For any given team in any given sport, particularly a college basketball program when it comes to March , it's easy to look ahead towards your bitter rivals.
That potential issue faces the North Carolina Tar Heels right now, who welcome the ACC-best Duke Blue Devils to Chapel Hill, on Saturday, March 8 for a 6:30 p.m. tip-off in both teams' regular-season finale.
Between UNC's 92-73 victory on Saturday , March 1 over the ACC-worst Miami (FL) Hurricanes – and Saturday's Tobacco Road Rivalry rematch – stand the Virginia Tech Hokies . UNC (19-11, 12-6 ACC) travels to Blacksburg, Va. on Tuesday, March 4 to face VT (13-16, 8-10), which just beat Syracuse in overtime – also today.
During his postgame press conference, North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis highlighted how easy it is for Duke to distract his players, but also why he's confident in his players focusing on the Hokies.
"One of the things I always tell them, I give them this Bible verse – Proverbs 4:25 – it says, "Ignore all the sideshow distractions, keep your eyes straight ahead," Hubert said. "That's just really important. The only thing that is of importance to us, is what is right in front of us. And the opportunity to be able to compete against a Virginia Tech team on their home floor, is something that we're focused and zeroed on. The other things, I stress a lot, not to pay attention to that. Focus on what is real, what is real is on Tuesday, we'll be in Blacksburg playing Virginia Tech."
Despite the Tar Heels owning a 37-10 all-time advantage over Virginia Tech, Tuesday's hosts won two of the past three matchups. UNC, however, beat the Hokies 96-81 during 2024's February 17 matchup inside the Dean Dome.
Tuesday is a must-win for North Carolina, which is undoubtedly playing its best basketball as we get deeper into March. After the final buzzer sounds from Cassell Coliseum, then the Tar Heels can start thinking about Duke.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: Hubert Davis wants UNC to focus on Virginia Tech Tuesday, not Duke
