CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina basketball coach Hubert Davis learned a new word from star post player Armando Bacot in the Tar Heels’ 88-79 win against Wake Forest.
During a 10-minute stoppage with 11:15 left in the second half, Davis brought his team together to discuss game situations as medical personnel treated a fan at the Dean E. Smith Center.
After breaking down what he wanted to see from the Tar Heels down the stretch, Davis lightened the mood. He mentioned the high schools that RJ Davis, Caleb Love and Leaky Black attended before turning his attention to Bacot’s “new word.”
“Motion, like having motion. Armando said that a couple of days ago and he kept saying it,” Hubert Davis said.
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The head coach didn’t know what it meant, so he finally asked Bacot to break it down Wednesday night.
“You have everything. You’ve got a nice car, you’ve got good friends … your life is in motion,” Davis said.
“In the huddle, I said, ‘Look, guys, let’s get into motion.’ They all looked at me and just started laughing. I was like, ‘Did I say it the right way, did I say it the wrong way?’ We all just started laughing. Armando taught me the word. They were surprised a 52-year-old knew that. … In the second half, we were in motion. It was great.”
The game resumed after a two-minute warmup period with UNC ahead 61-60. The Tar Heels closed strong to beat Wake Forest for the eighth consecutive time in Chapel Hill.
“I was trying to keep them loose and get them to laugh a little bit,” Davis said. “We were laughing in the huddle and I just felt like they loosened up a little bit and were ready to go.”
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: UNC basketball’s Armando Bacot teaches Hubert Davis new word