North Carolina players channel ACC Tournament disappointment into motivation, aiming to silence doubters and prove their NCAA Tournament mettle against VCU.
On Selection Sunday, North Carolina earned a No. 6 seed in the South Region and are set to take on No. 11 seed VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.
North Carolina enters the Big Dance with a 24-8 record and without its best player, Caleb Wilson, who suffered a broken thumb before the ACC Tournament.
Without Wilson, the Tar Heels exited the conference tournament early, losing 80-79 to a shorthanded Clemson team in the quarterfinal on Thursday.
During his news conference on Wednesday, Seth Trimble called the loss to Clemson "frustrating" and said the team wants to use the loss to fuel them in the NCAA Tournament.
"One of the things you always want to do is do good in your conference tournament, so just losing one right away was really tough, Trimble said, via 247Sports. "We all took it hard and personal, but we've been here.
"We've been on this road before. Coach (Hubert) Davis and the rest of the coaching staff did a really good job of getting us right back on track, working on the things we didn't do good, and we've been doing that this whole week since then."
Veesaar thinks the loss to the Tigers will give them a "chip" on their shoulder before taking on VCU on Thursday. UNC isn't looking past an impressive Rams team.
"Just embracing having a chip on our shoulder, knowing that we have not showed up on the big stage," Veesaar said. "So we kind of have to do better this tournament. We have to realize to just focus on the game, don't look ahead. We have VCU.
"Just play against them. Don't think about anything ahead of it. Every day just have a good practice, think about the game plan, try to execute as much as we can, and keep 100 percent effort."
The winner of UNC's contest against VCU will play the winner of the game between No. 3 seed Illinois and No. 14 seed Penn.
The Illini are heavily favored against Penn and would be a tough program for UNC to face if they can advance past the Rams.