University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heel Basketball Notebook
January 22, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
By Ben Brown and Adam Lucas
With Roy Williams on a previously scheduled recruiting trip, Hubert Davis filled in for him at the radio show last night with Jones Angell. It was interesting to get another perspective on some of the issues facing the 1-4 Tar Heels.
Williams has previously mentioned that every team faces more intensive scouting within the league, and Davis elaborated on how that has impacted Carolina. "One of the things we can fix is we've got to do a better job of finding a way to score more," he said. "For the most part, teams have figured us out.
"They understand one of the ways we score are getting second chance opportunities, so they're doing a better job of boxing us out. They know we really like to get out in transition. And I think it's no secret that people know the guy we need to score and to create is Marcus Paige. Every time he catches the ball he's got two or three guys with him, so we've got to do a better job of getting him open...Those are things you can fix, and those are things that we can fix."
Indeed, after remaining fairly consistent during the nonconference portion of the season, Carolina's offense in ACC games has plummeted to 14th in the league (out of 15) according to Ken Pomeroy's offensive efficiency numbers. However, it's also true that UNC's early schedule has included games against the top three defensive teams in the ACC, and it will be interesting to see how those numbers change as the competition differs.
Specifically to the point about scoring in transition, as has been mentioned here before, with the exception of Wake Forest, Carolina's first five ACC games were against the five league opponents most committed to playing a halfcourt game (Syracuse, Virginia, Miami and Boston College rank among the nation's slowest-paced teams). There's one more game remaining against a team that likes to walk it up-Sunday's matchup with Clemson, as the Tigers rank 348th out of 351 Division I teams-but then the pace should increase.
How it happened: By now, most everyone has heard the story of how Davis came to be part of the Tar Heel coaching staff, but he tells it with such emotion that it never gets old. He led off Tuesday's show by relating the story again. After Roy Williams offered him the job, "I went back home and my wife saw on my face that something had happened," Davis said. "And I told her let's sit down at the dinner table. I told her what was happening and we both started crying.
"And the reason I started crying was I was overwhelmed I was having this opportunity to be a part of the program again. North Carolina basketball has been a part of my life since I was four years old watching my uncle Walter Davis. So I had been on campus since 1974 and all I wanted to do was not only play for the University of North Carolina but to go to school here and graduate from here. So to be able to do that and come back here and raise our children here and then be a part of the program again. It still is overwhelming to be a part of this staff and have a front row seat to watch these kids grow up."
Tokoto's shot: Davis has received some of the credit for J.P. Tokoto's improved shooting stroke, with Tokoto himself mentioning that the assistant coach has made some valuable suggestions. So it was interesting to get Davis' insight on how the sophomore has improved, as he's shooting 31.6 percent from the three-point line after making just 1-of-11 trifectas as a freshman.
"People ask me what I'm telling him, and I tell him to get in the gym and practice," Davis said. "In order to become a good shooter, one you have to have good form, number two you have to relentlessly be in the gym working on your game and number three is you have to take good shots. If one of those three things is missing then you're not going to be a very consistent shooter. One of the things that J.P. has really done is he's gotten into the gym. He's one of those guys before and after practice who works on his shot relentlessly."
Paige's production: In ACC games, Tar Heel sophomore Marcus Paige is shooting just 34.3 percent from the field and 22.9 percent from the three-point line. That's a substantial drop from nonconference games, when he was hitting 44.7 percent overall and 40.3 percent from the arc.
As Williams has said and Davis reiterated, Paige is probably playing too many minutes (36.2 in ACC games, 35.5 overall). But Davis also said the Tar Heels may need to use him differently. "One difference (in the non-conference games) was Marcus was playing more at the two-guard position, as opposed to now he's at the point guard position," Davis said. "That's something we need to look toward. Do we need to move Marcus to the off-guard position and bring him off screens? Is it too much for him to guard the opposing point guard, bring up the basketball, get everybody into their sets and then be the scorer and the creator?"
Coming to UNC: You really need to hear Davis answer this one, about his favorite memory from playing at Carolina:
