The North Carolina Tar Heels finally look like the team fans hoped for going into the season. It only took Hubert Davis three months to figure things out.
On Monday, the Heels went on the road and got a relatively routine victory over Florida State. RJ Davis dropped 20 points, Elliot Cadeau dished seven assists while Seth Trimble came off the bench with 17 points.
It was their fourth win in a row, matching the longest winning-streak of the season. If they can keep it going against Miami and Virginia Tech, Davis will have locked in his fourth 20-win season.
Hubert Davis found the “on” switch for UNC in late February back in 2021-22 and got his team off the NCAAT bubble by Selection Sunday. The Tar Heels are currently playing their best basketball of the season over the past week, so maybe he’s found the right button once again.
— Greg Barnes (@GSBarnes23) February 25, 2025
The Tar Heels are still very much on the tournament bubble. They can't afford to slip up in their next two games. A strong showing against Duke to end the regular season would certainly help. So would a deep run in the ACC tournament.
History tells us there's reason for optimism on that front. This has been Davis' MO more often than not.
Hubert Davis record in Feb.
Season | Pre-Feb. Record | Post-Feb. Record | Season Result |
|---|---|---|---|
2021-22 | 15-6 | 8-2 | Championship runner-up |
2022-23 | 15-6 | 4-6 | Missed tournament |
2023-24 | 17-4 | 8-2 | Sweet 16 |
2024-25 | 13-9 | 5-2 | TBD |
Davis has only been head coach at UNC for four seasons, so the sample size is relatively small. Still, outside of a terrible end to the 2023 campaign, his teams have finished relatively well. In his first season, getting hot late led to a deep tournament run. Last season, the Heels made it to the Sweet 16.
It'll be harder to get into the tournament this year than last because UNC started in a deeper hole. The Tar Heels only have one Quad 1 win: A 76-74 victory over UCLA in December. Fortunately, the FSU win made them 6-0 in Quad 2 games.
Either way their chances of going dancing look better than they did at the beginning of the month.
It was always unlikely Davis would get the ax, but a late season turnaround pretty much guarantees this is not the end of the line for the head coach.
There's a difference between surviving and thriving, of course. Repeating the success of 2022 would go a long way to keep Davis' seat from getting hotter. So would starting next season stronger, to be fair.