCAA tournament chances while damaging third-ranked UNC’s of being a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance.
Brownell has been in Death Valley for 14 seasons and is among the most respected and popular coaches in the college game. Despite losing one-pointers at home to Virginia and at Duke and by three in overtime to Georgia Tech at Littlejohn Coliseum, the Tigers were still fighting, and they have some highly underrated players who wanted to make amends.
Their ferocity was even apparent during halftime after having their lead trimmed to nine points on back-to-back 3-pointers by Harrison Ingram and R.J. There was loud yelling from inside the locker room and outside in the hallway several staff members were arguing and nearly came to blows.
“We just held on,” Brownell said, “but our guys finished, which was really nice to see.”
If you were wearing Orange.
Featured image via Todd Melet
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
