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University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Jerome M. Ibrahim
Lucas: Only Us
February 11, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Some team bonding off the court led to the best performance of the season.
By Adam Lucas
On Friday evening, as most of the outside Carolina basketball world was consumed with off-court questions about a Tar Heel team supposedly in turmoil, the object of all that concern was…hanging out as a group, playing games and eating dinner, largely oblivious to most of the supposed drama.
After Friday's practice, the entire group of Tar Heel players gathered at Duwe Farris' house, where they played Madden (Armando Bacot was undefeated) and were introduced by Beau Maye to the game Codenames. Following Tuesday's loss at Wake Forest, it had been a long week, and Friday night was designed to be, quite simply, fun.
"We're together a lot," Farris said. "But when you're together a lot because of basketball, whether it's at the gym or at practice or games, that sort of adds to the pressure. Last night was about being able to take a deep breath and enjoy each other's company and just have fun. People were playing Madden and talking smack and it was a great chance to unwind. At the end of the day, we're all best friends. It helped to get away from basketball and remember that."
The results were resounding, as the Tar Heels played loose and free in Saturday's 91-71 rout of formerly first-place Clemson. The tone was set early, when Caleb Love wrestled a defensive rebound away from the Tigers' aggressive P.J. Hall. From there, the Heels had their most cohesive game of the season, doing almost everything well.
"This was the best performance of the season," Hubert Davis told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "It looked like they were having fun. It just did. There were so many smiles on plays they made personally and on plays their teammates made on both ends of the floor. This was a total team effort. I was really emotional during the game and after the game because of how together they were and how much fun it looked like they were having. It was beautiful to see."
No matter what detail of Carolina basketball you prefer, there was something for you on Saturday. Love great defense? Check out Leaky Black limiting All-ACC candidate Hunter Tyson to just two field goal attempts in 32 minutes. Rather see explosive offense? Love was a very efficient 7-for-12, including 6-for-9 from the three-point line.
Many of those baskets came on crisp passes from his teammates, the best happening in the first half when RJ Davis passed up a clean look to send it to Love on the wing for an even more open three-pointer, which he swished. It was a textbook example of Hubert Davis' constantly coaching to his team to go from a "good to great" shot.
The signature moment came with 4:59 left, when Love and Bacot perfectly executed a two-on-one fast break, culminating with a pass to Bacot that resulted in an easy dunk and a Clemson timeout.
But that wasn't the highlight. As the teams returned to their respective benches, the first player off the Carolina bench was none other than Pete Nance, who was 0-for-7 in the game, had played just 19 minutes…and didn't seem to care. Nance greeted Love and Bacot with a huge grin, and the Tar Heels looked nothing like the team the internet spent so much time worrying about this week.
In the wake of his 23-point performance, Caleb Love was asked about the biggest misconception regarding this year's team. He answered immediately, "That we're not together. We had a few issues. But this team loves each other. We're with each other. We're tuning out the noise."
That doesn't mean it's been all video games and fun team dinners this week. Both practices since the Wake Forest game were intense, and there have been some very frank conversations between players and coaches, and between players and players. Most of what you've heard is either incorrect or very, very old news. But this was indisputably true: the Tar Heels needed to play better basketball, and needed to come closer to reaching their potential. There was only one way to try to get there.
"We had real, straightforward, and authentic conversations," Hubert Davis said. "A lot of times whether a coach is involved or if it's players-only, in those conversations people hold back and don't express themselves. You can express how you feel in a wrong way or a right way. Since we got back from Wake Forest, the communication we've had has been real and straightforward and has been received really well. The time spent from Wake until now was really good for us."
"This week was a lot of conversations that were brutally honest, but also pretty vulnerable from a lot of different guys," Farris said. "The raw emotion of that, either from someone opening up or someone getting upset and expressing how they feel, that things aren't OK, is something that really helped us build some togetherness."
Recall that last season it was also a loss at Wake Forest that led to a locker room meeting back at the Smith Center that multiple players identified as a season-changer. It's too early to know if this year's defeat in Winston—and the subsequent interactions within the program—will have a similar impact.
But on Saturday, it did look like a different Carolina team. One that knows exactly how they're going to climb back into a season that some fans had given up for lost.
"We're going to shut out the outside noise," Love said. "That's been an emphasis for us, especially from Coach Davis. Just focus on us. Our huddle ends with, 'Only us,' on three. That's what it has to be and that's what it is. Every time we step on the floor, that's where we have to focus, and today it showed on the court."
