CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Hubert Davis met with the media Friday afternoon at the Smith Center in advance of the Tar Heels’ home game Saturday night versus No. 6 Virginia.
Davis fielded questions for about 20 minutes with the focus on the Tar Heels’ shooting struggles, the mental effect of those issues, the importance of the UVA game, the Cavaliers’ playing small since the first game versus Carolina, and more.
UNC is 17-11 overall and 9-8 in the ACC, while the Wahoos are 21-5 and 13-4.
Above is video of Davis’ presser and below are notes and quotes from what the Heels had to say:
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*Junior point guard RJ Davis was scorching hot over an eight-game stretch heading into UNC’s game at Syracuse on January 24, shooting 23-for-45 from the perimeter. However, Davis injured his finger that night and has been off since, converting 9-for-46, including 3-for-17 over the last three games.
Davis had tape on his finger early in the season due to an injury suffered before the opener, and he caught fire from the perimeter after opting to not wear the tape. He is back to having tape on his finger again, which might be part of the problem.
“He tells me that it’s not bothering him, but he still has tape on it,” Davis said. “When I played, I didn’t want any tape on my fingers because I wanted to have a feel for the basketball. But he does have tape on during practice and during the games. And he says since the Syracuse game, he hasn’t gotten hit there again, and he hasn’t said one time to me that it’s ever been an issue.
“His percentages have gone down since the Syracuse game and my hope is it will start going up starting tomorrow.”
*Pete Nance did not play in the first meeting versus Virginia, a 65-58 Wahoos victory on January 10 in Charlottesville, and Armando Bacot plated the first 1:18 before leaving with an ankle injury. He did not return.
UNC will have both players Saturday, which will obviously help, Davis says. Are they more fired up than usual because they didn’t have an impact the first time?
“I think the whole team is fired up, not because Armando and Pete missed the first matchup, I think they’re fired up because we get an opportunity to play against Virginia; just a really good basketball team, we’re back at home, and it’s an important game for them and it’s an important game for us.
“That alone has our guys really excited.”
*The Tar Heels are currently No. 47 in the NET sitting at 0-9 in Quad 1 games, and now have just five Quad 2 wins, so beating the Wahoos and getting a Q1 win is an absolute must for this team to avoid having to win the ACC Tournament to gain inclusion into the NCAA Tournament.
Yet, Carolina’s coach says it’s just one game and that must-win games are for the postseason.
“It’s all single-game, focus on what is front of us and what is real,” Davis said. “And what is in front of us and what is real is our game against Virginia tomorrow. That’s always been my focus, and that’s the way that I’ve approached each game, and that’s the way I approached the game against Notre Dame, and that’s the way that I have approached playing Virginia tomorrow.”
Do the players realize the situation they’re in having to win?
“When you start mentioning must-win, my definition of must-win is you must win,” Davis said. “Like the NCAA Tournament, if you lose, your season is over. In the ACC Tournament, if you lose, you are no longer able to play in the ACC Tournament…
“I’m straight forward and direct. It’s a very important game for us, but it’s a very important game for us because it’s our next game, and our next opponent is Virginia.”
*UNC has grabbed 38.6 percent of its missed shots while scoring 1.03 points per offensive board over its last four games. In the three previous contests, the Tar Heels pulled down 36.1 percent of their misses averaging just .81 points per game. Davis says this has been a point of emphasis and he’s seeing the effort getting to the offensive glass increasing.
“That’s something we emphasize all the time: three, four, and five hit the offensive glass,” Davis said. “For the first part of the year, outside of Armando, we just didn’t really have a presence of getting second-chance opportunities. Obviously, against Notre Dame, that was a huge piece.
“When you don’t shoot the ball well from the outside, you’ve got to get steals, you’ve got to get to the free throw line, and get second-chance opportunities. We got to the free throw line, we got second-chance opportunities… Whether Virginia plays a small or big lineup, because Virginia is so good defensively, you need more cracks to be able to score.
“So, offensive rebounds are going to be a huge key for us. We have got to crash the boards to get second-chance opportunities.”
