What are the three items on UNC basketball coach Hubert Davis’ checklist for success?
North Carolina’s Hubert Davis showed up Wednesday at the ACC Tipoff with a basketball checklist and some interesting numbers to discuss.
Twenty and 13 are two numbers the Tar Heels coach knows well. That was UNC’s record last season, keeping the Heels out of the NCAA Tournament, a startling development after playing for the NCAA title in 2022 and then being ranked No. 1 in preseason.
Another number Davis knows well is 31.2. That was UNC’s 3-point shooting percentage last season, last in the ACC.
Davis had an interesting checklist that he said has long been a foundation and bedrock of UNC basketball and remains one.
“I’ve told our guys there are three areas you’ve got to check the box in,” Davis said. “You’ve got to rebound, you’ve got to be a good defensive team and you’ve got to take care of the basketball. If you check those three boxes, you’ll be in every game.
“Every time we have done all three of those in my two years, we’re undefeated. Every time in the last two years we’ve done two out of the three, in any sequence, we’re 30-4. So there’s success in getting after it rebounding, defensively and taking care of the basketball.”
“Getting after it” is something Davis wants to see more of this season. Senior guard R.J. Davis mentioned “grit” Wednesday, saying he believed that would be team identity.
“It’s playing with that competitive edge,” R.J. Davis said. “We have a lot of guys that want it. They all have that chip on their shoulder.”
But having a grittier, tougher team doesn’t always make for a better team. The Tar Heels must be a better shooting team this season, which Davis equates to having better passing and a willingness to pass up a shot to get a teammate an even better shot.
The Heels were 13th in the ACC in assists last season with about 12 a game. They had more turnovers (355) than their opponents (345) – UNC was one of four ACC teams with a minus differential – and were 11th in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio.
“There’s a link between shooting percentages and our lack of team assists,” Davis said.
Freshman point guard Elliot Cadeau, a five-star recruit with some savvy, should help address the ballhandling issues. Such transfers Cormac Ryan from Notre Dame and Paxson Wojcik from Brown should make UNC a better outside shooting team, giving big man Armando Bacot more room to roam inside.
“We don’t need shooters, we need makers,” Davis said. “There’s a difference between FGM’s and FGA’s.”
That is, field goals made as opposed to field goals attempted.
“I feel like we have enough makers,” Davis said. “I’d like to transition to knowing we have makers.”
Davis talked Wednesday of his first season as head coach at UNC and how the Tar Heels were “1:25 from winning the national championship” in the 2022 title game against Kansas. To go from that position to missing the 2023 NCAA tournament was humbling.
Before last season, Davis said his team was hungry to atone for falling just short of their goal and wanted his team to be “starving.” That didn’t work out so well.
“We weren’t starving” he said.
And this season?
“We’ll find out soon,” he said, laughing.
A year ago, Davis asked his players to write down their goals for the season. After how things unfolded, that coaching approach changed as Davis planned for his third season as coach.
“Last year I gave them ownership in terms of what they wanted this team to look like,” Davis said. “This year, I didn’t do that. I said, ‘This is what this team is going to look like.’
“I told them what this team is going to look like offensively and defensively, and either you’re on the bus or off the bus. Plain and simple, period at the end.”
This story was originally published October 25, 2023 at 3:31 PM.
