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University of North Carolina Athletics
Hubert Davis
Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI
UNC-Tennessee Postgame Quotes
November 29, 2023 | Men's Basketball
Chapel Hill, N.C.
North Carolina: 100, Tennessee: 92
Hubert Davis
On Armando Bacot:
"He wasn't as efficient as he wanted to be in the Bahamas and he wanted to be better on the offensive end. The last couple of days of practice were real for him. He was locked in and wanted to make sure he was watching film with myself and Coach May. I talked to him about how for any player there will be rainy days and there will be sunny days, but what will your response be?"
On the first half:
"I thought our spacing and ball and player movement were good. I felt like we were able to beat them off the bounce and get into rotations. From an offensive standpoint, it was one of the better halves that I've seen since I've been here for 12 years as an assistant and head coach."
On transition:
"Elliot has a gift and a talent to not only distribute the and pass the ball but also distribute and pass the ball to a player where he can actually do something with it and he's just instinctively just really special in that area. But it's also our wings and Armando running too. So it's a full team effort."
On Cormac Ryan:
"He didn't practice Monday or Tuesday. After practice Tuesday, he came into my office and said 'I'm playing' and I said 'Okay.' There's a sense of urgency for him."
On Tennessee:
"Rick Barnes is an incredible coach and they're one of the better teams in the country and they just came off of two losses. I wanted to let them know what was coming here tonight. Even though we returned home, this was going to be a battle and I wanted to put them in a mindset that we're coming here to compete and coming here to improve."
Armando Bacot
Response after the Bahamas:
"Our message all week was just how we would respond. In the Bahamas we wanted to win a championship and coach all week has been challenging us. I think today we really set the tone. I think today we were really trying to put the world on notice."
Tennessee's defense adjusting in the second half:
"I think when I am playing at my best, Harrison, RJ, Elliot, Cormac. It is hard to stop our team. We got a lot of different weapons. Yall see with Harrison establishing himself, RJ we know how he is."
"I didn't like my performance in the Bahamas. To see Villinova go there and win it all. If I played just a little better, I think we could have won the championship. That was one of our biggest goals. But like I said we all just gotta move on, be professional about it, keep going. I think today was a huge win for us versus an experienced team. Obviously Coach Barnes is a great coach, well coached team. Like you said, the number adjusted defense team and we scored one hundred points on them."
On Elliot Cadeau:
"He's basically a quarterback out there. I know he is going to find me whenever I get open. He encourages me to run harder every play and post out."
On Harrison Ingram:
"He's our X factor. Just to have a three that can score, shoot, post up, and be a player maker. It's great. It's really pick your poison with us. Are you going to double me? Are you going to squeeze out on Harrsion? Blitz RJ? You really just have to figure it out. It's great having options to score the ball."
Elliot Cadeau
On his passing ability:
"A game like this, when all of my teammates are hitting shots and I'm not making shots, that's when I know I have to be more aggressive on the passing side…[the mindset] it's a natural thing to me. When I was younger, parents used to have to pay me to shoot the ball. Literally pay me to shoot. It was just a thing of thing I would love to do - pass the ball… my parents would pay me I think like $5 at the point I scored in second grade."
On playing in unity:
"We do this every day in practice. People do this. All of my teammates do this on a regular basis; They shoot that well. They play great, like every day."
R.J. Davis
On the team win:
"It was really satisfying. You know Tennessee is a really good team. They're ranked, and our mindset coming into this game was to be the aggressor. We had a lot of players that came into this game with high intentions and we were really locked in this whole week… It's a great win because I know that we have a big stretch coming, but we have to take it one game at a time."
On performing in clutch moments tonight:
"I've been doing this my whole life. One thing about me is that I am really calm and collected in moments like that. I don't let too many things rattle me and I live for these types of moments to come through in the clutch and I know my teammates rely on me and plus I trust myself and the work I put in this offseason to step up in those moments.
Thoughts and adjustments post Battle 4 Atlantis:
"In terms of the Battle 4 Atlantis, especially the Villanova game, I felt that we should have won. My motto is to take it one day at a time and that we can't win them all… I'm a positive person, I'm not too negative. I'll never let one loss or a bad couple of games get to me because I know it is a long season."
On Armando Bacot:
"He was big time today. For him to dominate points in the paint and be a threat down low. He came through when we gave it to him. That's something Armando is made of.
On Elliot Cadeau's playmaking difference:
"Just his ability to see the floor and see the play before it even happens. If you're running the lane, he is going to pitch ahead and that's what Carolina is all about. It's what they have been doing in previous years and that's what Coach Davis was emphasizing and he was doing a phenomenal job of pitching the ball ahead, finding open shooters, and making it easy for Armando to finish down-low through contact."
