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FORT WORTH, TX – North Carolina players Brady Manek, RJ Davis, and Armando Bacot met with the media Wednesday afternoon at Dickies Arena in advance of the eighth-seeded Tar Heels’ East Region first round game versus ninth-seeded Marquette here on Thursday.
They fielded questions about last year’s game versus Marquette, being fueled by the NCAA Tournament loss last year, their chemistry, Hubert Davis’ pre-game speeches, the Golden Eagles, and much more.
Note: The NCAA does not allow media to video record press conferences, but it allows us to post its recording, which is of the entire presser. That is below followed by the complete transcript.
Here is the complete transcript of what they had to say:
THE MODERATOR: All right. Welcome back, everybody. Time for the North Carolina student-athletes. Be sure all of your cell phones are silenced. This is a hybrid news conference. So we'll start with questions in the room. And those of you watching on ZOOM, raise your hand virtually and we will get to you once we've exhausted questions in Fort Worth. First, questions for the student-athletes. And we do have Armando Bacot next to me, then RJ Davis in the middle, Brady Manek closest to me. We can start in the back on the left -- or on the right.
Q. Question is for RJ. RJ, what do you remember about being recruited by Shaka when he was still at Texas?
RJ DAVIS: I remember him telling me, you know, that he wanted me to come to Texas, that they had a couple of guards. And he did a good job of recruiting me and whatnot, but I fell in love with UNC.
THE MODERATOR: Back on the left.
Q. Brady, you've been through this before at a normal tournament setting. But, RJ, you and Armando have not. Last year wasn't typical. Now that you've been here and had a chance to experience this a little bit, what are your thoughts about being here and having a chance to have a normal NCAA experience?
THE MODERATOR: Would you like all three of them to address that?
Q. Armando and RJ.
ARMANDO BACOT: It was just exciting being able to be in this situation and having the fans at live practices. And even do this, coming into this, we had no clue that we would have to do all this stuff. But it's just exciting because last year was just a lot different and kind of depressing. So...
RJ DAVIS: Yeah, to piggyback on what Armando said: I was going to say, it was exciting. It's something that I came from watching on TV from me to actually being in it, it's something that I'm grateful for. I'm going to take advantage of it and just enjoy myself, enjoy the journey with my teammates, and just go out there and compete.
THE MODERATOR: In the middle on the right.
Q. Hey, guys. Leaky talked about Coach Davis' pre-games speeches yesterday and how good they are. If you guys can elaborate on what they're like and kind of what that experience is like with Coach Davis and the pre-games situations?
THE MODERATOR: Armando, you can begin.
ARMANDO BACOT: Yeah, I mean, Coach Davis, he's a great motivator. And just a lot of the things he says and the ways he says it, I would say for me specifically, it definitely fires me up and a lot of the players. And he instills so much confidence. And I know we all would run through a wall for him.
THE MODERATOR: RJ?
RJ DAVIS: It definitely motivates us just to hear his -- how much he believes in us and that he wants us to go out there and compete.
His words of wisdom goes a long way. I think -- I even -- like, sometimes he's plays in my head while I'm playing. That's just shows how much his pregame speeches mean. So it's definitely something that carries a long way, not just for myself but for my teammates.
THE MODERATOR: And, Brady?
BRADY MANEK: Yeah, Coach's passion for the game, passion for us to succeed, it's special. He pushes us and he really focuses on building toughness and us playing the hardest we can. And it's just -- a great coach, a great leader to have.
THE MODERATOR: Left, second row.
Q. The question is for Armando. It's pretty well known Marquette's not really a big team inside. Is that something you've seen on film and what have you seen from them that kind of gives you pause to lick your chops and want to get to this game?
ARMANDO BACOT: Yeah, I watched a little bit of film on them. They're, obviously, an undersized team. But, also, they're not really good on the boards, too. So hopefully that's something that we can take advantage of.
We know they'll probably send double-teams and stuff like that, but I just got to be able to make the right plays and we got to knock down shots.
Q. This is for Brady and/or RJ. Kind of along those lines: What's kind of jumped out at you on film here looking at Marquette? What do they do well?
RJ DAVIS: They're very fast. They play a fast pace game in transition. They get out and run. That's what they do well. I would like to say you can take advantage on the boards with our size by, you know, getting down low to Armando and Brady, then, you know, spreading it out. But they're a good team. So it should be a good game.
BRADY MANEK: Yeah, I would say they're just a good team. They play hard, they're tough. It's been a good game, exciting game. Just ready to get back to it and have fun.
THE MODERATOR: Stay on the right, second row.
Q. This is for RJ and Armando. Have there been any discussion or look back to last year's first round loss to Wisconsin? I know Hubert Davis gave a speech after that game about how that wasn't Carolina basketball.
ARMANDO BACOT: Yeah, I mean, I would say that left a bad taste in all of our mouths. And it's something that Coach Davis emphasized earlier on in the week, and just telling us that it won't go down like that. I mean, I would say for all of us, we packed four or five outfits. So we don't plan on going home early.
