UNC-Appalachian State Postgame Quotes

Men's Basketball vs Appalachian State
Chapel Hill, N.C.
UNC 70 – App State 50
12/21/2021

UNC vs App State Postgame Quotes

RJ Davis

Q: RJ can you walk me through the defensive changes. It seemed like you guys were playing ball screens different going from from icing to going back to kind of what you did more of last year either switching or having a big man hedge out. Can you walk me through to the tweaks you guys made?

Davis: Well, they did a lot of brush screens on this game so all we did was 1-4. We switched. I think that was a big factor for us. All of our perimeter guys and bigs could guard any position, so for us to be able to switch, guard on the big, big on the guard, it didn't really matter. I think you guys saw today that it was a little bit different of a defense situation in today's game but it turned out…

Q: Is that a permanent change on how you guys are playing or is that just something for tonight?

Davis: We'll see.

Q: Hey RJ, I just thought you played pretty sensationally in that second half. I don't know if you know this but you had 10 points, finished with a three quick layups all back to back during that stretch in the second half as UNC extended its lead. Just curious, was there a conscious mindset change to attack the basket for you in the second half? Something you saw in the matchup or what led to that in the second half?

Davis: I was just playing in the flow of the game. I wasn't really thinking about too much about you know, how the score. It was more just playing off my instincts. You know, I think that's what led to those three back to back easy baskets for the layups and I just took what was open.

Q: Yeah, I just wanted to follow up on Andrew's question from earlier. The past three days you mentioned you didn't necessarily play with energy, effort, and toughness against Kentucky. How's Coach Davis spent the past few days, maybe compared it to how you've seen him after Tennessee or anything like that. But how did he sort of respond? And then how did you guys take what he was trying to teach you?

Davis: I mean, all he asked for us was to compete. Coach Davis loves us. And I think that you know, for him to get on us and push us, I think that's what's best for the team. I think that goes a long way. Because not only does it help us, you know, during practice, but it translates over to the game. So if we continue to play like this, and play together and just compete every game, you know, it'll take care of itself.

Q: Hey, RJ, I was wondering kind of with nonconference slate now finished and onto ACC play, what do you think you've kind of learned about this team so far? And what are the areas you think this team needs improve on the most heading into ACC play?

Davis: I've learned that we're really good. We've just got to learn to you know, come out, doesn't matter what opponent we play. Every game, we've just got to come out compete. No days off. And you got to play together. I think we could go a long way. You know, still early in the season. But now we're getting to ACC play. So now it's time to, you know, lock in. And you know, continue to play Carolina Basketball.

Q: RJ, just following up on what Andrew and Brendan asked, you know, you said that you've talked about energy and effort and toughness, the last couple of days and that Hubert had kind of gotten on you guys a little bit. I mean, has it been kind of an angry thing around the team the last couple of days? Have people been mad? Or just how did you approach what happened in Vegas and how you've tried to move on from that what has been sort of the field around you guys the last couple of days.

Davis: I mean, the last couple of days, as a team, collectively, we knew, you know, that was not how we're supposed to play. So coming to practice, we have a great couple of practices leading up to this game. The way we competed, the way everyone was talking, the way we were sharing the basketball, diving on the floor. I mean, that just shows that, you know, we know what we're capable of, but now we just got bring it to the game. So I think, for us to play that way in practice, you know, it translated well to the game. So if we continue to do that, the rest is successful for us.

Q: RJ, you went down early in the game, but we're able to come back in pretty quickly. Everything good? You feeling okay?

Davis: Yeah, definitely. I feel good. It was just a little tweak. But I was able to come back into the game and you know, do whatever my team needed me to do to get the win.

Q: RJ, you mentioned that you liked the way that you guys competed the past couple of days in practice coming into today. Is there a reason you think that that, I don't know if you want to call it effort or energy or toughness, competitiveness, whatever. Is there a reason you think that that hasn't been there, and every game so far, at least not out of the gate?

Davis: I just think sometimes we could just get, you know, too relaxed and too complacent. I think that we just have to use each other as motivation. You know, we pick each other up because we're family, we're brothers. So we got to do we have to do in order to get the win. So I think that, you know, that communication was spread out throughout the locker room and throughout the team. So I think moving forward will be great.

