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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Hubert Davis met with the media Friday afternoon in advance of the Tar Heels’ home game versus Georgia Tech on Saturday at the Smith Center.
Davis discussed sophomore guard RJ Davis, his in-season recruiting approach, why Armando Bacot is such a productive rebounder, if the team is where he thought it would be at the mid-point of the season, the Yellow Jackets, their leading scorer Michael Devoe, and more.
Above is video of Davis’ presser, and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
*The Tar Heels have admittedly been inconsistent in their approach to some games this season, and it has shown in their play. They said they weren’t ready for Tennessee or Kentucky, both of which were blowout losses, and Caleb Love said they took Notre Dame lightly last week, and ended up losing in South Bend.
So, with a Georgia Tech team coming in that UNC beat by 17 points last month in Atlanta, is this a chance to see if his team has grown in how it approaches games? Hubert Davis isn’t sure, but he does believe his club should never have an issue with its mindset going into games.
“Well, there’s no reason we should have taken Notre Dame lightly at the time that we played them, they had not lost a game at home. They were undefeated at home,” Davis said. “I’m just being honest with you, we’re not good enough to take any team lightly, we’re just not. So, our focus and our preparation and the way that we practice, and how we have to play, we have to be locked in at all times.
“To look past anybody, whether we played them earlier in the season, whether we’ve had success. For example, earlier in the year we beat Georgia Tech at Georgia Tech, I find no comfort, I find no sense of being relaxed because we’ve had that success against them in the past, and I’ve expressed that to the team.
“We have an opportunity to play a really good Georgia Tech team with an unbelievable coaching staff. And we have the ability to be out there, and our responsibility every day at practice and every game, is not to take anybody lightly, is to give every team and every opportunity our best.
“So, we’re not good enough to look past anybody, and we will not look past Georgia Tech. They are a very good basketball team.”
*The Yellow Jackets are coming off their first ACC win of the year, an 81-76 triumph at Boston College on Wednesday night. Davis warns, however, the Yellow Jackets are dangerous and his team must be ready.
"Georgia Tech is a different team than the team that we played you know in December,” Carolina’s coach said. “Mainly right now they're playing a smaller lineup… Armando (Bacot), Dawson (Garcia), Brady (Manek) we've got bigs that are gonna have to guard guards out on the perimeter. In transition, that's gonna propose a challenge for us and Georgia Tech is a very good basketball team.
“From an offensive standpoint, they have a lot of moving parts, you have to stay locked in defensively at all times there's never a point where you can take a deep breath and feel like you can relax. When you have a team where you got Michael Devoe on the team who's leading the league in scoring and can go for 40 on any given night that's a challenge.
“On the defensive end even though we were able to be really efficient offensively against them in Atlanta, the way that they change defenses between man and zone and they do that in the same possession, you just have to be locked in. We're excited about the challenge of playing Georgia Tech again at home and we're looking forward to the opportunity to compete.”
*RJ Davis hasn’t gotten as much attention this season as Caleb Love or Armando Bacot, but he is quietly putting together a really nice sophomore season. He is third on the team averaging 12.9 points per game, leads in assists at 3.6, averages 3.7 rebounds, and has 14 steals on the season. Davis is shooting 45.8 percent from the floor, including 41.7 percent (25-for-60) from three-point range.
His coach can’t say enough about the things in which Davis has improved this season, but he did single out a few important areas.
“I’m so happy with RJ,” Hubert Davis said. “The difference between RJ as a freshman compared to as a sophomore is night and day. He’s a guy that can really score. He can score off the catch or off the dribble, he can really shoot the basketball. He can handle the basketball, he can get into the lane.
“I think the two areas that he’s improved the most is that when he gets into the lane, he’s finishing better than he did last year. That’s an area where he worked really hard on in the summer. The other area that I’m so proud of him about is on the defensive end. He’s really taken a challenge to being better and be a factor on the defensive end.
“And one of the things that he does is on dead ball situations, whether it’s a free throw, after a timeout, he picks up full court. And his pressure on the ball full court just gives us so much lie in terms of our halfcourt defense. And I feel like in those two areas he’s really improved.”
*Armando Bacot is having such a good season, his coach pitched him for the ACC Player of the Year honor during Friday’s presser. In particular, Hubert Davis was asked why Bacot is such a good rebounder.
To note: Bacot established career-highs last week of 17 rebounds in a loss at Notre Dame before grabbing 22 in a win over Virginia. On the season, he is averaging 16.6 points and 11.2 rebounds. Amazingly, Bacot snared nine offensive rebounds versus the Cavaliers, and 48 of his 168 boards this season have come on the offensive glass.
“I actually told the team why Armando is such a great rebounder, and it was straight forward, direct, and very simple: I said he actually goes after the ball. He makes an effort,” Davis said. “And that’s what he does. From an offensive standpoint, he goes to the offensive glass every time. So, if a guy does not box out or he misses a box out, Armando’s going to get the rebound. You have to box him out every time. He goes every time.
“And then on the defensive end, he’s right there in position, he boxes out his man, and he’s in position. And his pursuit to get the rebound. That’s a huge part of his game. He knows if he gets an offensive rebound he gets to score. He knows if he gets a defensive rebound he gets to run the floor and be able to post up and be able to finish around the basket.
“He is relentless in that area. But really, why he is a good rebounder on both ends of the floor is because of his effort, his pursuit. As I said before, it’s not even close, he is the ACC Player of the Year. Plain and simple, period, the end.”
*With the Tar Heels going a week in between games, the coaching staff had an opportunity to go out on the road and recruit. They have recently watched a couple of signed members of the class of 2022 along with a committed player for the class of 2023. Davis said they will go watch kids whenever they get the chance during the season.
“One of the things we like to do here at Carolina is, even if a guy is already committed here, we still max out in teems of the times that we’re able to see him. Next year, we have Jalen Washington and Seth Trimble and Tyler Nickel coming in next year, over the last couple of weeks we’ve actually gone out and seen high school games.
“So, this past week where we haven’t had a game, on Tuesday we went out to New Jersey to see Simeon Wilcher, who committed to us already. Then on Wednesday night, I flew out and got to see Tyler Nickel play a high school game.
“So, just being able to connect with the guys that have already committed to us, that’s something that I personally like to do, and our assistants do it as well.”
Note: Wilcher is a class of 2023 UNC commit who cannot sign until the early signing period next November. So, with NCAA rules prohibiting coaches from publicly discussing unsigned prospects, which is what Wilcher is until he signs, Davis technically committed an NCAA violation.
THI reached out to UNC after the press conference concluded and was informed the program immediately notified its compliance office about Davis’ mistake.
