By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — Coach Hubert Davis suggested Friday that it is doubtful that either Armando Bacot or Pete Nance will play Saturday at Louisville.

Davis said that Bacot, who rolled his left ankle in the first two minutes of Thursday’s loss at Virginia, is further along in his recovery than Nance and that Bacot was “still very questionable, at best” to play against the Cardinals.

Nance strained his back in the Dec. 30 game at Pittsburgh, played two minutes against Wake Forest on Jan. 4 and didn’t play against Notre Dame last Saturday or against the Cavaliers on Tuesday.

While Davis is skeptical about Bacot’s chances of playing Saturday, he’s pleased with his progress.

“He didn’t practice [Thursday], but I was surprised by the way that he was moving [Thursday]. He’s improving a lot. I don’t know if he’ll play [Saturday]. But I was really encouraged by the way that he moved yesterday,” Davis said at a press conference Friday before the team practiced. “I haven’t seen them yet. And so I’ll look, and we’ll talk. But the most important thing that I’ve always said is I want Armando and I want Pete healthy.”

Without both players, UNC played plenty of unconventional lineups and was forced to make plenty of adjustments for an offense built around going inside to Bacot in recent games. That led to plenty of playing time for freshman center Jalen Washington, who collected 13 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes.

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That helped in Bacot’s absence, but there was so much else missing without him in addition to his average of 17.6 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.

Davis can relate to what Nance, averaging 10.9 points and 6.1 rebounds, is going through.

“For somebody that, at times, has struggled with back issues, it’s all about flexibility. It’s about strength, and it’s improving every day,” Davis said. “He could be ready [Saturday] as well. But if I would guess, I would say Armando is further along. And Armando was still very questionable at best to play tomorrow against Louisville.”

Davis said he’s determined to do what’s right for Bacot and Nance and won’t rush them back.

“When all the muscles are loose, and there’s strength there and stability there, whether it takes one day or 21 days, I just want to make sure that  Pete health-wise is in a great spot,” Davis said. “It could be tomorrow, it could be today, it could be next week. But I don’t ever put a time frame on it. I just want the guys healthy to be able to play.”

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UNC statistics

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Team	League	Overall
Clemson	10–3	18–6
No. 8 Virginia	9–3	17–4
Pittsburgh	9–3	16–7
No. 19 Miami	10–4	19–5
No. 22 N.C. State	9–4	19–5
Duke	8–5	17–7
North Carolina	7–5	15–8
Wake Forest	7–6	15–9
Syracuse	7–6	14–10
Florida State	6–7	8–16
Boston College	5–8	11–13
Virginia Tech	4–8	14–9
Notre Dame	2–10	10–13
Louisville	1–11	3–20
Georgia Tech	1–12	8–15

Monday’s result
No. 19 Miami 81, Duke 59
Tuesday’s games
North Carolina at Wake Forest, 7 p.m., ESPN
Louisville at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m., ACCN
No. 22 N.C. State at No. 8 Virginia, 9 p.m., ACCN
Wednesday’s games
Notre Dame at Georgia Tech, 7 p.m., RSNs
Boston College at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m., ACCN
Syracuse at Florida State, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Saturday’s games
Pittsburgh at Florida State, noon, ESPN2 or ESPNU
No. 22 N.C. State at Boston College, noon, RSNs
Clemson at North Carolina, 2 p.m., ESPN2
Virginia Tech at Notre Dame, 2 p.m., RSNs
Duke at No. 8 Virginia, 4 p.m., ESPN
Georgia Tech at Wake Forest, 5 p.m., ACCN
Louisville at No. 19 Miami, 7 p.m., ACCN

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Date	Month/day	Time/score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Location	TV/record
	October
28	Friday	W, 101–40	Johnson C. Smith	Home	Exhibition
	November
7	Monday	W, 69–56	UNCW	Home	1–0
11	Friday	W, 102–86	College of Charleston	Home	2–0
15	Tuesday	W, 72–66	Gardner-Webb	Home	3–0
20	Sunday	W, 80–64	James Madison	Home	4–0
			Phil Knight Invitational
24	Thursday	W, 89–81	First round: Portland	Portland	5–0
25	Friday	L, 70–65	Semifinals: No. 11 Iowa State	Portland	5–1
27	Sunday	L, 103–101, 4 OTs	Consolation: No. 3 Alabama	Portland	5–2
			ACC/Big Ten Challenge
30	Wednesday	L, 77–65	No. 18 Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	5–3
	December
4	Sunday	L, 80–72	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	5–4, 0–1 ACC
10	Saturday	W, 75–59	Georgia Tech	Home	6–4, 1–1 ACC
13	Tuesday	W, 100–67	The Citadel	Home	7–4
			CBS Sports Classic
17	Saturday	W, 89–84, OT	Ohio State	New York	8–4
			Jumpman Invitational
21	Wednesday	W, 80–76	Michigan	Charlotte	9–4
30	Friday	L, 76–74	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	9–5, 1–2 ACC
	January
4	Wednesday	W, 88–79	Wake Forest	Home	10–5, 2–2 ACC
7	Saturday	W, 81–64	Notre Dame	Home	11–5, 3–2 ACC
10	Tuesday	L, 65–58	No. 8 Virginia	Charlottesville	11–6, 3–3 ACC
14	Saturday	W, 80–59	Louisville	Louisville, Ky.	12–6, 4–3 ACC
17	Tuesday	W, 72–64	Boston College	Home	13–6, 5–3 ACC
21	Saturday	W, 80–69	No. 22 N.C. State	Home	14–6, 6–3 ACC
24	Tuesday	W, 72–68	Syracuse	Syracuse, N.Y.	15–6, 7–3 ACC
	February
1	Wednesday	L, 65–64	Pittsburgh	Home	15–7, 7–4 ACC
4	Saturday	L, 63–57	Duke	Durham	15–8, 7–5 ACC
7	Tuesday	7 p.m.	Wake Forest	Winston-Salem	ESPN
11	Saturday	2 p.m.	Clemson	Home	ESPN2
13	Monday	7 p.m.	No. 19 Miami	Home	ESPN
19	Sunday	1 p.m.	No. 22 N.C. State	Raleigh	ESPN
22	Wednesday	9 p.m.	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	ESPN or ESPN2
25	Saturday	6 or 8	No. 8 Virginia	Home	ESPN
27	Monday	7 p.m.	Florida State	Tallahassee, Fla.	ESPN
	March
4	Saturday	6:30	Duke	Home	ESPN
			ACC Tournament
7–11	Tuesday-Saturday	TBA	TBA	Greensboro	TBA

Photo via @UNC_Basketball