Thursday’s first-round matchup between North Carolina and Marquette in the NCAA Tournament will be the first between head coaches Hubert Davis and Shaka Smart in their careers. But Smart is familiar with North Carolina and has gotten the best of the Tar Heels as a head coach.
Smart is 3-0 all-time against North Carolina, winning all three of those games in his time with Texas. And all three came against Roy Williams, which was the legendary coaches’ bugaboo in his career. Whenever the Tar Heels and Longhorns matched up, UNC simply couldn’t find a way to win the game and instead dropped all three.
That included a matchup in the Maui Invitational title game back in 2020.
Smart and the Longhorns had a history of upsetting North Carolina, dating back to 2015. The unranked Longhorns stunned No. 3 North Carolina 84-82 on a buzzer-beater on December 12th, 2015. The win was one of the first real big ones for Smart at Texas and sent UNC to 7-2 overall. A few years later, an unranked Texas team stunned No. 7 North Carolina 92-89 on a neutral court in Las Vegas. The loss was the first for the defending champion Tar Heels as they spoiled a 33-point performance from Coby White.
And finally, last season No.9 Texas got a buzzer-beater from Matt Coleman to beat No. 14 UNC 69-67 in the Maui final.
Marquette HC Shaka Smart was an undefeated 3-0 vs. #UNC while at Texas.
Dec. 12, 2015 – Texas beats No. 3 UNC 84-82 (in Austin, Texas)
Nov. 22, 2018 – Texas beats No. 7 UNC 92-89 (in Las Vegas)
Dec. 2, 2020 – Texas beats No. 14 UNC 69-67 (in Asheville, NC)All close games!
— Ross Martin (@RossMartin_IC) March 16, 2022
All three games have been close but for some reason, Smart had Williams’ number in these games.
Alas, a new opportunity awaits the Tar Heels under Davis. This is not only a chance for the Tar Heels to avenge a first-round loss to Wisconsin a year ago in the tournament. This won’t be an easy task at all and Smart is familiar with how UNC wants to play, so he’s going to have a gameplan ready.
It’s just up to UNC to deliver Davis a win and get a bugaboo off of the program’s back.
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