Team's ability to create shots:
"Our mentality going into the game was to get good to great shots. If you have an open shot and a guy is even more open, swing it and that's what we did… Compared to last year where I had to create for myself a little bit, and this year I'm able to set my feet and knock down shots with confidence."
On team growth thus far:
"It has been a journey so far. I think a lot of us had to make adjustments, in terms of this being a new team. We can score the basketball, defend, and be leaders. It was not going to happen quickly because we have a lot of new players and had to build that chemistry. I'm just proud of the growth that we've done so far and I think we have not even scratched the surface of where we can get to so we have a lot left to give."
Harrison Ingram
On what sparked the fire tonight:
"I feel like I've had something to prove this whole year. Coming in I feel like I was doubted. People don't think I am as good as I think I am. Every game I feel like I am coming out with an intensity and a fire that I didn't have last year. I have something to prove. In general we all have a chip on our shoulder. From start to finish we are all coming out with intensity. Even in practice it's intense every day. Even yesterday we had a practice and we were going at it, diving on balls a day before a game. I feel like everybody has that intensity. "
On how satisfying it is to play well:
"It is definitely satisfying to win, but these are games that we think we should win. We think we are the best team in the country when everybody is clicking. We still got some chemistry issues, some kinks to figure out how everybody works on the floor. At the end of the day, this is a good team that we just beat, and it feels good."
On what the ceiling of the team is:
"I think a national championship. When everybody is cooking, nobody can beat us."
Tennessee Head Coach Rick Barnes:
On his teams play against North Carolina:
"I told our team at halftime that it is the worst half by a basketball team I've ever coached. I've never seen a team that has the ability that we have to be that bad in the first half."
On his thoughts about North Carolina's play:
"There was no doubt I knew that North Carolina with Hubert would have them ready to come out and be aggressive and play hard."
On North Carolina's execution during the game and maintaining the lead in the 2nd half:
"They made shots. I thought they executed their stuff and it's hard to coach when you got a lead like that. I thought Hubert did a good job. They hurt us in transition and capitalized on all 12 turnovers."
On North Carolina:
"Hubert [Davis] does a great job. This is a great program with great tradition and a good home crowd."
On his team's failure to perform in the first half:
"It came out of nowhere and I was like 'Who are these guys that we're sitting here coaching?' Because we haven't been like that in nine years."
North Carolina: 100, Tennessee: 92
Hubert Davis
On Armando Bacot:
"He wasn't as efficient as he wanted to be in the Bahamas and he wanted to be better on the offensive end. The last couple of days of practice were real for him. He was locked in and wanted to make sure he was watching film with myself and Coach May. I talked to him about how for any player there will be rainy days and there will be sunny days, but what will your response be?"
On the first half:
"I thought our spacing and ball and player movement were good. I felt like we were able to beat them off the bounce and get into rotations. From an offensive standpoint, it was one of the better halves that I've seen since I've been here for 12 years as an assistant and head coach."
On transition:
"Elliot has a gift and a talent to not only distribute the and pass the ball but also distribute and pass the ball to a player where he can actually do something with it and he's just instinctively just really special in that area. But it's also our wings and Armando running too. So it's a full team effort."
On Cormac Ryan:
"He didn't practice Monday or Tuesday. After practice Tuesday, he came into my office and said 'I'm playing' and I said 'Okay.' There's a sense of urgency for him."
On Tennessee:
"Rick Barnes is an incredible coach and they're one of the better teams in the country and they just came off of two losses. I wanted to let them know what was coming here tonight. Even though we returned home, this was going to be a battle and I wanted to put them in a mindset that we're coming here to compete and coming here to improve."
Armando Bacot
Response after the Bahamas:
"Our message all week was just how we would respond. In the Bahamas we wanted to win a championship and coach all week has been challenging us. I think today we really set the tone. I think today we were really trying to put the world on notice."
Tennessee's defense adjusting in the second half:
"I think when I am playing at my best, Harrison, RJ, Elliot, Cormac. It is hard to stop our team. We got a lot of different weapons. Yall see with Harrison establishing himself, RJ we know how he is."
"I didn't like my performance in the Bahamas. To see Villinova go there and win it all. If I played just a little better, I think we could have won the championship. That was one of our biggest goals. But like I said we all just gotta move on, be professional about it, keep going. I think today was a huge win for us versus an experienced team. Obviously Coach Barnes is a great coach, well coached team. Like you said, the number adjusted defense team and we scored one hundred points on them."
On Elliot Cadeau:
"He's basically a quarterback out there. I know he is going to find me whenever I get open. He encourages me to run harder every play and post out."