On Friday evening, as most of the outside Carolina basketball world was consumed with off-court questions about a Tar Heel team supposedly in turmoil, the object of all that concern was…hanging out as a group, playing games and eating dinner, largely oblivious to most of the supposed drama.
After Friday's practice, the entire group of Tar Heel players gathered at Duwe Farris' house, where they played Madden (Armando Bacot was undefeated) and were introduced by Beau Maye to the game Codenames. Following Tuesday's loss at Wake Forest, it had been a long week, and Friday night was designed to be, quite simply, fun.
"We're together a lot," Farris said. "But when you're together a lot because of basketball, whether it's at the gym or at practice or games, that sort of adds to the pressure. Last night was about being able to take a deep breath and enjoy each other's company and just have fun. People were playing Madden and talking smack and it was a great chance to unwind. At the end of the day, we're all best friends. It helped to get away from basketball and remember that."
The results were resounding, as the Tar Heels played loose and free in Saturday's 91-71 rout of formerly first-place Clemson. The tone was set early, when Caleb Love wrestled a defensive rebound away from the Tigers' aggressive P.J. Hall. From there, the Heels had their most cohesive game of the season, doing almost everything well.
"This was the best performance of the season," Hubert Davis told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "It looked like they were having fun. It just did. There were so many smiles on plays they made personally and on plays their teammates made on both ends of the floor. This was a total team effort. I was really emotional during the game and after the game because of how together they were and how much fun it looked like they were having. It was beautiful to see."
No matter what detail of Carolina basketball you prefer, there was something for you on Saturday. Love great defense? Check out Leaky Black limiting All-ACC candidate Hunter Tyson to just two field goal attempts in 32 minutes. Rather see explosive offense? Love was a very efficient 7-for-12, including 6-for-9 from the three-point line.
Many of those baskets came on crisp passes from his teammates, the best happening in the first half when RJ Davis passed up a clean look to send it to Love on the wing for an even more open three-pointer, which he swished. It was a textbook example of Hubert Davis' constantly coaching to his team to go from a "good to great" shot.
The signature moment came with 4:59 left, when Love and Bacot perfectly executed a two-on-one fast break, culminating with a pass to Bacot that resulted in an easy dunk and a Clemson timeout.
But that wasn't the highlight. As the teams returned to their respective benches, the first player off the Carolina bench was none other than Pete Nance, who was 0-for-7 in the game, had played just 19 minutes…and didn't seem to care. Nance greeted Love and Bacot with a huge grin, and the Tar Heels looked nothing like the team the internet spent so much time worrying about this week.
In the wake of his 23-point performance, Caleb Love was asked about the biggest misconception regarding this year's team. He answered immediately, "That we're not together. We had a few issues. But this team loves each other. We're with each other. We're tuning out the noise."
That doesn't mean it's been all video games and fun team dinners this week. Both practices since the Wake Forest game were intense, and there have been some very frank conversations between players and coaches, and between players and players. Most of what you've heard is either incorrect or very, very old news. But this was indisputably true: the Tar Heels needed to play better basketball, and needed to come closer to reaching their potential. There was only one way to try to get there.
"We had real, straightforward, and authentic conversations," Hubert Davis said. "A lot of times whether a coach is involved or if it's players-only, in those conversations people hold back and don't express themselves. You can express how you feel in a wrong way or a right way. Since we got back from Wake Forest, the communication we've had has been real and straightforward and has been received really well. The time spent from Wake until now was really good for us."
"This week was a lot of conversations that were brutally honest, but also pretty vulnerable from a lot of different guys," Farris said. "The raw emotion of that, either from someone opening up or someone getting upset and expressing how they feel, that things aren't OK, is something that really helped us build some togetherness."
Recall that last season it was also a loss at Wake Forest that led to a locker room meeting back at the Smith Center that multiple players identified as a season-changer. It's too early to know if this year's defeat in Winston—and the subsequent interactions within the program—will have a similar impact.
But on Saturday, it did look like a different Carolina team. One that knows exactly how they're going to climb back into a season that some fans had given up for lost.
"We're going to shut out the outside noise," Love said. "That's been an emphasis for us, especially from Coach Davis. Just focus on us. Our huddle ends with, 'Only us,' on three. That's what it has to be and that's what it is. Every time we step on the floor, that's where we have to focus, and today it showed on the court."
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