Roy Williams shares moment with Hubert Davis after Final Four berth

After North Carolina‘s win that earned them a trip to the Final Four, former UNC coach Roy Williams shared a special moment with current coach Hubert Davis. In his first season after taking over for the Tar Heels’ legendary coach Williams, Davis has led North Carolina to a Final Four appearance as an eight-seed — and a pending matchup with rival Duke for a chance at the national championship game.

All love for Roy Williams and Hubert Davis 🤝

(via @LukeDeCock) pic.twitter.com/vmeigyCRvF

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 28, 2022

Roy Williams on Hubert Davis’ win

After the game, while Davis and his team celebrated on the court and Davis himself gave an emotional postgame interview — The News & Observer‘s Luke DeCock caught up with Williams in the stands to ask him how he felt about the program’s big win.

“It’s perhaps, for me, the greatest moment in my basketball career,” said Williams. “I’ve never had any more faith and love for one man and to think that he’s just won it — he’s been better than I ever was, right now.”

Roy Williams was North Carolina’s head coach from 2003–2021, leading the Tar Heels to three national championships in nine Final Four appearances. Williams stepped down as head coach in 2021, turning the reins over to Davis who had worked as his assistant coach since 2012. Davis was on the bench with Williams for North Carolina’s 2017 championship, and now is poised to make a run at a title of his own as head coach in just his first year.

Hubert Davis on reaching Final Four

While his team celebrated their huge win as a group behind him, Davis was asked after the game what it meant to him to reach the biggest stage of the season in just his first year as coach of the Tar Heels.

“I’m just so happy for them,” said Davis through tears. “I really wanted this for them. I just desperately wanted this for them. And I love these guys so much, they trusted me in my first year. They allowed me to coach them and allowed me to be in their life. I’m here because of them. It has nothing to do about coaching, it’s all them. And it’s just tears of joy being able to be in their lives. The pride not just comes from winning, the pride comes from seeing these smiles and tears of joy. It’s awesome.”

As Davis tried to leave the interview to turn the attention to his players again, he was asked one final question about how it feels to play their rival Duke in the Final Four for the first time in NCAA history.

“I’m not even thinking about that right now,” said Davis. “Right now I’m just so happy for our guys having an opportunity to play in the Final Four.”