**************************************************************************************
***************************************************************************************
CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Hubert Davis took part in the first ACC basketball coaches’ conference call Monday afternoon to field questions about his team.
In addition, Davis was asked about recruiting New York area players, scheduling games up there, the ACC as a whole, and more.
Above is a video of his full Q&A, and below is the complete transcript along with a few notes:
*On an update on Dawson Garcia and Justin Mckoy. Garcia left the game Sunday after a BC player landed on his head smacking it to the floor, and he did not return. McKoy missed the trip because he was on COVID protocol. He missed UVA’s NCAA Tournament game last March because he was on COVID protocol then, too.
“I do not have any information on Dawson and Justin’s availability for Wednesday night against Notre Dame,” Davis said. “I know that they will not practice today. But in terms of moving forward and their ability to practice tomorrow and play on Wednesday, I have to talk to our strength and conditioning and our trainer yet, but I did get a text in, and I know that Justin and Dawson will not be practicing today.”
*Notre Dame has been a bit inconsistent but has won four of five games, including over Kentucky and an ACC road win at Pitt, and are playing their best basketball of the season. Davis offered his thoughts on Carolina’s opponent for Wednesday night.
“Notre Dame, they’re an experienced basketball team,” Davis said. “They’ve got one freshman in Blake Wesley, who’s fantastic on both ends of the floor, but everybody else is a junior or senior. So, they’re experienced, they understand how to play, they understand their system. They can really shoot the basketball.
“It’s going to put a lot of pressure on us defensively with two things: Being able to guard the ball; their ability to be able to get to the basket I think is really good, especially with Prentiss (Hubb) and Blake. But also the dribble drive, getting into the paint and being able to dish it to their three-point shooters.
“With the exception of Paul Atkinson, everybody else can really stroke it from three. From a defensive standpoint, it puts you in in stretch positions to be able to guard, but it’s something that we’ve done throughout the year, and done a good job contesting threes as well. It will be a good challenge for us on the defensive end.
“And offensively, they don’t really have the depth and the size that we have, so we have to use that versatility and use that to an advantage for us on the offensive end.”
*The ACC has lost 54 nonconference games and outside of Duke, there are no locks for the NCAA Tournament. Just about every game, or so it appears right now, is a toss-up.
“I do think anybody can beat anybody, and I also think this is the time where teams start to figure out who they are on both ends of the floor in terms of their rotation. At the beginning of the year, especially you’ve got not only freshmen (but) you’ve got a lot of transfers, so there’s a lot of personalities, systems, and that you’re just trying to figure out.
“And usually around conference time, around January, that’s when your rotation is pretty much set, guys settle in or accept their roles and the rotations that they’ve been put in, (and) that’s when you see yourself as a team get better and better. So I think that’s what you’re seeing with Notre Dame, and I think that’s what you’re seeing with us, that the beginning of the year there were a lot of new moving parts… so it takes time to get to know each other and find the rhythm that you want out there on the floor.
“Usually at the beginning of the ACC season, that’s when teams start to hit their stride on both ends of the floor.”
*Davis dove into the game film Monday morning from UNC’s win at BC, and there were several things about how the Tar Heels played on defense that he liked a lot.
“I really liked the way that we guarded the basketball and that we defended the paint,” he said. “One of the things that we’ve talked about a lot in terms of just redefining our in-game principles from a defensive standpoint. Whether it’s in the halfcourt or in transition, we don’t want to give up any layups or dunks, don’t want to give up any uncontested threes, we don’t want to foul and put them at the free throw line, and we don’t want to give them any second-chance opportunities.
“I think, especially in the first half, we did almost all four of them, with the exception of offensive rebounding. Boston College had nine offensive rebounds against us (in the first half), so that’s an area we have to continue to improve on, making contact, and limiting team to one shot every possession.
“I thought we did really well from a defensive standpoint, (and) I think we’re starting to understand and accept and realize that our success on the offensive end is tied to how well we play on the defensive end. When we play well defensively, it allows us to get out in transition. Our pace, whether it’s in the half court, is much better, we’re sharing the basketball. And when we play good defense this year we’ve played great offense.”
*Sophomore guard RJ Davis is from New York, not far from New York City, so Davis was asked what kind of player he gets when landing someone from that NY/New Jersey area, and if he’s trying to recruit the area a little more than maybe Roy Williams did? Also, he was asked if he has anything scheduled at Madison Square Garden nailed down.
“I love that area. I want to recruit that area. I love having players and coaching players from that area. From my experience here at North Carolina, we had King Rice, who was from Binghamton (NY) we had Brian Reese from The Bronx, we had Derrick Phelps. We just always – and Pat Sullivan, who’s on staff from Bogota (NJ).
“We’ve always had guys from the New Jersey and New York area, and not only could they play and great people and great teammates, they’re tough. Those are the type of players that I want.
“So having a guy like RJ that played for the Gauchos and played up in New York and brings a sense of toughness that I that I love to coach, and I feel like it’s needed here at Carolina. And I just love the New York area.
“The four years that I played for the New York Knicks I love playing in the Garden. Other than here in the Smith Center, my favorite place to play was Madison Square Garden. I want our guys to be able to have that experience.
“When I was here at Carolina, every year we played in New York. Whether it was in the Garden or the Meadowlands, and I want to give our guys the experience of playing in Madison Square Garden. It’s an experience that’s unique, and I want them to be able to have that.”
Follow up: Nothing specific in terms of games scheduled for next year or beyond?
“Not right now, but I have been clear and definitive that I want to play there. My communication, I’m never vague, I’m straight forward and direct, and I don’t speak in interpretations, and I’ve made it extremely clear that North Carolina is coming up to play in New York.
“I don’t have any specifics of whom we’re playing, the date that we’re playing, but we’re going to be up there.”
*UNC ranked below No. 200 each of the last two seasons in three-point shooting percentage, but this year the Tar Heels are ranked in the top 10, so did he anticipate that kind of improvement, and to what does he attribute the success?
“We have some really good shooters. Kerwin Walton was the only guy coming back from last year’s team that shot over 40 percent from three-point range, but RJ Davis and Caleb Love are much improved shooters from last year to this year – it’s a big difference between freshman guards and sophomore guards.
“And then, you get big guys… Brady Manek and Dawson Garcia, and you’ve got guys that can finish around the basket, but they can really stroke it from the outside as well. I think just adding some different pieces and more versatility, mainly amongst our bigs, to be able to shoot the ball from the outside has really helped us out a lot.
“One of the things that it’s taken away from our ability to shoot the basketball was for us to attack the offensive glass like we want to, and that’s always been an emphasis (for) us, and always will be. So we’ve got to do a better job of getting second-chance opportunities, even though we have guys that can shoot the ball from the outside.”
