UNC-Boston College Postgame Quotes

North Carolina 72 - Boston College 64

Pete Nance
Q: How has the healing progression been going?
Nance: I woke up this morning and didn't feel anything, so I knew that today would kinda be a good day, just as far as the progression of it for me to get back out there.

Q: Did it (your back) feel good out there? Any issues?
Nance: For sure, it felt great, knock on wood. It felt good all night, and I was glad, obviously, that I didn't tweak it again.

Q: You guys made ten threes for the third time this season. Do you still feel like this team can be a good, or very good, perimeter shooting team?
Nance: For sure. We've talked about it a lot. I think we lead the ACC in scoring, maybe, but I haven't felt like we've shot at all how we shoot in practice. We know we are a really good shooting team. The numbers haven't been where we've wanted them to be, but that is definitely not going to stop us from losing our confidence or anything like that. We know we're a really good shooting team and we're going to continue to shoot like that.

RJ Davis:
Q: What's going through the mentality when you have to change from being a pass-first point guard to getting the points?
A: I mean, from me just playing point guard my whole life I know when to score and when to pass. I think me controlling the game makes it better for everyone else and better for the flow of the game. I have the ability, being a natural scorer my whole life, that's nothing new to me. I know my ability of getting to my spots and being able to have the confidence to knock it down.

On the team pulling away after Boston College cut the lead to one:
"We just got stops, and we were able to, after we got a stop, we were able to score on the other end. There was a stretch where we were maybe up one and we were able to really key in on defense and that kind of led to our offense. I feel like once we were disciplined, and we're good enough to do that, we've got to do it all the time from start to finish."

On Armando Bacot's record-tying performance and his presence in the paint:
"It just makes it easier for us, just for him to be so good down low in the paint and be a force. That's something he's been doing all year and over the years he's been here. I kind of think he got a double-double in the first half so nothing's surprising at this point. You know, that's something that Mando has been doing all year, so you know he's gonna keep it going."

On Pete Nance being back in the lineup:
"We missed him out there, you know, Pete's ability to be a versatile player on both ends of the court, that's something that we're gonna need. I told him when you get back out there just be yourself, don't try to step on anyone's toes. I thought he did a good job of being assertive and aggressive, because that's what we're gonna need. I was super happy to have him back on the floor."

Armando Bacot:
On tying Billy Cunningham's record for double-doubles at North Carolina:
"It means a lot. I guess I can credit Cole Anthony, Caleb Love, and RJ for all the missed shots they shot so I guess I have to give them credit."

On Caleb Love's performance in the final minutes of the game:
"We all saw, I mean, since he's been here when he's playing at his ceiling and really giving us great shots and just going and scoring the ball I mean we're a hard team to beat. Just getting him back on rhythm, and I thought this was a good game for him and he did his thing and hopefully he can continue it on."

On his leadership this season:
"We've all been learning as a group and we've got a lot of veteran guys so I wouldn't say I'm the only leader. I wouldn't say I'm the only leader but I think we've been just doing a better job of just kind of focusing in on all the things we need to get better on. But, it's a long season, there's still a lot of stuff we've got to work on."

Caleb Love
Q: What is your mindset down the stretch in games?
Love: "Just taking charge and putting my body up for the team. I just want to make one of those plays down the stretch to help this team win."

Coach Hubert Davis
Q: 56-55 and you guys pulled away and Caleb [Love] had nine points after that. Some of the guys said that when the ball gets to the basket from him, it just giving them a different method of juice. Is that what you saw happening?
Davis: "I thought what gave us life was his defensive charge. That's what I thought gave us life. You know, one of the things that I've said a number of times is Caleb is a basketball player and all of our guys are. And that is you can make an impact in many different areas, not just scoring and shooting, it's distributing, it's playing defense, it's rebounding. It's team chemistry, energy and effort, enthusiasm. There's a number of ways that you can benefit a team and allow us to be the best that we can be. But I think, I mean, it was nice that he, you know, from an offensive standpoint, he made some some shots down down the stretch. But to me, I thought the biggest play in the game was his defensive charge that he took. Late in the second half."

Q: Do you ever talk to Caleb [Love] about confidence, or keeping his head up?
Davis: "I do. I did. I talked to him yesterday. And I talked to him through my own experience. I told him one time in the NBA, I struggled shooting the ball for an entire month. And I said that, I always felt like if I missed 10, I was going to make the next 10. And one of the things that I did was always I went through a checklist, one of the things that I looked at was, was there anything wrong. In terms of fundamentally with my shot, I told him that sometimes my elbow would come out a little bit too much, or my guide hand thumb would be on the ball a little bit too much. And I said, looking at your shot. And when he was shooting the last couple of days, as you said, to me, it just seemed just a smidge flat just a little bit. So I said, just think about getting a little bit more arc on there. And I told him about the importance of continuing to shoot and continuing to shoot good shots. And then I told him about making impact plays in different areas. When I struggled to shoot the ball, I thought more about let me get some extra rebounds. Let me make some more hustle plays. And take my mind off of 'oh, I've got the ball, I've got to make this shot.'It just puts you in a position to get out of whatever lack of rhythm that you have on the shooting. I just told him that I'm proud of him and just continue to play. And so we had that discussion yesterday."

Q: "What do you think about the return of Pete [Nance] to the lineup and it sounds like you've been trending in a good direction the last couple days able to practice and things like that. Just what were your thoughts on him being back?"
Davis: "No, it was great. You know, we need Pete [Nance] and you know, he's another big that can do a number of things out there on the floor and on both ends. And so I was very happy that he was back in the lineup. The disappointing thing was Jalen [Washington], He twisted his ankle in shoot around. And I told the guys, there's some things that as a player that I've never experienced. I said I've never experienced coming out of my shoe during practice or during play. I wasn't the most athletic or fast guy but I did tie my shoes. I never stepped out of bounds. When our guys practice and they step out of bounds. I never turned the ball over in shoot around when there was no defense. And I've never seen somebody get hurt in shoot around. And so it was just a freak accident of him stepping on someone's foot and and twisting his ankle. I just was really excited about having Pete [Nance] back alongside Armando [Bacot] and Jalen [Washington]. And so, I was happy but I was also disappointed from the standpoint that Jalen [Washington] could not play tonight."

Q: "We've talked about [Armando] Bacot so much over the years, but great performance that double-double up on the first half. I mean, are there any adjectives left to just describe what he's doing out there?"
Davis: "No, he's just not a normal player. It's hard to describe just how valuable and how great he is as as a player, as someone to coach. You know, one of the things as a coaches that you really, really want is when you go to practice and you go to games, you want consistency. And you want to have a feeling whether it's from an individual or a team that you know what you're going to get from them. It's a great feeling as a coach, not having to guess, 'Is this guy going to play well? Is this group going to play well? Are we going to play hard?' With Armando [Bacot], there's no guesswork. You know exactly what you're gonna get every practice every game and what he's doing, statistically, is just unbelievable. I'm so proud of him and just having another incredible season."

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

RJ Davis

Caleb Love

Pete Nance

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