CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Seth Trimble and Jae’Lyn Withers are already dreading this week’s film session.

In the closing minutes of No. 9 North Carolina’s 90-76 victory over Elon, both Tar Heel starters made errant passes. Both already got an earful about the late-game sequence from Hubert Davis. The head coach was so frustrated that, with 46 seconds left in the game, he called a timeout and quickly departed the huddle of players — leaving them with assistant coach Jeff Lebo while he paced the sideline for half a minute.

“Yeah, he threw a fit,” Trimble said, leaving it at that.

UNC opened its season with a roller-coaster victory at the Smith Center on Monday night. The Tar Heels’ late surge to victory over an in-state, underdog opponent proved to be less a dominant showing and more of a, as Davis put it, “blueprint” — unveiling critical lessons ahead of Friday night’s game at No. 1 Kansas.

“This is a great learning experience for us because people are going to play zone, we’re going to play against teams that have tremendous size, we’re going to have to rebound [and] dominate points in the paint,” Davis said, later adding. “This really gives us a blueprint on things.”

Elon surge erases Heels lead

Despite being heavily favored, the Tar Heels found themselves pushed to the edge by Elon. The Phoenix shot 50 percent from the field in the second half and capitalized on UNC’s lapses to orchestrate a 14-0 run and take a 71-69 lead late in the game.

The Tar Heels responded with a 21-5 closing stretch where fifth-year RJ Davis showcased ACC Player of the Year form and sophomore Elliot Cadeau knocked down timely shots.

In the process, the Tar Heels avoided an upset but exposed key areas for improvement.

“I think Elon was up 73-71 and we talked about in the huddle, ‘How are you going to react? How are you going to respond?’” Hubert Davis said. “This was actually the perfect game and a perfect situation to be in because this will help us grow. This will help us get to the team we want to become.”

Carolina’s late-game response was led by RJ Davis, who once again demonstrated his ability to step up in pressure-packed moments. After Elon’s rally seized the lead, Davis calmly hit a game-tying jumper and then a three-pointer to put the Tar Heels back on top.

His 24-point, seven-rebound, seven-assist performance was a steadying force on an otherwise inconsistent night. But the captain’s on-court maturity — seen when he brought the team together to huddle during intense sequences — highlighted a gap elsewhere on the court. It’s one RJ Davis was quick to acknowledge after the game.

“I think we have a lot to work on, especially defense,” he said, later adding. “They scored off our mistakes a lot. We weren’t in the right spots. We missed a couple switches on the defensive end. Little stuff like that.”

The veteran guard added that, without Armando Bacot’s presence as a defensive anchor, the team has to work better to call out screens — both on and off the ball.

Defense needs improvement

Cadeau, who had an impressive game with 17 points and eight assists, also echoed the need for defensive cohesion. Despite his own performance — notching three steals and two blocks — he felt dissatisfied after the win.

“I feel like as a team we didn’t play as well as we needed to on the defensive end,” Cadeau said. “They went on a lot of runs and we allowed them to score a lot of points and shoot very good from the field.”

Hubert Davis has already set the tone for a high-paced offense that thrives in transition. The Tar Heels displayed just that, capitalizing on turnovers to generate 18 fast-break points.

Yet this style of play can also lead to avoidable errors, as seen Monday night.

“The last two minutes, we had a lot of possessions where I think the ball flew out of bounds,” RJ Davis said. “Attention to detail is going to be key for us. This team has the potential to be really great just because of the talent we have and the depth we have.”

The Tar Heels are well aware of the challenge that awaits them at Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse. Not only will UNC be facing a top-ranked opponent, but the Tar Heels will do so in one of the loudest, most hostile environments in college basketball. For a team still figuring out its chemistry and developing its communication on both ends of the court, this week’s practices — and film sessions — will be crucial tune-ups.

In the words of junior forward Jalen Washington, the team’s “got a lot of maturing to do” and very little time to do so.

“We’re going to look back at this and we might be a little bit embarrassed at how messy it was [and] how sloppy it was,” Washington said. “It wasn’t probably what we wanted it to be … so we’re just going to look at this and keep growing and take it as a lesson.”

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