Tar Heels Say They're Ready For ACC Play
CHAPEL HILL – Conference games are here to stay for a while, as the last 19 contests of the regular season for North Carolina are against ACC teams, beginning with a three-game road stretch that commences Tuesday night.
The No. 8 Tar Heels visit Pittsburgh to get things rolling before heading to No. 16 Clemson. Next week, they are in Raleigh against rival NC State.
At 9-3 overall, with an ACC game under their belts a month ago, a home victory over Florida State, the Tar Heels say they are ready. It’s time to take the plunge into the sometimes-unforgiving world of conference play.
“The opponents we’ve played early in the season have gotten the guys ready for what’s to come,” said guard RJ Davis, UNC’s leading scorer at 21.6 points per game. “Because ACC play is really difficult. It can be anyone’s game. Everyone’s really good in this conference.
“I think we know what’s coming, and we have the next three games that are tough, especially on the road. I think we’re mentally and physically ready.”
The Heels have already picked up a pair of coveted Quad 1 wins, and their three losses are Quad 1 games. The noted wins are over Tennessee at home and Oklahoma on a neutral floor. The noted losses are on neutral floors versus Villanova, Connecticut, and Kentucky. In addition, UNC has a Q2 win over Arkansas, which could eventually become a Q1 game.
The Heels are tested for sure. But they haven’t yet played a true road game.
Six of their 12 games have been away from Chapel Hill, but none in another team’s home arena. That changes Tuesday, and UNC’s last trip to Petersen Events Center ended in a loss to Pittsburgh last season.
The atmospheres will only get more challenging at Littlejohn Coliseum over the weekend and then PNC Arena on January 10 will be a hornet’s nest. But UNC Coach Hubert Davis isn’t in the least bit concerned how his team will handle being on the road.
“I think it'll help us. I think it's overrated in terms of playing in somebody else's gym,” he said. “The basket is still the same. As a player I never was like, ‘man, I don't know if I can play there because of the crowd and I'm not away from the Smith Center.’ Whether it's at Pittsburgh and Clemson, North Carolina State or Chapel Hill, let's compete and see what we can do.”
Partly why Davis sees no issue in his team playing in opponents’ friendly confines is because his club has been pretty good thus far, and appears to have improved in recent weeks.
The Heels were dominated in several key statistical areas in the loss to Kentucky on December 16 in Atlanta, yet they still had the ball with a chance to tie the game with the last shot of regulation. Then they were terrific in beating then-unbeaten Oklahoma by 12 points, before showing zero rust in a 45-point romp over Charleston Southern last Friday night.
“I like our depth. I like that,” Hubert Davis said last Friday. “I like our versatility on the defensive end. We picked up full court and so we're able to do that. Just versatility on the offensive end and being able to score consistently in your paint but also being able to shoot the ball from outside…
“This was our last non-conference game and I feel like through the entire non-conference season we have really seen every style, everything pretty much. I think it puts us in a position to compete against a really strong and really tough ACC conference.”
Although new to this, freshman point guard Elliot Cadeau says the team “is in a good spot” entering ACC play. And they are.
The team is building depth, some key parts are still taking form, RJ Davis is having a player-of-the-year season, Armando Bacot is still Armando Bacot, veteran experience and a whole heap of desire to win have this team much better positioned to face league play than in the last several years.
RJ Davis agrees.
“Yeah,” he replied, when asked just that.
So, Carolina hits the true road now, and the Heels say they’re ready.