Pete Nance cites impact of social media on locker room chemistry

North Carolina got a week-long break following their late January road win over Syracuse. And ever since that break they’ve gone 0-3, losing three straight conference matchups and most recently falling to Wake Forest 92-85 on Tuesday.

It’s no secret that the North Carolina fan base is a passionate one, and one that will let it be known if they approve or disapprove of the play of their beloved Tar Heels. UNC forward Pete Nance spoke about how that pressure paired with the rise of social media has impacted the team in the midst of their losing stretch.

“It’s always gonna happen, I think it’s difficult now with everybody having social media and having such easy access to everybody’s opinions about you when they really don’t know you, and they don’t know us, and don’t know what goes on day to day,” Nance said. “I think it’s hard to drown out the noise, but being an older guy I feel like I know how to now. But it’s hard these days, all different kinds of apps and can get a hold of you so easy so it’s hard.”

It’s been a streaky season for the Tar Heels, putting together as many as five straight wins and four straight losses at a time. With that comes a variety of up-and-down reactions, feedback, and messaging from social media that can’t be easy for athletes to avoid.

Despite this, Nance in the Tar Heels are focused on what’s ahead of them, which starts with Thursday practice.

“We talked about it, I think we have to come with a new attitude of fighting and digging ourselves out of this hole. So it definitely will be a hard practice,” Nance said.

The Tar Heels had a meeting following their loss to the Demon Deacons that was apparently much needed between the players and coaches. Nance was lastly asked if he expected any good would come out of their private locker room meeting, as North Carolina has seven regular season games remaining on their schedule, three of which are against ranked opponents.

“I think so, yeah, I mean we said we’re kind of at a point where we can go one of two ways,” Nance said. “We can either completely turn this thing around, everything we want to do is still in front of us. Or we can feel sorry for ourselves and continue to head in the direction we’re going, but I think this team has a lot of fight in it and I think that we’re gonna be headed in the right direction.”