North Carolina coach Hubert Davis chose to downplay the significance of his team's Saturday showdown at No. 2 Duke following the Tar Heels' dispiriting 73-65 loss at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. The defeat was UNC's third in its last four games and raises the stakes of the upcoming rivalry game for a team that is scrambling to assemble an NCAA Tournament resume.

Following back-to-back losses, UNC basketball coach Hubert Davis was asked about the Tar Heels' mental approach and how he's dealing with it.

And then the final minutes, too — and again, in a season of late-game letdowns — when UNC went more than three minutes without a point, missed 10 of their final 11 attempts from the field and allowed the Panthers to score the final nine points, which were part of a larger 14-2 run over the final five-plus minutes.