GREENVILLE, S.C. -- In the final four minutes of regulation, as VCU chipped away at what had been a 19-point deficit to claw back to within reach of a suddenly sluggish North Carolina, Rams coach Phil Martelli Jr. told his team to keep the energy up, that the Tar Heels were tired.
It was obvious to VCU. On the UNC bench, however, it was apparently far less clear.
In a series of terse exchanges with reporters after VCU's 82-78 overtime win, North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said he didn't think his team was tired, appeared baffled by a question about what went wrong down the stretch and when pointedly asked why he had gone with a short six-man rotation in those waning minutes, offered a succinct response: "Because that was my decision."
The frustration was obvious for the Tar Heels long before Davis reached the dais for his postgame news conference.
Henri Veesaar had chirped at VCU players throughout the game, pointing to the "North Carolina" lettering across his jersey in an apparent response to comments Rams players had made a day earlier, suggesting they weren't intimidated by the Tar Heels' "brand."
But VCU's Lazar Djokovic, the primary target of Veesaar's bluster, connected on back-to-back 3-pointers that kick-started the Rams' comeback, and by the overtime period, there was little fight left in UNC's big man, who missed a pair of free throws and two jumpers amid the Heels' epic collapse.
"I'd been talking to the big fella the whole game," Djokovic said. "It kind of got me mad. Hit those back-to-back 3s, and from then on, we smelled the blood. We see the look in their faces, and from then on, we just went on a run."
That run came against the backdrop of a miserable shooting performance by the Heels, who connected on just 7 of 25 shots after extending the lead to 19, missed eight free throws (including three in overtime) and flubbed one scoring chance after another despite what Davis described as good looks at the basket.
"You get tired during the game, simple as that," said Seth Trimble, who played 43 minutes and finished with 15 points, but didn't hit a basket over the final 20 minutes of the game. "You get tired, but we've been in that position many, many times this year. So, it wasn't anything at first."
Instead, the meltdown feels astonishing and all-too-familiar for a frustrated UNC fan base.
The 19-point lead was the biggest collapse in the NCAA tournament since 2018, and tied for the largest collapse in the Round of 64 since the tournament expanded in 1985, according to ESPN Insights.
The Heels were one-and-done in the tournament for the second straight year, something the program hadn't done since expansion.
If this was a nadir, Davis wasn't concerned with the big picture in the immediate aftermath.
"That's a big-thinking question," Davis said when asked if Carolina needed significant change to meet expectations. "I apologize, I'm just not there right now. Just really sad that we're not continuing to play and to move forward because I have loved and enjoyed this team. I enjoy and love all of them, but I've just really enjoyed coaching this team. I really wanted this group and these kids to experience more."
