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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Hubert Davis met with the media for his segment Monday in the weekly ACC Coaches’ Conference Call, and fielded questions mostly about his team’s consistency and his quest for them to always play with energy, effort, and toughness.
Above is the full video of Davis’ Q&A session, and before are a few notes from what he had to say:
*UNC is shooting the basketball much more accurately this season than a year ago. Last season, the Tar Heels converted 43.9 percent from the floor, including 31.8 percent from three-point range, and even struggled at the free throw line shooting 66.8 percent. Through 15 games this season, the Heels are shooting 48.2 percent (No. 28 nationally) from the field, including 40.1 percent (No. 8) from the perimeter, and Carolina is hitting 74.8 percent (No. 60) from the charity stripe.
Davis explained why the Heels are a much better shooting team than they were a year ago.
“A number of things; we’ve got better shooters,” Davis said, laughing. “Caleb (Love) and RJ (Davis) are shooting a lot better this year. I think addition of having bigs that can shoot the ball from the outside; having Brady Manel and Dawson Garcia, having their ability to finish around the basket, but they can also play on the perimeter and they can also shoot the ball from the outside as well.
“That gives us tremendous spacing and balance, and when we’re moving the ball like we did this past Saturday against Virginia, when we had 19 assists, then guys are getting open shots. I think better shot selection, I think our guys are just better shooters this year. And for the most part, we’ve been able to really shoot the ball from the outside.”
*The Tar Heels practiced or played a game for nine straight days through the 74-58 win over Virginia on Saturday, so they had Sunday off, and with the spring semester beginning Monday, the staff decided to make Monday and Tuesday individual skills days.
Carolina doesn’t play again until Saturday when Georgia Tech visits the Smith Center. So what is the full plan for the week, and what does Davis hope to get out of this week?
“I love doing that,” Davis said, noting the individual work outs. “I’ve always said for our team to get better, each individual player has to get better. I love skills development, and that’s something myself and our staff are very passionate about.
“We’ll give them Wednesday off, and Thursday we’ll go to more traditional practices in our preparation for Georgia Tech.
“It would be nice to have a mid-week game to continue how we played on Saturday, but after this week, and starting against Georgia Tech on Saturday, our schedule’s going to be tight. We still have to fit in a postponed game from Virginia Tech, so we don’t have any more breaks.
“This is a good opportunity for us to kind of catch our breath and get ready for the rest of the ACC season.”
After this weekend, the Tar Heels don’t go more than five days without a scheduled game. Three times they have games five days apart, four times they have games four days apart, four times they have games three days apart, and three times they have games two days apart.
*Interesting stats from last week: UNC was 29-for-59 from the floor in the loss at Notre Dame, but with just 10 buckets assisted. In the win over Virginia, the Heels were 28-for-59 (a slightly lower percentage), but 19 made shots were assisted.
Clearly, Carolina ran better offense against the Wahoos out of necessity, but were also simply more connected. Getting the players to execute more like they did versus UVA is the mission moving forward, because that will always lead to more open looks.
“That’s something we always talk about is ball movement and player movement,” Davis said. “Five guys scoring averaging in double figures, and we’ve got a number of guys that can score 20 on a given night. It’s fun to share the basketball; that’s the way that I’ve always learned and loved to play. It’s important for this program and for our team to share the basketball.
“When we have low assist totals as a team, that means we’re going a lot of one-on-one and we’re doing a lot of dribbling. The benefit of moving the basketball is such a huge part of us and our success on the offensive end.
“The couple of days before Virginia, we moved the ball really well in practice, so much so that even people that were watching practice (said), ‘Wow, you guys were sharp moving the ball on the offensive end.’
“I was really happy we were able to do that against Virginia, because against great defensive team, that’s the only chance that you have at being successful against Virginia is with great ball movement and we were able to do that. And my hope is that with the success we had moving the basketball is something that would resonate with our guys and that we can consistently do for the remainder of the year against whomever we are playing.”
