Hubert Davis looking for reaction from North Carolina after loss vs. Clemson

The North Carolina men’s hoops team got upset by Clemson on Tuesday night, and after the loss head coach Hubert Davis wasn’t caught up in a four-point loss. He was already looking at bouncing back.

Following just their fifth loss of the season, Davis will get what’s been a rare chance to see how his team will respond to the adverse situation. Gunning for an ACC title, the Tar Heels can’t afford a February skid.

“Again, it’s how you react and how you respond. We’ll go back to work and as I said before, there’s two things that you can do: You can whine and complain and point fingers and make excuses or you can get back up and move forward and join the fight,” Davis said.

North Carolina has some time to rest and reset ahead of the next game, too. The Tar Heels don’t play again until Saturday, when they travel to play at Miami. But that time won’t be spent moping, as Davis said.

Between the final buzzer of Tuesday’s loss and the end of Saturday’s contest, it’s clear what the expectation around North Carolina is simple: Get up off the mat and get right back to winning, especially while still in first place in the conference.

“And for us, it’s never a choice,” Davis said. “It’s a requirement for us to get back up and let’s get back to work.” 

A bit of Tar Heel history was made on Tuesday

Another member of the North Carolina basketball team has passed Michael Jordan on the program’s career scoring list, with RJ Davis joining Armando Bacot in accomplishing that feat on Tuesday night.

Davis eclipsed Jordan’s career mark of 1,788 points with a free throw with 6:30 remaining in a game against Clemson.

The North Carolina guard entered the game with 1,772 career points, just 16 points shy of Jordan’s mark. He managed to make up that gap in a highly competitive game against Clemson, one in which the Tar Heels desperately needed his contributions.

Bacot passed Jordan’s mark last spring, showing it could be done, and Davis followed suit not long after.

Davis was also chasing another non-Michael Jordan mark, threatening to break into the top 20 in all-time assists at North Carolina. He went into Tuesday night’s game with 379, just four short of passing Steve Bucknall for 20th place, and passed that mark, finishing the game with five helpers.