CHAPEL HILL – The first game for North Carolina is still 42 days away, but the Tar Heels formally open practice Tuesday, as they launch into the 2021-22 campaign, which will be the first of the Hubert Davis era.
Davis was introduced as UNC’s coach on April 6, less than a week after legendary Roy Williams announced his retirement. Davis played four years at UNC from 1988-92 under Dean Smith and served as an assistant to Williams for nine seasons.
He played 12 years in the NBA and spent seven as an analyst on ESPN covering college basketball. Now, he is North Carolina’s head coach, and his team is full of talent and raring to get going.
"You can definitely feel the difference,” sophomore Kerwin Walton recently said. “It's a whole lot more energy; everybody's really excited for this season. Everybody has been developing and working hard and growing, so I think we're all really motivated to do really well this season.
“I think Coach Davis has done a really great job of motivating us, and having us work hard, and working with us to get better every single day. I think it's going to be a lot of positive energy with us on and off the court, and I think we're going to have a great year. "
Carolina is coming off an 18-11 season in which they were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by Wisconsin. It was the only time in 30 NCAA appearances Williams’ team lost their opening game. For UNC, it was the first time the Tar Heels went down in the first round since 1999.
Davis’ first UNC club returns four starters and a few scholarship reserves in addition to adding three transfers and two freshmen.
At 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, Armando Bacot is back after leading UNC in scoring with 12.3 points per game and rebounding at 7.8 per outing. In addition, he shot 62.8 percent from the floor. He was named third-team All-ACC last season.
Davis has been open about his desire for the Tar Heels’ big men to use much more of the court. They will have two traditional bigs on the court doing traditional things at times, but the biggest difference will be stretch big men, and sometimes everyone on the floor will float out to the perimeter.
That said, Davis recognizes Bacot’s strengths and potential at controlling games inside. If he’s Carolina’s go-to guy, Davis will try to ride that to the winner’s circle whenever he can.
“My hope is from an offensive standpoint, we won’t go away from what made him successful last year,” Davis said about how he will use Bacot. “But he will show more versatility of what he can do on the offensive end.”
Sophomore point guard Caleb Love, senior wing Leaky Black, and Walton are the other returning starters for the Tar Heels.
Love is coming off a season in which he averaged 10.5 points, 3.6 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per contest. Love also averaged 3.4 turnovers per contest, shot 32.9 percent overall from the floor, including 26.6 (34-for-128) from three-point range.
The St. Louis native scored in double figures in 16 of Carolina’s 29 games, including in six of UNC’s final seven contests. In fact, he averaged 12.1 points in that span
Love is excited about UNC’s move to employing a more spread look on offense. He often got tangled up driving into traffic last winter, but they shouldn’t happen as often this time around.
“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “We got bigs that can stretch the floor now, we got guys that can shoot, so that’s just gonna open everything up for everybody. The lanes are gonna be open, and we’re gonna have a lot more opportunities for everyone to score and create for others.”
Walton was the lone consistent marksman from the perimeter last season. UNC shot 31.9 percent from three-point range as a team, its second worse accuracy rate ever, behind the 2019-20 squad, but Walton sank 42 percent of his treys.
The Minnesota native finished his freshman campaign averaging 8.2 points per game while converting 44.4 percent of his field goal attempts. Of his 79 made field goals, 58 were threes.
Carolina welcomed a trio of transfers, two of whom were highly accomplished at their previous schools.
Forward Justin McKoy transferred to UNC after two seasons at Virginia. Brady Manek, a 6-foot-9 true stretch forward, is the 14th all-time leading scorer at Oklahoma, and 6-foot-11 forward Dawson Garcia led Marquette in scoring and rebounding while making the Big East All-Freshman team last season.
Sophomore guard RJ Davis started 10 games last season and averaged 8.4 points per game. Some of his best hoops came late in the season, with his top performance a19-point effort in a win over Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament.
Freshman wing forward Dontrez Stylesand shooting guard D’Marco Dunn are the true newbies in the program. They join returning reserves redshirt sophomore guard Anthony Harris and sophomore wing Puff Johnson on Carolina’s roster.
The Tar Heels will open the regular season against Loyola (Md.) at the Smith Center on November 9. Among their other noteworthy non-ACC games, they will host Michigan in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, take on UCLA in Las Vegas right before Christmas, and open with Purdue in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut the weekend before Thanksgiving. They will also play either Tennessee or Villanova that weekend, as well.
Carolina faces Duke, NC State, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Louisville, and Virginia Tech at the Smith Center and on the road. Carolina plays eight teams once each: Florida State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Virginia at home, plus Clemson, Miami, Notre Dame, and Wake Forest on the road.
UNC's 2021-22 Schedule
Nov. 9 – Loyola (MD), TBA
Nov. 12 – Brown, TBA
Nov. 16 – @ College of Charleston, TBA
Nov. 20 – Vs. Purdue* (Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament), 4 PM
Nov. 21 – Vs. Villanova* or Tennessee (Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament, 1 PM or 3 PM
Nov. 23 – UNC-Asheville, TBA
Dec. 1 – Michigan, TBA
Dec. 5 - @ Georgia Tech, 4 PM
Dec. 11 – Elon, TBA
Dec. 14 – Furman, TBA
Dec. 18 – Vs. UCLA% (CBS Sports Classic), 3 PM
Dec. 21 – Appalachian State, TBA
Dec. 29 – Virginia Tech, TBA
Jan. 1 - @ Boston College, Noon
Jan. 5 - @ Notre Dame, 9 PM
Jan. 8 – Virginia, 1 PM
Jan. 15 – Georgia Tech, 8 PM
Jan. 18 - @ Miami, TBA
Jan. 22 - @ Wake Forest, 8 PM
Jan. 26 – Boston College, 7 PM
Jan. 29 – NC State, 8 PM
Feb. 5 – Duke, 6 PM
Feb. 8 - @ Clemson, 9 PM
Feb. 12 – Florida State, TBA
Feb. 16 – Pittsburgh, 8 PM
Feb. 19 - @ Virginia Tech, TBA
Feb.21 – Louisville, 7 PM
Feb. 26 – @ NC State, TBA
Feb. 28 – Syracuse, 7 PM
March 5, @ Duke, 6PM
March 8-12 – ACC Tournament (Brooklyn, NY)
*Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT
%Las Vegas
NCAA Tournament Sites:
First Four: March 15-16, Dayton, Ohio
First & Second Rounds: March 17&19– Buffalo, N.Y.; Fort Worth, Texas; Indianapolis, Ind.; Portland, Ore.; March 18&20– Greenville, S.C.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; San Diego, Calif.
Regionals: March 24&26– South: San Antonio, Texas; West: San Francisco, Calif.; March 25&27– East: Philadelphia, Pa.; Midwest: Chicago, Ill.
Final Four: April 2&4– New Orleans, La.