Brady Manek

Manek: We played really hard. We had a really good game tonight. And you know guys just played hard. You know, Coach has been talking about energy, effort, toughness, and we brought that today, especially in the second half. You know, we played really well tonight. We played together, I had a lot of fun.

Q: Hey, Brady, like he said, great game tonight. Appalachian State, they went 26% shooting in the second half. So coming out of halftime, coming out of the locker room, was that something Coach Davis focused on, especially after the Kentucky game? Is that something Coach Davis focused on for this game at all?

Manek: You know, he just wanted us to play tough. He wanted us to play hard. And I think that's what we did. Came out in the second half with a lot of energy, sharing the ball, playing really well. Guys had unbelievable nights. I mean, look at Armando, look at RJ, Kerwin came in and hit some big shots. You know, everybody's playing really well right now. And you know, we bounced back.

Q: Brady, 17 assists of the 29 baskets tonight. Can you just speak to the fact that he was getting himself open, sealing guys, you're able to see him on those three, just the overall sharing of the basketball for you guys tonight.

Manek: Yeah, you know, Armando really stepped it up. He played well, and he should get a double double every game. He's that good. You know, he's a big guy to guard, it's hard to guard that's why they were trying to double him as much as they could tonight. He played really well. I mean, he had four or five dunks, and three of them were off of a catch over the top dunk. So you know, he's just playing really well. And you know, we had guys, help them, feed them and get them going. You know that that's what we need from him.

Q: Also, you guys I think had 14 offensive rebounds tonight. You only had six on Saturday, the point of emphasis for Coach Davis about getting on the glass for you, getting your own misses? How much was that emphasized last couple of days?

Manek: Yeah, you know, Justin, Dawson, myself, Armando. I mean, we were all getting in there trying to play hard. I think we played a really good game offensively. And then getting those second chance points helped us push the lead out a little more. And we just played hard. And the last few days in practice, we've had an emphasis on playing hard and playing together. And, you know, I really think we came out tonight and bounced back from that loss and played really well.

Q: Yeah, you mentioned a few times how hard you guys played tonight, and how that was an emphasis for Coach Davis the past couple of days. Can you identify a reason why that hasn't been a constant? Why that has been something that he's still trying to remind you guys about? And how do you sort of make sure that that is not, you know, a variable going forward the rest of the season and ACC play?

Manek: Yeah, you know, it's a hard thing to do. I mean, it's basketball. And, you know, sometimes you get into a game and the other team hit first, and they hit way harder. And we had one of those games, but we bounced back. And all we can do is look forward and try to keep it up. You know, the energy we had tonight, the way we played tonight, I know it was App State, but we need to play like that every time.

Q: Now that competition's about to ramp up going into ACC play, what do you feel like is the identity of this team? Like what's the one thing you know for sure about this team when the bullets start flying, so to speak?

Manek: I say, you know, we all know how to play basketball. We're all really good basketball players, we all know what we're supposed to do. And that's one thing for us that we've been emphasizing on. We need to know how to play but we also need to come ready to play. And that's going to be our biggest challenge is, you know, being here ready to go. And, you know, we're just a really good basketball team, we got a lot of weapons and it's going to be a fun season.

Q: And given how you reacted after the UNC Asheville game, what did you take out of the Kentucky game? I mean, now that you had some time to kind of let that breathe, or is that something that you just don't think about? You forget about that game and keep it.

Manek: We can just learn from it. That's really it. You know, those games are gonna happen. We just learn from it. Found a lot of them in my career and, you know, just learn from it. Try to get better and I've been on some great teams and that happened to us back, three, four years ago. So you know, just keep moving forward and keep playing hard.

Q: Brady I know we talked some about your passing tonight and the ball movement in general, but I thought in particular some of those high or low passes to Armando looked great and you know that's something that has been a staple of Carolina basketball. But has that been something Coach Davis has been emphasizing more in practice recently?

Manek: Yeah, you know, we got a size advantage, we want to get the ball inside and 'Mondo's willing to work for it, I'm going to throw it. and you know, he's been doing just that he's playing great guys looking throw him the ball guys feed off of Mondo when he gets the ball and it's just been it's just been great. You know, start playing inside more and other things will come.

Head Coach Hubert Davis

Q: Anthony Harris, almost 15 minutes of game time tonight. I know some of that was necessitated in the first half when RJ went out, but what kind of growth have you seen from him just over the season's first two months, because it seemed like he didn't really get a lot of minutes, at least early on in November.

Davis: He's been great. I trust Ant. One of the things that I love about him is, you never have to question his energy and effort and toughness. It's always out there. He's an outstanding defensive player, he's continued just to improve and get better and better in each practice and he's somebody that we have to have in a game. He can not only defend, he can drive and finish. He can distribute the basketball, he can also play, you know, gives us another ball handler out there. In high school and AAU, when he came out, he went back and forth between the one and the two. So he's very comfortable bringing the ball up and getting our team into the offense and I thought he was fantastic tonight. I was very proud of him.

Q: Is it your philosophy to kind of use a game like what happened Saturday, as constant motivation and use it as a reminder? Or do you cut the cord to it? Say, here's what we learned from it and move on. And with that, what was your message the last couple of days to kind of get the guys ready going into this one?

Davis: No, I just, you know, we didn't really talk much about Kentucky and our game on Saturday. One of the things that we consistently talked about is, I said that, for them to be the best that you can be, it is non negotiable; you have to be clothed with energy, effort and toughness. That just has to be present. And one of the things that I told them is like, it's not just for them, it's for anything that you do. It's for everybody. It's for me, it's for Steph Curry, it's Kevin Durant, it's for Michael Jordan. You know, the reason why they were great is because, yes, along with their giftedness and the things that they were, you know, in terms of athleticism and length and different stuff that they were given. But in combination with their energy and their effort and their toughness, and at the end of the day, you have to bring that whether it's practice, shoot around, pickup, and obviously in a game. And that's something that just has to be present. You know, there are going to be times where we don't shoot the ball very well, there's going to be times where we turn the ball over or we don't execute. But something that can't happen, and it's happened twice this year, is where the energy and effort and the toughness is not present. And that can't happen. That's unacceptable.

Q: Hey Coach, congrats on the win. I know there was a lot of talk about the guard play from this past Saturday against Kentucky. Can you speak on what improvements you saw for tonight, and you know, what you want them to stick with moving forward as far as their performances tonight?

Davis: I'm not aware of the talk about Caleb and RJ, you know, I've said this before, I'm not on Twitter, I'm not on Facebook, I'm not in any chat rooms. I'm on Instagram, only because my kids are on Instagram and I just want to make sure that they're looking and seeing the right things. And so I'm not sure what the chatter is, you know, obviously, our team didn't play the way that we wanted to play or as well as we could play, not even close, against Kentucky on Saturday. But RJ and Caleb both have had fantastic seasons. I mean, they're unbelievable guards that have been consistent for us in terms of scoring, distributing, and in playing defense, and I can't be more happy with them. You know, tonight, both of them combined. I mean, Caleb had six turnovers. So that's something that I'm not happy about. But Caleb also had five assists. And, you know, the energy and effort that RJ played in the second half, and especially when Caleb was in foul trouble. I'm so happy and I'm so proud of both of them. They've had terrific seasons.

Q: I was wondering what you feel like going into ACC play, the identity of this team is?

Davis: I don't know what the identity of this team is. I know what I want the identity of this team to be. I want the identity of this team to be a team that comes every day with energy, effort, and toughness. I think that's the only way that we can achieve or have a chance to achieve all of our individual and team goals. You know, just for us to be able to compete against the Purdue's and Tennessee's and Kentucky's and Michigan's and for us to be able to have a chance to win the ACC regular season and tournament and get to a Final Four and win a national championship, we have to have that blue collar mentality where we're diving on loose balls, where we're very physical in box outs, and rebounding and doing all the little and dirty things that you have to do every day just to put yourself in a position to be successful. So I don't think our identity is that right now. I don't think we have an identity other than you know, we can score, we can shoot we we've got versatility on the offensive end. But I will say that's what I want our identity to be, by the end of the year or through ACC, I want us to have the reputation of being a very tough team. A team that always brings max effort and energy out there on the floor.

Q: And defensively speaking, are you guys doing away with kind of icing on ball screens or with what you did tonight with switching a lot more and having guys hedge out? Is that going to be what we see more of going forward?

Davis: You know what, I think we will see more of that. That's the first time that we did it and the reason why we did it was you know, Appalachian State, the way that they run their offense, there's a lot of ball screens. There's a lot of screens between guards. And so all of our icing and weaking has been with four and five men. And so we've always with like size guards, we've always switched and so the way that they run their offense they do a lot of you know, screens and ball screens and flare screens with like sized players. And so going into the game, we were switching one through four, and we were only icing and weaking our five man. And then we had to switch in the second half because they were running the play. And so we started just switching one through three. And we were icing four and five. And I thought we did a really good job. And so this is the first time that we ever did it in the game and I really liked it. I liked that we can switch and I like the versatility on the defensive end that we can do our regular ice and weak, but we can also read and switch one through four, or sometimes even one through five. And we also, we picked up full court as well, you know, any dead ball situations, free throws, we extended our defense full court. I thought it one, slowed their point guard down and it made them take time off the clock and it gave them less time to run their offense. So that was something that we did different tonight. And I really felt like it helped us on the defensive end.

Q: Yeah, you mentioned the energy and the effort and the toughness. And Brady and RJ who we spoke to earlier both said they thought that the guys did a good job of that tonight. Just curious, in the two times where that hasn't been the case, why do you think that is? And what are some ways, whether it be the past few days or moving forward, that you try and instill that every single day?

Davis: I don't have an answer for why the energy, effort, and toughness wasn't there versus Tennessee and versus Kentucky. All I know is I never want to see that again. And it's disappointing, it's upsetting, and it's unacceptable. I don't get that, you know, I don't remember a time ever that I was here at Carolina where that was ever questioned or any of our teammates. And given the opportunity to play at this university and for this program and put on that uniform, it's unacceptable to at any point to ever not play with energy, effort, and toughness. So I don't know why that was absent those last couple games, or those two games. But one of the things that we've been doing lately is in terms of our practice, making it even more competitive, and just forcing the energy, the effort, and the toughness. You know, it's a different time, you know, kids, they always think that they always have another opportunity. There's another chance. They didn't grow up like us, where you play pickup and if you lose, you have to sit out 30 or 40 minutes before you can get back out there on the court. They don't have a concept of the urgency of getting an opportunity to play. So that's something that we're talking about a lot. Actually, before the game, I told them that, you know, everyone says that, you know, in order to make something a habit, you have to do it at least 30 days. So I challenged them I said you bring energy, effort, and toughness for 30 days and see what happens. And I said, one, that'll become a habit, and number two, you will look back and you will say, "this is of great benefit to bring those three things every time I step on the floor."

Q: Coach, great win tonight. And then along the same lines, so after giving up almost triple digits to Kentucky, the team comes in tonight and only allowd 50 points to App State, makes them go four for 30 on three-pointers and what does that say about your team to just get hit in the mouth and then bounce right back up?

Davis: Well, that's one of the things that is at times frustrating, it's not like we haven't shown what we can do when we play well. Specifically on a defensive end. I told them the other day at practice, you know, the medicine for us to play well defensively is energy, effort and toughness. I said the great thing about it is we've shown that we can do that. You know, it's not a situation where you know, this is what we need to bring and I've never seen it in practice and I've never seen it in the game. We've seen it in games, we've seen it 10 of the 12 games. And so that's a good thing, that's a positive thing. Yes, it wasn't there for two games, but for 10 games, it was there. And so I look at it, you know, from a positive standpoint for us, just continue to grow and to learn about us as a team. It's just the first half of the season. We've only played 12 games together, but I feel like we're getting better and better and that's the thing that's very encouraging to me.

Q: Hey Coach Davis, I was wondering, we talked a lot about what you learned about your team, but what have you learned about yourself as a coach in the non-conference games, heading into ACC play that you can reflect on and build on?

Davis: What have I learned about myself? I love this team. And I already knew that. I love this group. I love coaching. I love being in a position where I can help them. I love being in a position that I can encourage them and coach them and teach them on the court, in the classroom, and in the community. I love where I'm at, you know, driving into work today, I was just kind of thinking about it. It's been eight and a half months since I've taken over the job as head coach and just thinking about the things that have happened in eight and a half months. And it's been a lot. It's been a huge transition. But it's been something that, at times has been challenging, but it's been challenging with a smile on my face and with great joy and thankfulness and appreciation for being a part of this program and this university. And so, I don't know if I've learned anything, I'd probably say these last eight and a half months have confirmed how much I love this place, how much I love coaching, and how much I love this team.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

RJ Davis

Anthony Harris

Brady Manek

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