CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Hubert Davis met with the media Friday afternoon at the Smith Center to field questions about his team as the Tar Heels prepare to host Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon.
With UNC not having played since Sunday, and owning a four-game losing skid, Davis was asked about things he liked and didn’t care for from both ends of the court during the Heels’ streak, with plenty of emphasis on the loss last weekend at Virginia Tech.
He was also asked about the health of three injured Tar Heels, extending pressure defensively, his current message to the team and much more.
UNC (5-4, 0-1 ACC) hosts the Yellow Jackets (6-3) for a 3:15 PM start, and the game will air on ESPN.
Above is video of Davis’ Q&A session, and below are some notes and a few questions from what he had to say:
**************************************************************************************
Remember, for just $8.33 a month, YOU CAN BE A TAR HEELS INSIDER, TOO!!!
***************************************************************************************
*We ran a separate piece about what Davis said regarding the status of Armando Bacot, D’Marco Dunn, and Jalen Washington.
*Carolina hasn’t played a home game in 20 days and is in the midst of a 44-day span in which it has just two games inside the Smith Center. Davis lamented during the recent road trip his team couldn’t practice a few times given travel, game schedules, and NCAA mandates at giving players full days off.
But now that they’ve been back since Sunday night, the Heels have gotten into somewhat a routine, even though final exams didn’t end until early Friday afternoon.
“It’s been great,” Davis said. “It’s been nice to get back into our routine. I talk to you guys in reference to the discipline and the details that I’ve been telling the team that that’s what we have to get in terms of consistency on both ends of the floor.
“I think the only way you can build those habits is practice. And prior to this week, we haven’t had an opportunity to practice.
“This week has been great. It’s been nice to be home, it’s been nice to get back to practice and reinforce the things I think put us in a position to be successful on both ends of the floor. And it’s just been good to be able to do that on consecutive days in the midst of final exams.”
*Davis took plenty of time this week to really grind over what his team has done well and not so well. Trust on both ends of the floor, but notably defensively, is a huge issue to him, and he says it must improve.
“One of the things I did this week, and I had time to do is, was in two parts – offensively and defensively – was to look at the things offensively I think we’re doing well, and then look at the things I think we need to improve on. Then from a defensive standpoint, what things are we doing well to what things do we need to improve on.”
*Considering Davis broke down the good and bad from his team’s performances, he then used the time this week to zero in on them in practice. s
“Every day (we) picked two or three things from an offensive side and defensive side and try to continue to build those habits to move that over to a strength…,” Davis said. “Just having that time to not only think about it, but write it down, but to also implement it in practice and do it, I think it just really big for us.”
The things to improve on offense: Davis said the offensive glass (UNC is minus-11 on the season; also the execution and the “pace and purpose of our plays and getting to the right spots” plus setting solid and legal screens and using them.
Davis picked a couple of things each from both ends of the court for his team to focus on, and they dialed into it in practice.
*Carolina allowed 92 points in the paint last week in losses at Indiana and Virginia Tech, and is averaging scoring one less point per game in the paint than its opponents on the season. That simply isn’t Carolina basketball, and Davis says it’s been addressed this week.
“I’ll tell you two things: It’s one, protecting the paint,” Davis said. “Over the last two games, Virginia Tech and Indiana have gotten 92 points in the paint, and that’s just not sustainable, it’s not good, it’s just not, and it’s just not going to work. Reinforcing our positioning to take away the layups and the dunks, and the deep post catches, and the easy looks right around the rim…
“The second thing on the defensive end, is having trust. And from a defensive standpoint, I haven’t felt like we have trusted each other. And I’ve been telling them every day, ‘If you give help, you will get help.’”
*The Tar Heels host a Yellow Jackets team Saturday that has a lot of new faces. Davis’ scouting report:
“They have a unique system from a defensive standpoint,” Davis said. “They mix up their defenses. Most of the time, when they make a shot, they’re in one of their two different types of zones. Whether it’s a 1-3-1 or a matchup zone, and on a missed shot, they’re back in their man-to-man…
“From an offensive standpoint, most of the time, if not all of the time, they’re offensive is bound by their Princeton principles. So, in preparation to them, you have to tweak, pivot, and alter, and change a little bit of how you play defensively.”
