‘I’m not gonna quit’: UNC basketball left soul searching after loss at Wake Forest

There’s not a whole lot North Carolina needs to see on video from its 92-85 loss to Wake Forest on Tuesday that will help put an end to its three game losing streak.

Whether the Heels improve will come down to how they react to the discussions that took place in the locker room afterwards.

Carolina took more than double the time it normally takes — about 35 minutes total — to emerge from its locker room in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum while desperately trying to figure out what why their season appears headed sideways.

“We did have a long discussion and much-needed discussion in the locker room,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “One thing that I like to do is keep those comments with the guys in the locker room. The reason being is not that I don’t want to tell you, but in order to move forward, it’s best to talk to the people that you’re moving forward with.”

The Heels (15-9, 7-6 ACC) have now lost at least three games in a row for the second time this season.

Senior forward Armando Bacot took a turn addressing the team after Davis’ postgame remarks. And his message was that starting with Thursday’s practice, things have to change.

“Caleb (Love), RJ (Davis) and Leaky (Black), we came back for reason,” Bacot said. “This now? This isn’t it.”

Bacot had a range of emotion describing being frustrated that practices haven’t translated into games, questioning why the chemistry of the team has been off and challenging his teammates to show up for Thursday’s practice dedicated to turning things around or don’t show up at all.

“I’m not gonna quit, I love this university too much, I love the game of basketball too much to quit,” Bacot said. “Like I told the guys, these next couple of days is going to be hard because we did put on that performance and people are gonna be mad and rightfully so, you should be. But we’ve got to block out the noise and just keep playing. I’m not quitting.”

The Heels trailed by as many as 26 points through the first 30 minutes against Wake and looked disengaged for a prolonged stretch for the first time all season. How they played in the final 10 minutes of the game resembled the urgency that they need moving forward.

After going scoreless in the final 3:57 in Saturday’s loss at Duke, Carolina scored 27 points during the same stretch against Wake to cap off a 60-point second half. But it wasn’t enough to compensate for a lackluster start.

“We’ve just got to have that edge about ourselves, we’ve got to play like we’re desperate to win, we’ve got to care about the game,” said Love, who finished with a team-high 24 points. “… I keep saying this after every loss, but once we buy into everything about the game — the details, just competing period, it’s not really Xs and Os — I just feel we have to go out there and compete and everything will change.”

Hubert Davis said that their focus needed to change. He alluded to outside influences, be it family, friends, agents, trainers or anonymous people on social media causing interference.

“Every time that I speak to the team, I’m speaking to 30 to 40 voices,” Davis said. “That’s why I tell them to turn down the noise from the phone, family and friends and that’s why I give them Bible verses of Proverbs 4:25 and tell them to ignore all sideshow distractions. Keep your eyes straight ahead. Because the people and the teams that are able to do that best are the ones that have a better chance of being successful.”

Puff Johnson believes it can be done. The junior forward recalled how a year ago, a 22-point loss at Wake was one of the turning points of the season and the Heels closed out the regular season going 11-2.

“We decided to turn it around and we did turn it around and we went on one of the great stretches at the end of the year and the ACC tournament in March Madness,” Johnson said. “That’s what we need to do. We just need to self reflect not only in ourself, but as a team, and just get it back going.”

Carolina has just seven games remaining to try and do so, starting with Saturday’s home game against Clemson, the ACC’s first-place team.