Hubert Davis addresses outside noise from North Carolina doubters after First Four win

There was a lot of criticism regarding the inclusion of the North Carolina Tar Heels in the NCAA Tournament. Despite that, for head coach Hubert Davis, there was no pressure to surpass anyone’s expectations. Instead, the focus has been kept internally.

The results spoke for themselves in North Carolina’s First Four game against San Diego State. It was a comfortable win, and after the game, Davis shared some of his thoughts on that outside noise.

“No, I don’t think it was a weight on us to try to get into the NCAA Tournament,” Hubert Davis said. “My communication with them is to always focus on us. It’s not the noise on the outside in terms of comments and critics. Focusing on our preparation, our practice, and our play. I consistently send that message in a number of different ways because that’s the only thing that we have control over. So, why waste time doing anything else?”

North Carolina struggled at times during the 2024-25 season. That included a three-game non-conference losing streak against Quad 1 opponents. In another stretch, they lost four out of five ACC games. However, the Tar Heels did rally late in the season and won eight of their final 10 games, only dropping two games against Duke.

“This group has been one of the best at staying connected and staying the course through windy and turbulent times,” Davis said. “And also clear-sky days, as well. It doesn’t surprise me that they played one of their better games today. It’s been a real focused group.”

It was a 95-68 win for North Carolina over San Diego State. That included holding the Aztecs to 23 first half points. Four Tar Heels would be in double digits for the game, including 26 points from RJ Davis.

“You can just — over the last two months, their commitment to team is just continuing to grow. I talked earlier in the year about how quiet this team was,” Davis said. “And the voices, the volume of the voices is exactly where it needs to be, whether it’s in the huddle, on the bus, on the floor. Just a real connected group right now.”

Next, North Carolina has a Round of 64 matchup against Ole Miss out of the SEC. A six-seed in this season’s NCAA Tournament. That comes in a season where Ole Miss went 22-11 and 10-8 in SEC play and in a tie for sixth in their respective conference standings.