On Harrison Ingram:
"He's our X factor. Just to have a three that can score, shoot, post up, and be a player maker. It's great. It's really pick your poison with us. Are you going to double me? Are you going to squeeze out on Harrsion? Blitz RJ? You really just have to figure it out. It's great having options to score the ball."
Elliot Cadeau
On his passing ability:
"A game like this, when all of my teammates are hitting shots and I'm not making shots, that's when I know I have to be more aggressive on the passing side…[the mindset] it's a natural thing to me. When I was younger, parents used to have to pay me to shoot the ball. Literally pay me to shoot. It was just a thing of thing I would love to do - pass the ball… my parents would pay me I think like $5 at the point I scored in second grade."
On playing in unity:
"We do this every day in practice. People do this. All of my teammates do this on a regular basis; They shoot that well. They play great, like every day."
R.J. Davis
On the team win:
"It was really satisfying. You know Tennessee is a really good team. They're ranked, and our mindset coming into this game was to be the aggressor. We had a lot of players that came into this game with high intentions and we were really locked in this whole week… It's a great win because I know that we have a big stretch coming, but we have to take it one game at a time."
On performing in clutch moments tonight:
"I've been doing this my whole life. One thing about me is that I am really calm and collected in moments like that. I don't let too many things rattle me and I live for these types of moments to come through in the clutch and I know my teammates rely on me and plus I trust myself and the work I put in this offseason to step up in those moments.
Thoughts and adjustments post Battle 4 Atlantis:
"In terms of the Battle 4 Atlantis, especially the Villanova game, I felt that we should have won. My motto is to take it one day at a time and that we can't win them all… I'm a positive person, I'm not too negative. I'll never let one loss or a bad couple of games get to me because I know it is a long season."
On Armando Bacot:
"He was big time today. For him to dominate points in the paint and be a threat down low. He came through when we gave it to him. That's something Armando is made of.
On Elliot Cadeau's playmaking difference:
"Just his ability to see the floor and see the play before it even happens. If you're running the lane, he is going to pitch ahead and that's what Carolina is all about. It's what they have been doing in previous years and that's what Coach Davis was emphasizing and he was doing a phenomenal job of pitching the ball ahead, finding open shooters, and making it easy for Armando to finish down-low through contact."
Team's ability to create shots:
"Our mentality going into the game was to get good to great shots. If you have an open shot and a guy is even more open, swing it and that's what we did… Compared to last year where I had to create for myself a little bit, and this year I'm able to set my feet and knock down shots with confidence."
On team growth thus far:
"It has been a journey so far. I think a lot of us had to make adjustments, in terms of this being a new team. We can score the basketball, defend, and be leaders. It was not going to happen quickly because we have a lot of new players and had to build that chemistry. I'm just proud of the growth that we've done so far and I think we have not even scratched the surface of where we can get to so we have a lot left to give."
Harrison Ingram
On what sparked the fire tonight:
"I feel like I've had something to prove this whole year. Coming in I feel like I was doubted. People don't think I am as good as I think I am. Every game I feel like I am coming out with an intensity and a fire that I didn't have last year. I have something to prove. In general we all have a chip on our shoulder. From start to finish we are all coming out with intensity. Even in practice it's intense every day. Even yesterday we had a practice and we were going at it, diving on balls a day before a game. I feel like everybody has that intensity. "
On how satisfying it is to play well:
"It is definitely satisfying to win, but these are games that we think we should win. We think we are the best team in the country when everybody is clicking. We still got some chemistry issues, some kinks to figure out how everybody works on the floor. At the end of the day, this is a good team that we just beat, and it feels good."
On what the ceiling of the team is:
"I think a national championship. When everybody is cooking, nobody can beat us."
Tennessee Head Coach Rick Barnes:
On his teams play against North Carolina:
"I told our team at halftime that it is the worst half by a basketball team I've ever coached. I've never seen a team that has the ability that we have to be that bad in the first half."
On his thoughts about North Carolina's play:
"There was no doubt I knew that North Carolina with Hubert would have them ready to come out and be aggressive and play hard."
On North Carolina's execution during the game and maintaining the lead in the 2nd half:
"They made shots. I thought they executed their stuff and it's hard to coach when you got a lead like that. I thought Hubert did a good job. They hurt us in transition and capitalized on all 12 turnovers."
On North Carolina:
"Hubert [Davis] does a great job. This is a great program with great tradition and a good home crowd."
On his team's failure to perform in the first half:
"It came out of nowhere and I was like 'Who are these guys that we're sitting here coaching?' Because we haven't been like that in nine years."
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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