North Carolina Basketball Coach Hubert Davis took part in the weekly ACC Coaches’ Call on Monday morning to field questions about his team for approximately 10 minutes.
Davis spoke about Jae’Lyn Withers, small ball, Wednesday opponent NC State, pressing after made free throws, and had some interesting comments about the GM role he discussed on his radio show two weeks ago.
Above is video of Davis’ session and below are some notes from what he had to say:
*Jae’Lyn Withers had scored 15 total points in UNC’s four games heading into Syracuse, and he had not played in the second half of four of Carolina’s previous six games going to the JMA Wireless Dome, but he was called on to play and produce against the Orange and did scoring 19 points, which is his personal high as a Tar Heel.
Davis spoke a lot about Withers’ play, his perseverance in staying ready during a period in which he wasn’t playing much and heaped plenty of praise on sixth-year senior.
*Ian Jackson said after the game Saturday he gets “different opportunities” when the Heels play big as opposed to the four-guard lineup. RJ Davis said he prefers the bigger lineup. Hubert was asked about that and if playing big is ideal moving forward.
Carolina’s coach doesn’t like commenting on what his players say, so he didn’t in this case, but did say he doesn’t know if the lineups on the floor affected the kinds of shots players get. But he did say with Withers on the floor, it helps them not have to double so much defensively and his ability to knock down shots gives the team a true stretch four.
*Davis credited Withers for “being prepared and he was ready” after not having much of a role in recent weeks.
*Davis was asked about embracing a general manager role for the program, which is something he discussed on his radio show a couple of weeks ago. He was asked about it Monday and here was his response:
“Yeah, I’m going to stay away from those comments in regards to a GM. I feel like over the last couple of weeks, or two-and-a-half weeks, in response to me answer to a question on a radio show, it’s been twisted in regards to supporting different narratives. And my focus right now is this team and coaching this team and trying to reach our full potential and trying to become the best that we can become this season.”
*The Tar Heels press after they make free throws, and it has helped generate some turnovers and chaos for opponents at times. They had mixed results at Syracuse, but enough success that it makes sense to apply it much of the time after converting from the charity stripe.
“I think at times it’s been effective for us in two ways. One, being able to create turnovers, or two, speeding up the opponent trying to get the game at our pace. When it’s working, those two things are happening.
“There’s been times when you’re in that press, it puts you in transition defense where we haven’t been great at transition defense. So, it opens you up a little bit in terms of from a defensive standpoint. So, really it’s a game-by-game decision in terms of how much we do it, when we do it.”
*The Tar Heels host NC State on Wednesday night. The Wolfpack beat Boston College on Saturday, which was its first win since last facing UNC on January 11, a game Carolina won, 63-61, after Jalen Washington blocked a shot basically at the buzzer.
Davis was asked what’s different about the Pack since then. He discussed State’s strengths and how these two teams always go after it regardless.
