CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Hubert Davis met with the media at the Smith Center on Friday to field questions as his team prepares to visit Duke on Saturday evening.

The Tar Heels (15-7, 7-4 ACC) are coming off a home loss to Pittsburgh, but have won ten of their last 13 games. Duke has won consecutive games and five of its last seven.

Video of Davis’ presser is above, and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:

**************************************************************************************

Remember, for just $8.33 a month, YOU CAN BE A TAR HEELS INSIDER, TOO!!!

***************************************************************************************

*Junior forward Puff Johnson has not played in UNC’s last three games, wins over Boston College and Syracuse, and the loss to Pitt. But Hubert Davis said Johnson is making progress.

“I’m so thankful that Puff is at a point right now in terms of his health that he practiced yesterday, and he’ll be ready to go today, and the game against Duke,” he said. “But he’s missed two weeks. He was a guy that was one of the first guys coming off the bench and playing a lot of minutes off the bench.”

*Davis was not happy after his team’s loss to Pitt, so his message to the club was concise and clear.

“I went at them, I just did,” Davis said. “I’ve said this to them before going through films like that, I asked them three questions, and I always do. I said, ‘Have you been told what to do, have you been taught what to do, and are you talented enough to do it?

“‘So, if you’re told and taught and talented enough to do it, then tell me consistently why we aren’t doing this?’ I always say when we watch film I want to accomplish two things. One, (they) should walk away having learned something. Number two, you should feel encouraged.

‘“And in the film session, I’m not trying to call you out, I’m trying to call you up.’”

*Davis said after the Pitt game his team wasn’t consistently tough enough. He was clearly not happy with it, and the players agreed. Pete Nance said Friday that Davis’ message has been focused on them being tougher. Carolina’s coach said that’s so and more.

“That’s the message that has been consistently sent the entire season,” he said. “It’s not anything specific in our preparation for Pitt, and not anything specific in our preparation for Duke on Saturday. That’s been the message for our team the entire season, that at the end of the day, we have to bring it in order for us to have a chance to be the best we can be.

“It would be nice to not have to preach that every day, but that’s okay because it’s important to us and it’s important to our team.”

*Davis was asked if he had been in contact with Pitt Coach Jeff Capel, or perhaps Panthers assistant coach and former Tar Heel Jason Capel following the incident that occurred following the game Wednesday night.

In short, Capel was highly agitated believing he was strongly slighted by the UNC Basketball twitter account to tweeting a program cover image with walk-on Creighton Lebo on it. Lebo wears number 25, as did Capel, and he thought his alma mater was trolling him and took it personally.

“There’s a couple of things,” Davis said. “One, Jeff called me and I missed his call, and he left me a voice message. And I sent him a text back and I said, ‘Everything’s good, and congratulations on the win, and good luck for the rest of the season.’

“Other than that, I think it would be negligent on my part to comment any further because I wasn’t involved, and the information that I got was other people’s opinions and their take on it. So, I just try to stay away from commenting on stuff that I’m not involved with and commenting on other people’s opinions.”

*A few other things Davis was asked: If he is at a point yet he knows what buttons to push with this team; if it’s an advantage having older guys that have played in the Duke game, especially over there; if the light has gone on for Pete Nance; Armando Bacot’s emotion after the win at Cameron a year ago; his thoughts on the environment at Duke; and a scouting report on the Blue Devils.