North Carolina Coach Hubert Davis took part in the weekly ACC coaches’ conference call Monday fielding questions about Caleb Love’s shooting slump, how he approached practice Sunday following the 20-point loss to Duke, dealing with Clemson’s P.J. Hall, and Dawson Garcia.
Above is the full video of Davis’ Q&A session, and below are notes and quotes from what he had to say:
*Sophomore guard Caleb Love has shot just 26.5 percent from the field over UNC’s last seven games, a span that began with a loss at Miami. In addition, Love has converted 32.5 percent from three-point range, but is just 22.6 percent (14-for-62) on shots attempted inside the arc.
Slumps happen and can be attributed to many things. Sometimes, guys just don’t hit shots, sometimes opponents defend them really well, and sometimes they simply take too many poor shots. Davis was asked about Love’s struggles and why it’s happening, and while the Carolina coach didn’t get into details, a hint of his reply suggested shot selection might be the main issue in the poor shooting stretch.
“One of the things I look at with Caleb is not just his shooting, his ability to defend, also create offensive for us in terms of distributing the basketball when he gets (near) the,” Davis said. “So, I think he’s been terrific at that and other parts of his game.
“Caleb is not a shooter or a scorer, he’s a basketball player. So, I’ve been really happy with Caleb and his improvement and development in a number of different areas, and I think he’s having a terrific season.
“We actually talked yesterday, and one of the things we looked at when shots aren’t going in is number one: is there anything mechanically that needs to be fixed? I don’t feel like from e mechanical standpoint anything needs to be fixed.
“The other thing I said is, ‘let’s look at shot selection.’ It doesn’t matter how good a shooter you are, if you’re taking tough shots, percentages are going to go down. And just trying to get to the free throw line, get to the basket, and then be able to work inside as opposed to working outside-in.
“So, I think those are things that we’ve talked about. But I’ve been very happy with Caleb and what an unbelievable player he’s been for us this year, and I’m so thankful that I get the opportunity to coach him.”
*Two weeks ago, when UNC was coming off a 22-point loss at Wake, which followed a 28-point loss at Miami several days earlier, Davis hugged and lifted up his team instead of making them run until he vomited. So, how did he approach the team before practice Sunday?
“I was very positive with them coming into practice on Sunday,” Davis said. “I was clear and definitive and direct on the things that we didn’t do well and things that we have to improve on moving forward that we can’t do.
“But I was also upbeat, and the reason being is that is what is needed. We play a really good Clemson team on the road tomorrow night, and so our focus needed to be on learning from the mistakes that we made Saturday against Duke. But moving forward and focusing on this upcoming week and playing Clemson and also Florida State.
“Those are things that I expressed to them, that we’ve done this before. And you mentioned dafter the week with Miami and Wake Forest, we were able to focus and able to win four games in a row. This is something that we’ve done before, it’ll be a challenge against Clemson (and) Florida State this week, but it’s something that we’re really excited about getting back out there on the floor after our performance against Duke on Saturday.”
*Clemson big man P.J. Hall is turning in a terrific season, averaging 14.9 points per contest, while shooting 48.7 percent from the field, plus he has made 19 threes on the season. The 6-foot-10 sophomore can stretch out to the perimeter, but he also has a nice mid-range game, can play with his back to the basket or facing up, and has been incredibly consistent for Brad Brownell’s team. He averaged 15.2 points in ACC contests.
Davis says staying out of foul trouble trying to defend against the big bag Hall plays with will be key, and perhaps trying to draw some fouls on him by attacking on offense. What kinds of challenges does he present to the Tar Heels?
“A lot of challenges,” Davis replied. “He’s a guy that plays with a lot of emotion, he’s competitive, he’s very physical, he plays hard on both ends of the floor, on every possession. He’s a guy that can consistently score around the basket, but he can also shoot the ball from the outside. On both ends, he’s a player that can be a huge factor.
“So, I think it’s important for us from an offensive standpoint to attack the basket and attack him, put a lot of pressure on him to defend without fouling, and obviously on the defensive end, we’ve got to do a good job of keeping him away from the basket. But also being in position to where we can contest his shot because he can really stretch the floor and shoot the ball from three-point range.”
*UNC sophomore Dawson Garcia has missed the Tar Heels’ last five games, as he went home to Minnesota following the loss at Wake to be with family, which continues dealing with illnesses. Davis had no tangible update on Garcia, but spoke about him for approximately a minute Monday.
“The update is I do not know when he’s going to return to the team,” Davis said. “We desperately miss him. Not just as a basketball player but as a person. We love him and his family. The best thing for Dawson is to be with his family during this time.
“So, he’s exactly where he needs to be, so from that standpoint, we’re thinking about him, we’re caring for him, and we’re 100 percent supportive. And so, in terms of his return, we don’t have an immediate update, but that’s something that when he comes back, he’ll come in with open arms and with hugs, because he means so much to this team and to this program.”
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