UNC basketball earns reprieve from the noise during much-needed win over Georgia Tech

A good Saturday for North Carolina — a happy one, at last — looked for a little while like it might not be. A relatively easy victory for a while seemed uncertain. The Tar Heels arrived back in Chapel Hill last week reeling from four consecutive defeats and they heard it all: the noise from their disgruntled fans; the metaphorical sound of everyone hopping off the bandwagon.

And then, at times during the first half against Georgia Tech, they mostly heard nothing at all at the Smith Center. For a while it was as quiet as ... a church? A library? Pick a simile. The Yellow Jackets led by a point with five minutes remaining before halftime, and that was after 15 minutes of aesthetically-displeasing basketball, the kind of which has been in large supply for UNC early this season.

And then? Well, and then came a burst that began with an R.J. Davis 3-pointer, and a fast-break dunk from Armando Bacot and then the decibels rose and with it, the Tar Heels’ performance. They closed the half on a 16-2 run and that was the difference during a 75-59 victory that was most meaningful not because UNC won, but because of what it avoided by not losing.

This is only December, and early December at that. And this was only a very early season conference game against lowly Georgia Tech, which arrived in Chapel Hill ranked 123rd nationally, according to kenpom.com. And so, on both accounts — for the amount of basketball left, and the quality of opponent — let’s not get carried away here.

And yet you got the sense, too, that the Tar Heels desperately needed what they delivered here on Saturday. Who knows if this was a so-called “get-right” performance — time will tell soon enough — but it was clear enough, given the urgent need for some good mojo following four straight losses, that UNC could not afford another “get-it-wrong” game.

It’s way early, still, but already the Tar Heels’ run to the Final Four last April feels like ancient history, and not something that just happened eight months ago. And starting this season ranked No. 1, where they remained after five shaky victories? That feels like a while ago, too. If the season wasn’t approaching the brink, already, then it’s fair to say it was careening toward the precipice.

And so this was a reprieve. A breather. A sigh of relief? Sure.

Since coming back home with that four-game losing streak, UNC attempted “to be positive” and “have great energy” in practice, junior guard Caleb Love said. Perhaps easier said than done with the team’s supporters melting down all around. To be fair, this has been a rough go of it for a nation of fans used to immense success in a lot of areas, UNC’s mediocre football history notwithstanding.

But now the football Tar Heels have lost three consecutive games, after one of their best starts in school history. The women’s soccer team lost in the national championship game in double-overtime in the sort of crushing loss whose spirit will linger. The men’s basketball team has not at all resembled what everyone thought it’d be.

Armando Bacot, the senior forward, understands the consternation.

“They’re just passionate about Carolina basketball,” he said, smiling, after returning from an injury to finish with 21 points and 13 rebounds — a vintage Bacot performance and one UNC needs a lot more of. “And I mean, it’s one of the most storied programs. So when they don’t win they get upset.

“I mean, I’m an Eagles fan. And I get mad, too.”

The criticism is “coming from a good place,” Bacot said, and sometimes he’s able to “laugh at some of it, channel it and use it as motivation.” Still, though, it can all be a bit much, the sky-is-falling nature of fans about eight months and 10 games removed from one of the most satisfying victories in school history, and nine months removed from another just as pleasing.

That’s UNC basketball, though. There’s little patience.

Not much understanding of struggle. At least not externally.

Internally, “you’ve really got to learn to just be mentally strong,” junior guard R.J. Davis said, “and not really pay too much attention to negative noise. Because it could affect you a little bit.”

That was why a different kind of noise was so rewarding to coach Hubert Davis and his players here on Saturday. It was the deafening noise of the Smith Center crowd during that run to close the first half. It was the commotion, afterward, of the team celebrating with touted freshman Jalen Washington, who played his first minutes of the season.

At halftime, Davis turned to his staff of assistant coaches and said those final few minutes of the first half provided a sensation he hadn’t felt in a while. It was the first time this season, Davis said, that he felt like his team had played “Carolina basketball.”

Whatever anybody’s definition of the phrase, it wasn’t there throughout the first month. Davis was an assistant on Roy Williams’ staff in 2016, the last time the Tar Heels began a season like this one, with a mission of redemption and vengeance. It worked then, during UNC’s long march toward the 2017 national championship, but recently the expectations have proven to be more burdensome than motivational.

Nothing has come easily, and “you have to cut the cord on what happened last year,” Hubert Davis said. “You have to do that. And I think in some ways, we haven’t done that — and today I felt like we took a step forward in doing that.”

For the first time in a while, he saw smiles on his players’ faces. For the first time in more than two weeks, UNC won.

Davis exited his postgame press conference to the sound of Steve Kirschner, UNC’s longtime sports information director, reciting various stats of renown to media members: that Saturday was UNC’s season-best rebound margin (43 to 22); that it was also UNC’s best assists-to-field goals ratio (15 assists on 27 made shots).

“We’re trying,” Davis said as he walked out into the hall, with both the sound of relief and hope strong in his voice. “We’re trying, we’re trying.”

For the first time in a while, his team could build on a victory, and quiet some of the noise.