CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Basketball Coach Hubert Davis met with the media Thursday afternoon at the Smith Center in advance of the Tar Heels’ road game at Duke on Saturday.

UNC and the Blue Devils tip off at 6:30 PM inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. UNC is 13-9 overall, 6-4 in the ACC, and has dropped three of its last four games. Duke is 18-1, 10-0, and has won 14 consecutive contests.

Above is video of Davis’ presser and below are some notes from what he had to say:

*Jalen Washington sprained his knee late in the win over Boston College last Saturday and did not practice Sunday and only lightly Monday. He went through warmups at Pitt but was ruled out of the game before tipoff.

Davis said today Washington was expected to practice, which was after the press conference, but it would later be determined if he will play at Duke.

*Duke has length everywhere with no starter shorter than 6-foot-5. What does UNC have to do to offset that advantage?

“They have tremendous length at every (position), so I think that’s a huge determining factor why they’ve been so good defensively. Because of their length, they’re athletic, they’re long, they can cover a lot of space. So, to be able to punch gaps, get to the rim, get two on the ball, create open shots from the perimeter.

“You have to have tremendous spacing, you have to have ball movement, you have to run your offense with pace, you’ve got to take care of the basketball in order to get consistent good shots.

“They also have the ability to switch everything one through five. So when teams do that, just like Pitt did (to) us in the second half.”

He also said they can create some mismatches with their quickness and says they must do that to be effective offensively.

*Making the easy play is a mandate against Duke because getting cute could lead to disaster as the Devils could turn mistakes into breakouts. Davis said they’ve had “78 or 79 practices” and he’s “emphasized 72% of the time to make the easy play.”

*UNC was plus-13 on the glass in the win over BC and plus-10 in the narrow loss at Pitt on Tuesday. Davis says that reflects the kind of fight his team must exude with everything it does.

In addition, Seth Trimble has 12 rebounds in each of the last two games. Davis said Trimble has always had potential to be a really good rebounder and at times has shown that. Asked what the difference has been the last two games, Davis said nothing has been different, he’s just gotten to the boards.

*UNC did not attempt a free throw in the second half last week at Wake Forest and lost and attempted only four in the second half at Pitt and lost. That bothers the head coach about as much as anything his team hasn’t done according to plan. He said winning “the free battle is huge for us.”

*Furthermore, Davis was asked about losing so many close games; if RJ Davis is putting pressure on himself with his shot; if Saturday can be a springboard like it was when the Tar Heels beat Duke in Cameron in Coach K’s final home game; if his message changes for this game as opposed to previous ones; and he was asked for a basic scouting report on the Blue Devils.