North Carolina on the wrong side of history with Hubert Davis

The North Carolina Tar Heels entered the 2026 NCAA Tournament without their best player in Caleb Wilson and facing a very dangerous No. 11 seed in VCU. Despite that, the Tar Heels held a 19-point lead and a double-digit lead at halftime.

But as the second half went on, UNC lost its groove and the Rams started to make a charge. North Carolina scored just eight points in the final 12:11 of game including overtime before eventually falling 82-78 .

The loss marks three-straight overall for the Tar Heels and the first time the program has lost in the first round in back-to-back tournaments. However, the jarring stat sits solely on Hubert Davis's shoulders.

In 50 NCAA Tournament games when North Carolina has led by at least 10 points at halftime, the Tar Heels are 48-2 all-time. Those two losses have both come under Davis — the 2022 national championship against Kansas and Thursday night against VCU. Ouch.

To take it a step further, VCU's 19-point comeback is the largest by any team in the first round in NCAA Tournament history. It got ugly tonight.

As North Carolina went away from what worked for them in the first half, they also had no answer for Terrance Hill Jr. who had 34 points. He led the charge for the Rams and took over down the stretch.

Now, North Carolina enters another very important offseason and one in which they need to ask themselves if they have the right guy at head coach.

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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Basketball: Ugly stat shows Hubert Davis tenure