North Carolina’s loss to California didn’t happen in any way that any player or coach was expecting for it to happen.
According to head coach Hubert Davis, the reason for the loss was due to UNC not following up as well as it needed to, which might be even worse than anyone could’ve imagined.
After dropping a tough, late loss to Stanford, the Tar Heels entered their matchup against Cal already mentally fighting an uphill battle. And for Davis, that was the reason UNC didn’t come out and do what it needed to.
“The Stanford game reminded me very (much) of the Wake Forest game,” Davis said, per USA Today. “The only difference is we lost. We led for 38 minutes of the game, we were up 12 a number of times and we had a two-minute stretch that ended up getting us a loss.”
For Davis, that loss lingered.
I understand that things haven’t gone well for UNC recently, but this is inexcusable and dallas a lot on the coaching staff. To hear Davis come out and say UNC was “shook” is just not OK.
“I really believe against Cal we were, for the first half, shook from the game against Stanford,” Davis said. “By the time that we woke up, we were down 18 or 20 and we started to play better and started to play the way that I know we can play.”
It’s a difficult position for a coach, especially one leading a roster that has experienced both highs and lows this season. Losses can continue if not handled correctly, and Davis acknowledged that it’s happening, something that has to be changed in the near future.
The second-half response offered some stuff to be happy about. But come on now. This is North Carolina we’re talking about, and it just lost to STANFORD and CAL in back-to-back games. That should NEVER happen.
We’ll see what changes are made but now it seems that there’s more to be worried about than some bad defense. If he can’t get his guys ready to play after some of these losses, it’s almost fair to question if he’s the man for the job.