After the first question of the postgame press conference, Hubert Davis’s pause lasted a full 15 seconds. Long enough to wonder whether the Zoom connection had frozen. Long enough to wonder whether the North Carolina coach had any answer at all, literally or figuratively.
This was Feb. 16, after Davis’s Tar Heels had been embarrassed at home by a Pittsburgh team that would go on to lose 21 games and finish 13th in the Atlantic Coast Conference. North Carolina trailed by 17 at halftime and by 21 with 10 minutes to play before reducing the final deficit to nine. With a résumé heavy on blowout losses and light on quality wins, Carolina’s NCAA tournament hopes were dwindling and Davis’s critics were roaring.
But the first-year coach tasked with replacing the great Roy Williams wasn’t going to do or say anything that fed the growing maelstrom of discontent. The relentlessly upbeat 51-year-old let the dead air get the message across without giving voice to frustration. Disappointment was expressed, but so was determination.
