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.

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UNC season statistics

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Team	League	Overall	NET*	WAB*
No. 1 Duke	17–1	29–2	1	2
No. 10 Virginia	15–3	27–4	13	11
Miami	13–5	24–7	32	28
No. 19 North Carolina	12–6	24–7	23	19
Clemson	12–6	22–9	36	33
No. 24 Louisville	11–7	22–9	14	25
N.C. State	10–8	19–12	35	45
Florida State	10–8	17–14	69	74
California	9–9	21–10	65	49
Stanford	9–9	20–11	59	51
SMU	8–10	19–12	39	50
Virginia Tech	8–10	19–12	53	52
Wake Forest	7–11	16–15	64	81
Syracuse	6–12	15–16	83	92
Pittsburgh	5–13	12–19	109	146
Notre Dame	4–14	13–18	93	121
Boston College	4–14	11–20	159	217
Georgia Tech	2–16	11–20	167	210

* — Through Sunday games
Saturday’s results
No. 1 Duke 76, No. 19 North Carolina 61
Boston College 77, Notre Dame 69
Clemson 79, Georgia Tech 76
No. 24 Louisville 92, Miami 89
Florida State 92, SMU 78
Stanford 85, N.C. State 84
Wake Forest 80, California 73
Pittsburgh 71, Syracuse 69, OT
END OF REGULAR SEASON
ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday through Saturday

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Date	Time/ scores	Month/day	Opponent/event (final ranks)	TV
		October	Exhibitions
9	W, 88–70	Friday	vs. USC in Greensboro
18	5 p.m.	Sunday	vs. Indiana in Indianapolis	B1G+ *
27	7:30	Tuesday	vs. Charlotte	ACCN Extra
		November	Regular season
2	7 p.m.	Monday	vs. Western Carolina	ACCN
6	7 p.m.	Friday	vs. Wofford	ACCN
10	7 p.m.	Tuesday	vs. Wyoming	ACCN
13	7 p.m.	Friday	vs. Georgia	ESPN2
20	9 p.m.	Friday	vs. Marshall	ACCN
23	7 p.m.	Monday	vs. Monmouth	ACCN
27	7 p.m.	Friday	Dick Vitale Invitational vs. West Virginia in Charlotte	ESPN
		December
1	7:30	Tuesday	ACC/SEC Challenge vs. No. 13 Arkansas	ESPN
6	3 p.m.	Sunday	vs. Butler	ESPN2
12	Noon	Saturday	at Georgetown	Peacock
15	7 p.m.	Tuesday	Tobacco Road Classic vs. N.C. State in Greensboro	ESPN2
19	2:30	Saturday	CBS Sports Classic vs. Kentucky in New York	CBS
21	8 p.m.	Monday	vs. The Citadel	The CW
30	4 p.m.	Wednesday	vs. California	ACCN
		January
2	4 p.m.	Saturday	at Boston College	ESPN or ESPN2
5	9 p.m.	Tuesday	at Louisville	ESPN or ESPNU
9	Noon	Saturday	vs. N.C. State	ESPN2
13	7 p.m.	Wednesday	at Florida State	ESPN2 or ESPNU
16	2:15	Saturday	vs. Stanford	The CW
19	9 p.m.	Tuesday	vs. No. 17 Virginia	ESPN
23	Noon	Saturday	at Syracuse	ESPN or 2 or U
26	7 p.m.	Tuesday	vs. SMU	ESPN or ESPN2
30	6 or 6:30	Saturday	Nashville Hoops Showdown vs. No. 5 Illinois in Nashville, Tenn.	ESPN
		February
2	7 p.m.	Tuesday	at Notre Dame	ESPN or ESPN2
6	2:15	Saturday	vs. Georgia Tech	The CW
8	6 p.m.	Monday	vs. Louisville	ESPN
13	5:30	Saturday	at No. 4 Duke	ABC
20	7 p.m.	Saturday	at Wake Forest	ACCN
22	7 p.m.	Monday	vs. No. 24 Miami	ESPN
27	7 p.m.	Saturday	at Virginia Tech	ESPN
		March
2	9 p.m.	Tuesday	at Pittsburgh	ESPN or ESPN2
6	6 or 6:30	Saturday	vs. No. 4 Duke	ESPN
9–13		Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament in Greensboro

* — Fans can make a one-time payment of $8.99 to watch the stream of the UNC-Indiana exhibition on the Big Ten Network’s B1G+.

Photo via @UNC_Basketball