CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Basketball Coach Hubert Davis met with the media Friday afternoon at the Smith Center in advance of the seventh-ranked Tar Heels’ home game Saturday against Virginia Tech.
The Tar Heels are coming off a loss at Syracuse on Tuesday night and have dropped three of their last five contests. They are 19-6 overall and 11-3 in the ACC.
The Hokies are coming off a win over Florida State but lost three straight games beforehand. Virginia Tech is 14-10 overall and 6-7 in the ACC.
The game tips at 2 PM and will air on the ACC Network.
Above is video of Davis’ presser, and below are some notes from what he had to say:
*Nine of UNC’s wins during its 10-game win streak that concluded with a loss at Georgia Tech in late January were against power conference teams (Oklahoma plus eight ACC clubs). And in those contests, the Heels’ bench averaged: 47.9 minutes; 15.9 points; 11.7 rebounds. Note: this does not include walk-ons’ minutes in games with large margins. Over the last five games, the bench has averaged: 36.2 minutes; 10.2 points; 7.2 rebounds.
It appears the Tar Heels are tired, and even Armando Bacot basically acknowledged that after the game at Syracuse. Davis was asked if some fatigue has been an issue with the Heels not closing games playing well, which was the case at Tech, against Clemson (a loss), at Miami (a win), and at Syracuse (loss).
“You’ve got travel, you’ve got practice, you’ve got games, there’s a number of things going on. To me, those are factors, but it’s not a factor of down the stretch being able to execute, which you need to do at both ends of the floor. Just because we traveled to Miami and to Syracuse doesn’t stop us from boxing out and talking on defense and taking care of the basketball, getting to the free throw line making free throws.
“I don’t think those contribute at all. I think just down the stretch, in some games over the last couple of weeks, the discipline and details and small things you have to have consistently in order to finish games.”
*To the point about fatigue, but after tying Clemson at 70-70 with less than four minutes remaining, the Heels turned over the ball on three consecutive possessions while the Tigers reeled off seven consecutive points.
At Miami, UNC led by nine points with four minutes remaining, but it didn’t score from the field again and turned over the ball four times. The Canes had the ball down two with a chance to take the lead inside the final minute.
Then, Carolina had the ball after a Bacot block of J.J. Starling’s shot with 2:05 remaining giving UNC the ball down four. But the Heels turned it over four times in the final 125 seconds in losing by nine.
Looking for a common thread in the Heels’ recent struggles? There is it.
“I think there’s a number of things,” Davis said, when asked how he goes about fixing this recent issue. “One, I always say, and I got this from Coach (Dean) Smith, ‘a mistake is good when you recognize it, admit it, learn from it, and grow from it. So, being able to watch tape and being able to see it, address it, talk about it, be able to practice it, and every time that we practice, we practice three-minute, down-the-stretch in different situations getting them to understand how important it is. Not just in the last minutes of the game, but the entire game.
“But specifically the last three or four minutes how important is it to not have those turnovers, not have a missed box out, not have a late shot-clock foul putting them on the free throw line. Getting those loose balls, not getting the ball taken from you. Just different stuff like that and how that plays a part in our success, and also highlighting where we have done that and how it has contributed to our success.”
Note: If you combine the three sequences, that’s 11 turnovers in 10 minutes at crunch time over the last three games. Two were losses, and one was nearly blowing a nine-point lead with four minutes remaining.
*Jae’Lyn Withers entered the Syracuse game not having scored since the win at Boston College on Jan. 20. That was a span of six games. But he converted two field goals in the first against the Orange, but didn’t play in the second half.
In an eight-game stretch beginning with a win over Charleston Southern on Dec. 29, Withers averaged 15 minutes per contest. His stats: 7.0 ppg; 5.1 rebounds; 68.0% field goals (17-for-25); 2-for-6 on threes; and 76.9% on free throws (20-for-26).
But beginning with a win at Florida State on Jan. 10, in which Withers played only 10 minutes, his stats in that six-game stretch: 1.0 ppg; 0.5 rpg; 7.3 minutes per contest; 2-for-5 from the field; 0-for-1 from three, 2-for-2 on free throws.
What must Withers do to get some of his playing time back?
Davis didn’t specify when asked, he outlined the things Withers does to help the team. When pushed for more specificity, he replied:
“Well, everybody, they all compete during practice, also there’s game-time situations, foul trouble and other things, that lead to different lineups out there. I think one of the things I love about this group is when their number is called, they’ve been ready.”
*Cormac Ryan’s struggles shooting the ball have been well documented, perhaps too much so for Hubert Davis. Every time he’s asked about Ryan’s shooting, Davis reels off the many other things Ryan does well, and he’s right. The grad transfer is very useful to the Tar Heels in many other areas of the game.
Heading into last weekend’s game at Miami, Ryan’s stat line over the previous four games read 10-for-40 from the floor, including 8-for-29 (27.6 percent).
He was 2-for-5 from the perimeter in the win at Miami, and was 4-for-9 in the loss at Syracuse earlier this week. Davis says seeing the ball go through the basket can absolutely help a shooter, especially seeing it four times.
“I do think it’s important to see the ball go in, and that gives you confidence. Cormac hit four threes and had success shooting the ball from the perimeter.”
Davis then went on to layout all of the other things Ryan does well to help the Tar Heels.
