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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Basketball Coach Hubert Davis met with the media Monday afternoon at the Smith Center to discuss his team’s performance in Hawaii, what he learned, and look ahead to the Tar Heels’ game against Alabama on Wednesday night.
The Tar Heels went 1-2 in Maui beating Dayton and losing to Auburn and Michigan State. UNC now stands at 4-3 with the No. 10 Crimson Tide visiting the Smith Center as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge. Carolina hosts Georgia Tech on Saturday for the first ACC game of the season.
RJ Davis led the way in scoring for the Tar Heels totaling 58 points in the three games. He also grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 13 assists. Seth Trimble added 53 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 5 steals. Elliot Cadeau pitched in 37 points, 12 rebounds, 14 assists, a block, and 3 steals.
Above is the full video of Davis’ presser and below are some notes from what he had to say:
*Davis was asked how much he relies on statistics and analytics and how much he has used them from the trip to Maui. He said allowing opponents to shooting 50% or better in three of six halves in Maui, a minus-4 in rebounding in the three games, and more turnovers than assists are numbers he’s hammered home to the team.
*Elliot Cadeau and some of his struggles were a topic Monday. Among the things Davis was asked about and discussed:
---Cadeau’s early foul trouble in Hawaii, and some of the fouls being a bit unnecessary.
---How to limit Cadeau’s fouls without limiting how hard he plays.
---Davis says many of Cadeau’s fouls on the islands were “self-inflicted.”
*Staying on Cadeau, the guards he faced from Dayton, Auburn, and Michigan State were physical and forced to him to play reactionary at time. Davis said he’s talked with Cadeau about that and how to work around it.
----Along those lines, it appears Cadeau tried to respond to the physicality by dialing it up a bit too much to a point where it’s past him being fully in control. Davis has talked with Cadeau about the difference between diving for loose balls, which the coach likes, and fouls way too far from the basket, like the one late against Michigan State when the Spartans were about to call timeout.
*Davis reiterated multiple times his dissatisfaction with Carolina’s defensive play in Hawaii, and it hit every prong:
---First, he said playing four games in six days left them zero time to practice as they were only preparing, so that was part of the problem.
---The Tar Heels must do a better job defending the perimeter on the ball.
---The Heels must defend the paint better: entries; allowing hip control by bigs; lack of rotations.
---The team must improve its talking on defense. This is a quiet team and that must change on the court.
---Defensive rebounding has been poor and allowed too many extra scoring chances for opponents. Davis says they were outrebounded by four in Maui and that isn’t acceptable.
*Carolina assisted on 35 field goals in Maui but turned it over 36 times. It allowed 47 points off of turnovers in the three games. Davis said that was a bit of a head scratcher because they didn’t turn it over much in the first three games, so that has also been addressed.
*The Tar Heels trailed Dayton by 18 at halftime and by 21 early in the second half, trailed Auburn by 18 in the first half, and Michigan State by 14 in the first half. The slow starts were a concern before the Heels went to Hawaii, now they are a major issue.
---Davis was asked if changing the starting lineup could be a solution, and to the coach’s credit, he said it was a good question and it’s something he’s thought about. Usually, Davis says it doesn’t matter who starts, but he didn’t today, and he said he’s looking at altering rotations, too.
*Davis was asked how much is different and the same about Alabama from the team UNC lost to in the Sweet 16 last season. But Davis didn’t say much other than a few notes.
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