How UNC basketball coach Hubert Davis has developed coaching style of constant change
North Carolina’s Hubert Davis is still very much in his infancy stage as a head coach, but what’s becoming clear is his coaching style is being defined by his willingness to make adjustments.
The Tar Heels (9-4, 1-1 ACC) travel to face Pitt (9-4, 2-0) having already made major changes into how they began playing to open the season. One of those unexpected changes is Carolina’s use of its press, which nearly completed an 18-point comeback against Virginia Tech and was instrumental in its rally to beat Ohio State.
“Sometimes you just try stuff and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” Davis said. “When we started pressing against Virginia Tech, we had never practiced that before. And so it just ended up really working out for us and it’s something that has helped us throughout the remainder of this season.”
Davis said he’s trying to incorporate their pressure more into the flow of a game instead of just when they are trailing.
Many coaches would never make a fundamental change to their team’s playing style in the middle of a season. But Davis believes he’d be short-changing the team if he did not.
“I don’t see any fear in trying something, I just I don’t,” Davis said. “I think the fear is not to try something. It’s important to tweak, to pivot, to alter, to change some things to try to be the best that you can be.”
One of his major changes last season came when Davis scrapped their freelance offense and went heavy on the use of ball screens when they proved to be more effective.
This season, he’s effectively done the opposite after watching the offense look stagnant during a four game losing streak. Ball movement was poor and theTar Heels’ assist rate during those games was low.
“One of the things that we changed was when the play wouldn’t work and we went into ball screen, it just kind of stopped,” Davis said. “Now we go into like a movement play. So if our play breaks down, we automatically go into a spot where we have tremendous spacing and it’s already like orchestrated movement to give us a better shot in our freelance and that’s really worked for us offensively, too.”
The minor tweaks are working, too. Bacot has been on a tear the past four games, averaging 22 points per game while shooting 60 percent from the field. Davis made changes to help him get more post ups in his favorite positions, and he in turn has delivered.
“We made a couple changes in terms of getting more spacing and it’s allowing us to get layups and dunks, pitch aheads, wide open 3s and Armando down low on the post right underneath the basket,” Davis said.
One of Davis’ minor changes last season that paid major dividends came after losing to Duke by 20 at home.
His initial thought was that Brady Manek would be at too much of a disadvantage trying to defend Duke’s Paolo Banchero, so he instead used Armando Bacot on him. Bacot picked up two quick fouls, came out of the game, and the Blue Devils ran away with it in the first half.
For the rematch in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Davis decided to live with the Manek-Banchero matchup and they essentially canceled each other out with each scoring 21 and 23 points, respectively.
Davis will again be looking to make the right tweaks against Pitt. The Panthers have beaten the Heels three of their past four meetings, including a 76-67 shocker in Chapel Hill last season.
“Pittsburgh is an extremely well coached team, they always bring a sense of confidence and physicality out there on the floor,” Davis said. “To have a chance against them, you’re gonna have to bring that yourself. We’re excited about the challenge of going to Pittsburgh and playing against a really good team that’s playing probably their best basketball of the season.”
Tipoff time + TV channel for Friday’s game
The game will start at noon on Friday and will air on ACC Network.
How to stream UNC vs Pitt game online
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Game day details: UNC vs Pitt
Teams: UNC Tar Heels vs. Pitt Panthers
Where: Peterson Events Center, Pittsburgh.
Date: Friday, Dec. 30
Time: Noon.
TV: ACC Network
Series history: Carolina leads the series 15-6 and is 8-5 since Pitt joined the ACC. However, the Panthers have won three of the past four games, including last season’s 76-67 win in Chapel Hill Feb. 16.