Hubert Davis knows what it takes to get to the Final Four as a UNC basketball player and head coach. The 54-year-old has experience when it comes to directing a dramatic turnaround late in a season (see: the 2022 run to the title game after sitting at 18-8 around this same juncture in that campaign).

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After guiding his fourth batch of Tar Heels (14-10, 7-5 ACC) to Saturday’s desperation-mode 67-66 home win over the Pitt Panthers (14-9, 5-7 ACC), Davis recalled to the media what he told his players, who clearly benefited from the message, ahead of their crucial test in the Dean E. Smith Center:

“I always tell them that you really only have control of two things: how you react and how you respond…And then I came in before the game, and I said, ‘You know what, guys, I told you those were the only two things that you have control over.’ And I said, ‘I didn’t tell you the full story.’

“I said, ‘In some situations, you don’t have a choice.’ And I said, ‘When you decided to come here, and you decided to be in this locker room, and you put on that uniform, and you run out of that tunnel, and you play on that floor, you don’t have a choice.

“‘You don’t have a choice in terms of playing with the energy and effort on both ends of the floor. You don’t have a choice.

“‘You have to box out. You don’t have a choice in talking on defense. You don’t have a choice of making the extra pass. You don’t have a choice of attacking the offensive glass. You don’t have a choice setting a solid legal screen.

“‘You don’t have a choice. You put on that uniform and your responsibilities every day, give everything that you have.'”

UNC basketball sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau, now gearing up for the Tar Heels’ road bout against the Clemson Tigers at 7 p.m. ET Monday (ESPN) after delivering five points and seven assists in his 28 minutes of action on Saturday, noted his thoughts on being able to celebrate victory again:

“It felt really good because we feel like we’ve been in that position so many times, and we’ve been on the wrong side of it. So, it feels good to be on the good side of it now.”

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