CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Basketball Coach Hubert Davis met with the media Friday at the Smith Center to discuss his team in advance of their home game against Virginia on Saturday afternoon.
The Tar Heels (16-11, 9-6 ACC) and Cavaliers (13-13, 6-9) tip off at 4 PM. UNC has won its last two games, including Wednesday night by 24 points over NC State. UVA lost Monday at home to Duke by 18 points but had won three straight games before then.
Above is the video of Davis’ presser and below are some notes from what he had to say:
*The Heels have transitioned to play big more of late, and it appears to work better than when they play small. Davis was asked multiple questions about it Friday, and his responses clearly suggest he’s all in on playing big and UNC fans can expect to see it almost exclusively moving forward.
“The benefits going bigger is it helps us defensively, it just does,” Davis said. “Playing Syracuse and also playing NC State, you’ve got guys at that position that, yeah they can shoot threes, but they can score in the paint, they can post up, and those are positions specifically over the last two games that we haven’t had a need to double team down on the post. So, that’s huge.
“Also playing a bigger lineup, it moves Drake more out there on the wing. And he’s 6-6, 6-7, so it’s not just a bigger lineup in terms of quote-unquote the four and the five. It makes out whole lineup bigger. Maybe that’s resulted in us rebounding the ball better.
“But it does change us, I would say more on the defensive end.”
*Furthermore, not ever having to double a four man is big, too. It frees up focusing more on double the five, to which Davis says there are many benefits.
“I think you can go both ways. From a standpoint of not having to double team another person, when you double team you’re putting yourself in rotations. So, you’re putting yourself in long closeouts and different types of mismatches. So, from a defensive standpoint that makes you vulnerable.
“On the other end, double-teaming the post, whether it’s one or two people, that give us an opportunity to get steals and deflections, which is something that we have needed to generate and be able to get out in transition. So, I think at times, maybe it has hurt us but I think it’s really been beneficial for us as well.”
*Jae’Lyn Withers’ minutes going back to UNC’s win over UCLA, which was December 21 and 16 games ago, are as follows: 6; 10; 16; 19; 14; 4; 12; 6; 10; 3; 3; 12; 6; 17; 24; 20. UNC is 4-1 when Withers has played 14 or more minutes in the stretch. Davis heaped praise on him Friday saying he’s been a great example to his younger teammates.
“There’s many benefits of having older experienced players. There was a time during the season where he wasn’t getting extended minutes and he kept showing up and preparing and practicing and playing as hard as he could.”
*In addition, Davis spoke about his relationship with interim UVA Coach Ron Sanchez; why 6-foot-3 Seth Trimble is the team’s leading rebounder; that Trimble calls himself “Josh Hart,” playing off the former Villanova and current NBA guard; how Drake Powell playing the three brings more out of his game; Ven-Allen Lubin’s game; when to use the press; and where the team is right now with five games left in the regular season.
