CHAPEL HILL – With North Carolina opening its basketball season Monday night, forward Armando Bacot met with the media Friday afternoon at the Smith Center.
Bacot wasn’t originally scheduled to field questions, but with the death this week of UNC legend Walter Davis, who is Carolina Coach Hubert Davis’ uncle, Bacot stepped in. Davis was not available to the media.
The No. 19 Tar Heels open up with Radford for a 7 PM tip.
Above is video of Bacot’s Q&A session, and below are notes from what he had to say:
*Last season was a total clunker in so many ways for the Tar Heels, so is part of the excitement for getting underway Monday that Bacot can finally rid himself of the taste last season left.
“All offseason has been great just having a bunch of new guys and different faces in the locker room. It’s been great having so many new guys because we just flushed last season and really haven’t even thought about it at all because the guys on this team really haven’t been through that.”
*UNC’s season started slowly a year ago, as the Heels were 4-4, so there is a major emphasis on opening strong this month.
“It’s huge that we take care of business, especially more the first five guys to give those other guys off the bench more playing time and having an opportunity to get acclimated. I think last year, we didn’t do a good job of handling business early on in the season, and it didn’t allow those guys to get those minutes early versus teams not as good as we play in the ACC to allow them to play in those later games and be ready.
“We just have to come out with an emphasis of playing as good as possible and playing for those other guys, too, so they can get opportunities.”
*With so much newness on the team, one thing that will stand out over the next few weeks to UNC fans will be…?
“My hope, and I don’t want to jinx it, is that we play hard. Adding new transfers, they’re hungry and have been doing everything we’ve asked for. There’s a certain level of trust we’ve got this year I think will make a huge difference, especially keeping us consistent all throughout the year, and not turn it on at certain points.”
*The Heels are one of the older teams in college basketball. So as important as leadership is, Bacot says not a whole lot is needed given there are so many been-there, done-than guys on the roster.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that have been there. There’s not much I can really say to Cormac (Ryan) or Paxson (Wojcik) or Jae’Lyn (Withers) who’s been through a lot and know how to work through it. It’s been great having a lot of older guys, too.”
*Harrison Ingram stands 6-foot-7 and is UNC’s starting four man. Bacot says Ingram can handle many responsibilities as a four, and gives them a different look.
“I wasn’t really sure how Harrison played. I knew he was a good player, but I didn’t know he would be able to do a lot of the things he’s doing. I didn’t know he’d be that good defensive either. So, it’s been great having a guy like that.
“I feel confident with him guarding the one, I feel confident with him guarding a five; probably other than me, but every other five he can do a good job on. It’s been great having him.”
*Bacot says this is the healthiest he’s been since arriving at UNC as a freshman; he said UNC fans need to keep an eye on Jalen Washington, that he will play a lot and back him up a lot; Bacot says this team will switch a lot more defensively because it has more versatile guys that can guard 1-through-4; head coach Hubert Davis has been more assertive with this group, going back to him making out the goal/to-do list and not the players.
