By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — After No. 3 North Carolina arrived at the Smith Center about midnight after the first conference loss of the season, the Tar Heels still couldn’t believe they had lost at Georgia Tech.

Rather than head back to their apartments, the players had a players-only meeting in the locker room that lasted about 90 minutes, ending a little before 2 a.m. There was a lot to talk about after a 74–73 loss to the Yellow Jackets for league-leading Carolina (17–4, 9–1 ACC).

“Just conversations about like the whole game,” RJ Davis said Thursday at a press conference ahead of the Tar Heels’ 6:30 home clash (ESPN) with No. 7 Duke (16–4, 7–2) on Saturday. “It’s obviously a game that we didn’t want to lose. But at the same time, just to not overreact, keeping our composure leading up to this game.”

Nobody stood up and said that they should meet. Rather, it started organically, with everybody weighing in.

“It was all of us,” RJ Davis said. “It wasn’t just one person talking and rambling. Everyone had to share their thoughts.”

Coach Hubert Davis wasn’t part of the meeting. He got home after 1 a.m. and watched video of the game before finally going to sleep at 3:45 a.m.

He was happy to hear about the meeting.

“Hearing that they had a meeting when we got back and talked about our team, that’s something that brings joy to my heart because this is their team,” Coach Davis said. “And for them to be able to do that, that does not surprise me at all.”

Armando Bacot said a big reason the players had the extended discussion was how tough the loss was, knowing that a couple more points would have meant taking a winning streak into the Duke game.

“Really just talking about some of the things we could have done better,” Bacot said. “But also it was like, damn, they hit a lot of crazy shots. And we looked back at the last play and thought it was kind of tough. But we don’t want to make excuses and just want to move forward.”

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After the meeting, Bacot said they were ready to move on.

“We know we got to just flush it in the toilet and prepare for the game on Saturday because it’s a totally different team. It’s gonna be a different atmosphere,” Bacot said. “It was somewhat tough because we definitely should have won that game. We felt like we just left so much on the table. We wanted to keep the streak going. But we kind of just soaked it all in on Tuesday. And now we just moved on.”

The resumption of the greatest rivalry in sports awaits on Saturday.

UNC season statistics

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 12 North Carolina	1–0	13–1	18
No. 6 Duke	1–0	12–1	5
Miami	1–0	12–2	39
Virginia Tech	1–0	12–2	53
No. 16 Louisville	1–0	11–2	11
Clemson	1–0	11–3	36
N.C. State	1–0	10–4	32
Notre Dame	1–0	10–4	69
Georgia Tech	1–1	10–5	162
SMU	0–0	11–2	29
Boston College	0–0	7–6	180
California	0–1	12–2	54
No. 21 Virginia	0–1	11–2	31
Stanford	0–1	11–3	92
Syracuse	0–1	9–5	89
Wake Forest	0–1	9–5	71
Florida State	0–1	7–7	123
Pittsburgh	0–1	7–7	112

* — Through Wednesday games
Tuesday’s results
No. 12 North Carolina 79, Florida State 66
Miami 76, Pittsburgh 69
No. 16 Louisville 90, California 70
Notre Dame 47, Stanford 40
Wednesday’s results
N.C. State 70, Wake Forest 57
Clemson 64, Syracuse 61
Virginia Tech 95, No. 21 Virginia 85, 3 OTs
Duke 85, Georgia Tech 79
Friday’s games
No. 16 Louisville at Stanford, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Notre Dame at California, 11 p.m., ESPN2
Saturday’s games
No. 21 Virginia at N.C. State, 11 a.m., ESPN2
Virginia Tech at Wake Forest, noon, ACC Network
Clemson at Pittsburgh, noon, The CW
Boston College at Georgia Tech, 2 p.m., ACC Network
No. 12 North Carolina at SMU, 2:15, The CW
No. 6 Duke at Florida State, 3:45, CBS
Tuesday, Jan. 6, games
No. 6 Duke at No. 16 Louisville, 7 p.m., ESPN
Syracuse at Georgia Tech, 7 p.m., ACC Network
N.C. State at Boston College, 9 p.m., ACC Network

Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 BYU in SLC	Exhib.
29	Wednesday	W, 95–53	vs. Winston-Salem St.	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 94–54	vs. Central Arkansas	1–0
7	Friday	W, 87–74	vs. No. 17 Kansas	2–0
11	Tuesday	W, 89–74	vs. Radford	3–0
14	Friday	W, 97–53	vs. N.C. Central	4–0
18	Tuesday	W, 73–61	vs. Navy	5–0
			Fort Myers Tip-Off
25	Tuesday	W, 85–70	vs. St. Bonaventure	6–0
27	Thursday	L, 74–58	vs. No. 9 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at Kentucky	7–1
			—————————
7	Sunday	W, 81–61	vs. Georgetown	8–1
13	Saturday	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. ETSU	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	W, 71–70	vs. Ohio State	11–1
			—————————
22	Monday	W, 99–51	vs. East Carolina	12–1
30	Tuesday	W, 79–66	vs. Florida State	13–1, 1–0 ACC
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 21 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 16 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte