The North Carolina Tar Heels just lost in the first round of the men’s NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.
No. 6 UNC held a 19-point lead over No. 11 VCU in the second half, but the Tar Heels squandered it through poor shooting and head coach Hubert Davis’ commitment to a six-man rotation. According to Isaac Schade, the Tar Heels’ 82-78 overtime loss to VCU marked the second time in program history that they’ve lost in the NCAA tournament when leading by double digits at halftime.
“To say this more specifically: UNC is now 48-2 all-time when leading by double-digits at halftime in the NCAA Tournament,” Schade wrote. “Those 2 games? 2022 National Championship: Led Kansas by 15 (40-25) [and] lost 72-69. 2026 1st Round: Led VCU by 11 (39-28) [and] lost 82-78.”
Both of those all-time collapses came under Hubert, who took over for Roy Williams upon his retirement in 2021.
It took no time at all for fans and pundits alike to start calling for Davis’ firing. UNC senior guard Seth Trimble wasn’t having it.
“He’s been my coach for four years, and he has helped me grow,” Trimble told WRAL’s Pat Welter in the locker room. “He’s helped me persevere. He’s helped me become a better man. Everybody has their flaws. You know, Coach Davis, he isn’t the perfect coach, but he’s a coach who has made me better. He’s a coach who has made guys better, and he’s shown that he can win here.”
Trimble continued, “I know he gets hate. Over the last four years, I know he’s gotten a lot of it. But I’ll continue to ride with him.”
Junior big man Henri Veesaar also defended Davis and added, “I feel like we were in a really good spot. Then, obviously, Caleb’s injury, I think that affects our season. But I don’t want to put it on that. I feel like we had enough in this group where we could have made a run.”
UNC star freshman Caleb Wilson was lost for the season when he broke his right thumb at practice on March 5. The Tar Heels didn’t win another game after that to finish the year on a three-game skid.
It’s a brutal way for Trimble’s UNC career to end. He put up 15 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and five steals against VCU, but he went cold in the second half and did not make a field goal after the 14:58 mark in the second half.
With Welter, Trimble got choked up when trying to summarize his four years at Chapel Hill. “The best journey that I could have ever dreamed of,” he said. “I faced everything here. I succeeded, I failed. Each and every day, I just put in so, so much, and a lot was given back to me.”
Now, UNC faces unsettling uncertainty about the program’s future.
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