Heels prove themselves in ACC opener at Georgia Tech, look to keep ‘foot on the gas’

Validation.

It was the last word North Carolina players saw on the locker room white board before their 79-62 win over Georgia Tech on Sunday at McCamish Pavilion. And they hope their win means it’s the final word on hearing UNC coach Hubert Davis repeat it to them again.

“He told us like 10 times before practice, he just said like 10 of our games in a row saying we’re going to win this game and validate that one by winning the next game,” said junior forward Armando Bacot, who finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds. “He just kind of went on and on and on, so that’s just kind of been our theme.”

Davis broke down the definition of the word, used it as a Thought of the Day before practice and reiterated his message through the media that the only way the Tar Heels’ (6-2, 1-0 ACC) win over No. 24 Michigan on Wednesday would mean anything, is if they followed that performance with another strong effort in their ACC road opener.

“I gave them the definition of validation in terms of proving,” Davis said. “And I said prove to yourself, prove to this program, prove to people that way that you play defense and energy and effort and the way that you shared the basketball on Wednesday night wasn’t a one night thing. That this is who we are. This is our team.”

He gave the Heels the ultimate validation after the game, but first reminded the media that he said during the ACC Tipoff media day in October that not enough people were talking about Carolina.

Pastner watched their losses to Purdue and Tennessee from last month while preparing for Sunday’s game and noted just how much they’ve improved since then.

“They’re a way better team, like I wish we were playing in November, because how they were playing early in the season,” Pastner said. “They’re not as good (then) as they are now and that’s a credit to coach Davis and staff. They’ve gotten better and I think they’re good enough to win the ACC.”

Carolina won’t pick back up with conference play until Dec. 29 against Virginia Tech. Between now and then the Heels have four games including a home contest against sneaky-good Furman, which won at Louisville in overtime last month; and the Las Vegas showdown against No. 5 UCLA in the CBS Classic.

The Heels will likely jump back into the top 25 polls after double-digit wins over the Wolverines and Yellow Jackets and unlike the preseason, they feel like they’ve earned the right to be confident about it now.

Senior Leaky Black was the only player on the roster who had beaten Georgia Tech before Sunday. Black said the Heels were “trying to prove a point to the country, not just Georgia Tech.”

“That we’re not a joke anymore,” said Black, who was primarily responsible for holding the nation’s leading scorer, Michael DeVoe, to just 13 points. “I feel like we’ve been the laughingstock of college basketball for the last couple of years.”

Maybe not a laughingstock, but there certainly was a dip in what has been a standard for Carolina basketball with a losing season in 2019-20 and being eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season.

The signs were all there in McCamish Pavilion, that this is a different team. Carolina had offensive season-highs by shooting 54 percent from the field, shooting 58 percent from 3-point range (10-for-17) and having 21 assists on 31 made baskets.

Four players scored in double figures including Caleb Love, who had 17 points, and Brady Manek, who scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half.

“I feel like when we play together, we’re unstoppable,” said guard R.J. Davis, who scored a game-high 23 points. “That’s what we did today, we shared the ball. Everyone got the opportunity.”

The biggest improvement has been defensively, where they held Michigan to a season-low 51 points and were one point away from holding Georgia Tech to a season-low tying 61 points.

Black and Anthony Harris spearheaded their defensive effort with the way they combined to keep DeVoe in check. He had been shooting 59 percent from 3-point range, but Black and Harris held him to just 1-for-5 shooting from behind the arc.

DeVoe’s one make came with a 25-footer he pulled in transition before Black could get set. Hubert Davis said it’s “hard to find somebody in the country defending better than Leaky.”

“We’ve been locked in on the defensive side in practice,” Harris said. “Just being aggressive, being physical, that plays a big role into not letting teams score, not letting them get into their sets and not letting their best player get hot.”

The Heels are kind of hot right now having arguably played their best two games of the season. With the school in final exams, they won’t return to action until Saturday at home against Elon.

Bacot wasn’t concerned about them gathering any rust in the meantime. He said they can always reference their losses in the Hall of Fame Tipoff as a reason to stay focused.

“Just looking back and reflecting on just some of the mistakes you made early in the season, specifically the Mohegan Sun, that wasn’t a good feeling for us,” Bacot said. “So just knowing that there is a chance of losing and playing bad, we don’t want that to happen. So just looking back and reflecting on that I feel like that will just keep our foot on the gas.”