RJ DAVIS: Yeah, I would like to say I plan to stay till Saturday. I know last year wasn't the way I wanted to go out, especially the first round, first game. So this is more, like, a redemption.
You know, just being able to -- different team, different mindset. And we all have a mentality of just to win, play together, toughness. So I refuse to have the same outcome as last year.
THE MODERATOR: That was RJ. Brady, do you want to follow up on that, as well?
BRADY MANEK: No, I'm good.
ARMANDO BACOT: He didn't even play for us last year.
THE MODERATOR: I bet he probably brought five or six outfits, right?
ARMANDO BACOT: Yeah.
Q. Brady, you played with Kur Kuath a couple years at Oklahoma. What do you remember most about him as a teammate? And if you watched him on film this year, has he improved or are there any differences in his game this season?
BRADY MANEK: Yeah, Kur is awesome. Awesome teammate and awesome guy. I loved being around him. I was with him for three years.
You know, his game's developed ever since I met him, blocking shots, rebounds. You know, he developed a little bit of an inner jumper every now and then.
But he's just a really good teammate overall. I really enjoyed being around him. I enjoyed playing with him. One of those guys that he -- you get blown by or something, you could rely on him to protect you at the rim. He's a really good shot blocker.
THE MODERATOR: And then back on the right.
Q. This question is for all of you guys. Obviously, offensively, you can tell when somebody's kind of gets a heat check and is in the zone, so to speak. When you see Leaky defending somebody else's top player, top scorer, when do you know Leaky's kind of in a defensive zone, so to speak?
BRADY MANEK: Yeah, Leaky has been playing unbelievable on defense. He's been guarding some of the best players, some of the leading scorers throughout the ACC, throughout the NCAA.
He's just done a really good job on guys. And he gets to that point where they got two points at half or three points at half and they're one for 11. That's just a good feeling. And that's the kind of player we like to have around.
THE MODERATOR: RJ?
RJ DAVIS: I know from the jump, Leaky's locked in on the best player. You can see his defensive stance. He does a phenomenal job with his length and his athleticism to, you know, guarding the best player.
Whether it's a guard or wing, whatever we need him to do, he's done a great job this year. And we kind of feed off his energy on defense. You can kind of see, like, where, you know, he's covering the best player, he does a great job. And we kind of feed off that.
ARMANDO BACOT: Yeah, I agree with all they said. I thought Leaky was by far the best defensive player in the ACC. I mean, I know you look at stats and blocked shots and steals, but just his impact of being able to take the best player out of the game I think is a blessing for us to have.
I mean, we know coming into every game, whoever Leaky is guarding, he's going to take out the game. It's just great having a guy like that on the team.
Q. RJ and Armando, Greg Elliott is the only guy that they have at Marquette that played on last year's team on Chapel Hill. He said he can get quite a bit from the experience of going up against you guys. Can you draw anything from that even though he's the only guy? And is there any juice with it being Marquette, given what happened last year, even though most of the people who were involved at Marquette are longer there?
THE MODERATOR: Armando and RJ. Let's start with Armando.
ARMANDO BACOT: Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say necessarily the team we're playing. Just because, I mean, it's a new team, new coaches. Everybody's gone.
But, I mean, just the fact that it's the NCAA tournament and we got one game that's guaranteed. So I feel like that's just what we can draw fire from. And we want to be able to play longer and just being able to play in front of our fans and experience, things like that.
RJ DAVIS: Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, coming into the game, it's the NCAA, it's the March Madness. That's as much feel we can get, as much energy we can get going into this game. We're just going to take it one game at a time and just focus on what's at task in front of us.
THE MODERATOR: We have time for a couple more questions with the student-athletes. On the right side, next-to-last row.
Q. Question's for RJ. I feel like you don't get as much attention for your impact and role on the team. But in a lot of ways, the offense starts with you. So I was just wondering how you feel about the role and impact you make with the team? And if the other two guys can talk about what RJ is like as a player and a person.
RJ DAVIS: Well, I don't really worry too much about what's going on outside. I just kind of have, like, my blinders on. Just focus on what I have to do to help my team win.
I know I'm a point guard. I'm going to have to be a leader. I just do whatever I have to do to win, whether it's making plays for myself or making plays for my teammates.
So I don't really, you know, care too much about, you know, the attention received. I know what I do and I know my impact on the team works.
THE MODERATOR: Okay. Anything else for the student-athletes?
Q. (No microphone.)
THE MODERATOR: Sure. Armando, go ahead.
ARMANDO BACOT: Yeah, I mean, I love playing with RJ. I mean, he's so efficient. And also just the way he can pass the ball and just affecting anyone to shoot and helping with spacing and all that. So it's great playing with him.
BRADY MANEK: Yeah, I'd say -- I don't succeed if I don't have guys like RJ, guys like Caleb, guys like Leaky on the team. Even guys like Armando.
They all have a factor. They all play a big role and can, you know, take the defense away from me. It really helps me get open. And they end up passing me the ball and trust me to shoot it. So I don't succeed without guys like them.
THE MODERATOR: Men, thank you very much. Good luck tomorrow.
RJ DAVIS: Thank you.
