Hubert Davis Postgame Quotes

Question: How did it go into the lockerroom knowing that your next game isn't until eight days away? So it's going to be a while before you're out there?
Coach Hubert Davis: Well, I felt like this is a great opportunity for us to, to get better as a team, you know, you know, we're all for eight days, and we're going to celebrate Thanksgiving, we're going to spend time together as a team away from the court. But we're also we're going to practice a lot. And we're going to get better. I don't care what anybody says, I'm convinced that this is a team that has a chance to, to win a national championship. I just believe that they're great kids, unbelievable kids to be around every day. They're talented out there on the floor. And I'm excited about this week to get better as a team and to spend time together as a team. It's hard to during the season with school and recruiting, and I can't wait to get back to spending time together with with the team away from away from the court. And so I'm really excited about these next eight days.

Question: Coach, four straight games, the opponent has scored 19 points off of your turnovers. I know that keeping the turnovers down and limiting the number of points teams got off of them was a major point of emphasis this offseason. So what have you seen has  been a bit of the issue, these last four games that has led to that?
Coach Davis: Well, you know, one of the things I always say with turnovers, It's either one or two things. It's selfishness, or carelessness, our turnovers a 100%, never selfish, but are just careless. And so we've talked about it daily. And that's something that we're going to reinforce every day, about taking care of the basketball and not being careless with the basketball. We've gone against teams that have pressured and teams that have pressed in for whatever reason, carelessly, we pass the ball and UNC Asheville was able to get some deflections and some steals, I'm going to focus on the positive. The positive was is that, you know, we held them to 26% from the field. You know, over the weekend against Purdue and Tennessee, from a defensive standpoint, we didn't play defense the way that I felt like we can play defense. And so tonight to hold a team to 26% I'm really encouraged by that, and I'm gonna focus on the positive.

Question: Well, I was gonna ask you about defense as well, both Armando and Brady said that that was a major, major point of emphasis yesterday, and Brady said that he thought that that you guys played their quote unquote, butts off tonight defensively, were you pleased with with the effort? And do you think that taking defense personally was something you saw a little bit more of tonight?
Coach Davis: I do. I really do. You know, I think that, you know, when we talked about over the weekend, both Tennessee and Purdue shot 55% from the field and over 40% from three. I think there was a stat that we allowed over the weekend, over 90 points in a paint over the weekend. And we took offense to that. We're a much better defensive team than what we played against Purdue and Tennessee. And there were a lot of frustrated, upset, motivated guys in the locker room and they responded on the defensive end. I mean, there was a stretch in the first half where I felt like we got I think we got seven stops in a row. And I was really excited and really happy for that. And I thought I thought we were dialed in defensively.

Question: Brady [Manek] sounded kind of ticked off when he, you know just came in for the interview.  And basically the tone of it was he expects better and he felt like you guys could be better in a lot of areas. How do you balance, or  what do you want to see to balance like in terms of the leadership the players take in terms of taking that step forward and being able to criticize each other and, and you having to step in and kind of be the leader for the team?
Coach Davis: I love Brady, I love his fire. You know, one of the things he's our most experienced player, you know, he's played for four years and in the Big 12. He's played in big games, big situations. And so even though he hasn't been here, he has a clear understanding of what it takes to be competitive, what it takes to win and be successful in big games and big situations. And so I love when he speaks up when he speaks to team listens because of his experience, because of his play and because of how wise he is out there on the floor. And so I like his fire. I always say this to the guys, that if you're emotional and you show emotions, that's good. If you're emotional and you have emotions out there on the floor, on the bench, in the huddle, I'm 100% for that. That means you care. So you saying that, you know, Brady came in to the interview room hot, that puts a smile on my face. That means he cares. And he's right. This team can be really good. And he understands that. And I'm glad that we're very fortunate to have Brady Manek on this team and a part of this program.

Question: I just wanted to follow up on that as well. You were asked, you know, how you sort of responded and what you told the guys after the weekend? How did you see them sort of intermingling just in general, not just Brady, how did you see them talking to each other holding each other accountable? And are there any sort of specific instances that you saw translate to the court tonight?
Coach Davis: Well, I think, you know, it did translate, you know, from a defensive standpoint, as I said before, you know, we held them to, you know, 26% from the field. And so, our response to us defensively,I was in favor of, you know, as I said before, from how we played defense over the weekend, what was our response going to be in from a defensive standpoint, I thought it was great. You know, one of the things that I talked to the guys about is what it means to play at this place. You know, what it means to put on this uniform and run out of that tunnel and be a part of this university in this program and, and what it means not only to them, but to their families to form our players for this university and for this community. And I was really happy with the response. We didn't play well on offensive in, you talked about the turnovers, we missed layups and shots that we normally make. But I do like our response. I think, for the most part, our guys were stunned. They were stunned after this weekend. One of the things you know, it's interesting, my dad said this to me today and for whatever reason, I never thought about it. But as good as we are, we're not that experienced. You know, RJ and Caleb and Kerwin, only sophomores. Dawson's only a sophomore. Armando is a junior, but these the last couple years haven't been Carolina basketball. And so like none of our guys have experienced those, those stories, those memories, those testimonies that I have, Coach Maye, Coach Frederick, Coach Sullivan and Coach Lebo. And I think they were a little shocked about what happened this weekend, in a good way. It's going to hold us accountable, and it's going to move us in the right direction. And I believe it moved us in the right direction today

Question: Your team held an early 15 point lead against Loyola and then one by 16. And then tonight you held a 20 point lead early and then they went on a 23 to 10 run and then you guys went by 19.  Just what's allowing teams to kind of hang around after you kind of put your push on them early?
Coach Davis: That's a great question. You know, one of the things that we have talked about is sustaining the type of effort that we need to have on both ends of the floor for the entire game. We really haven't put a full 40 minutes together. We've had spots, we've had half's, and in order to have the ability to achieve the things that we want and our goals as a team, we're going to have to put a full game together and so those are things that you know, we're continuing to work on. Those are things that will come.  It's only game six, and so very few teams are ready, are settled right now on Game Six, but we're improving we're getting better. And I like where our team is. And I like where our team is going to be at the end of the year.

Question: So do you think that's happening because they can't put a full 40 minutes because how early it is, still trying to get settled or why do you think that hasn't happened yet?
Coach Davis: No, I just am not panicking because it's the sixth game. That's the only reason.

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Brady Manek

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