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.

North Carolina arrived in cold, snow-covered Pittsburgh on Monday perhaps not in the midst of a season on the brink, but without question in the middle of one with an ever-shrinking margin of error. The rising pressure surrounding the Tar Heels had to be freeing,