Hubert Davis explains fouling Notre Dame late in game

The North Carolina Tar Heels were able to hold on late on Wednesday night against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to keep their slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive. UNC went on to win the game, 63-59. Instead of allowing the Fighting Irish to get off a potential game tying three late, North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis instructed his players to foul Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish trailed 61-58 and with four seconds left in the game, North Carolina forward Leaky Black fouled Notre Dame’s J.J. Starling and sent him to the free throw line. Starling only made one of his two free throw attempts, then UNC got the rebound on the second shot, with Caleb Love drilling two free throws at the other end to ice the game for the Heels, 63-59. Following the victory, North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis talked about fouling in the final seconds.

“Well, there’s two choices. Let it play out or foul in the backcourt. That’s just the way we play it. Does it mean you’re guaranteed it’s gonna work out? No. I’ve seen it work and I’ve seen it not work. So, that’s the way that we have practiced and talked about it. And we execute it. Whether it ends in a win or a loss doesn’t mean that’s it’s right or wrong, but I’m glad that we were able to win the game,” Davis said in his post-game press conference.

On Wednesday night, the strategy worked and for now, the Tar Heels’ slim NCAA Tournament hopes are still alive.

Hubert Davis was obviously furious with his team at halftime

There wasn’t much to be happy about entering halftime for North Carolina during Wednesday’s matchup against Notre Dame. They scored 19 total points on an abysmal 18.5 percent (5-27) shooting, including going 0-11 from deep.

It goes without saying that UNC headman Hubert Davis was upset with his team’s efforts against the Fighting Irish. Whatever he told his team, the message went through loud and clear as the Tar Heels ended up defeating Notre Dame 63-59.

“He was definitely furious,” Tar Heels’ guard RJ Davis said postgame. “He didn’t curse or anything, but it was probably getting to that point. We know how good we are, so it’s frustrating when we don’t play our best and our hardest. The energy was not there.”

Davis said that it was his job to step up and bring that spark back to his team on both ends of the floor. Whether it was making the play himself or setting his teammate up for success, Davis wanted to ensure victory for his squad with their postseason hopes essentially on the line.

He finished with 12 points and eight rebounds but still finished third in scoring on his team. Caleb Love and Armando Bacot combined for 32 points, not to mention Bacot’s 11 rebounds to boot. Three UNC forwards had double-digit rebounding numbers, including Bacot, Pete Nance and Leaky Black. Those five — Davis, Bacot, Love, Nance and Black — scored 61 of the Tar Heels’ 63 points on the night.

With UNC’s NCAA Tournament hopes still up in the air, Carolina can earn their spot inside the bubble with a victory over No. 6 Virginia at home Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET live on ESPN. They’ll round their regular season out next week at Florida State and against Duke at home.

Four straight wins to finish the season will undoubtedly earn them their spot in the tourney — but will anything less?

On3’s Barkley Truax also contributed to this article.