Speaking of Hubert Davis, eighth-seeded North Carolina will be on familiar ground when it faces fourth-seeded U.C.L.A. on Friday in Philadelphia (9:39 p.m., CBS). On the Tar Heels’ march to the 2016 N.C.A.A. championship game, where they lost to Villanova on Kris Jenkins’s game-winning 3-pointer, they beat Indiana and Notre Dame in Philadelphia to reach the Final Four.
Of course, none of the current players were on that team, and only one, the senior guard Leaky Black, has been to the round of 16.
“To see not just the determination and the fight and the will and the want-to, but also the excitement and enjoyment of being in a stage that they’ve never experienced before brings joy to me,” Davis said.
North Carolina had its 98th practice of the season on Thursday, and the junior forward Armando Bacot told Davis he wanted to get to at least 100.
“OK,” Davis told him, “that means, then, we’ve got to practice on Saturday, and then that means we’ve got to go practice back at home. So our guys are excited. They’re motivated. They accept the challenge of playing a great team.”
The Peacocks power into Philadelphia.