Hubert Davis is facing some harsh criticism after the North Carolina Tar Heels suffered a first-round upset at the hands of the VCU Rams in the NCAA Tournament.
The head coach had his team in a position to secure a victory, leading by 19 points, but the No. 11 seed rallied back. Ultimately, VCU took the game to overtime and sealed their upset 82-78 win with a three-point shot with 15 seconds left in the extra session.
VCU received a game-high 34 points from Terrence Hill Jr. off the bench, as he was 13-of-23 from the floor and 7-of-10 from three-point range. UNC’s Henri Veesaar led all Tar Heels with 26 points and 10 rebounds in the OT loss.
The comeback win was the largest since 2018 when Nevada defeated Cincinnati in the tournament’s second round. However, Thursday’s loss stung particularly hard for head coach Davis, who some felt was responsible for the team’s lack of achievement in the postseason.
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That included NFL legend Shannon Sharpe, who regularly blasts his opinions on his various shows, podcasts, and social media. He took to X (formerly Twitter) to publicly call out Davis for what he deemed “one of the worst coaching performances” he’s seen “in a while.”
“H.Davis performed 1 of the worst coaching jobs. I’ve seen in a while. Hill Jr who has it going 2 play 1 on 1. Didn’t trap, blitz, 2 make him give the ball up. Losing early in ACC tourney, losing big lead. Going 2 be hard convincing alumni/president. He should remain as coach,” Sharpe said in his message.
This year’s first-round upset was the second-straight for Davis’ Tar Heels. Earlier this month, they lost their star Caleb Wilson for March Madness due to season-ending thumb surgery, leaving them without one of their leading players.
Davis, a Tar Heels alum, began coaching at North Carolina in the 2021-22 season, and they had their most successful run in his first year, reaching the National Championship Game.
However, that was also a failure under Davis, as his UNC team then was up 16 points on the Kansas Jayhawks, who came back to win the game 72-69 and cut down the nets.
Based on postgame reactions from various sports networks, there may be some serious questions at UNC following the surprising first-round collapse from the Davis-coached Tar Heels.
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