Hubert Davis identifies North Carolina's three-point defense struggles vs Miami

Hubert Davis and the North Carolina Tar Heels survived a comeback attempt by Miami on Monday to secure an ACC victory.

Afterwards, Davis touched on the Tar Heels defense throughout the game. Evidently, he believes his team could’ve done a better job, especially defending the three-point shot, but he’s still happy that North Carolina was able to secure a win.

“We were leaving them open,” Davis said, during his postgame press conference, regarding UNC’s three-point defense. “I mean, [Kyshawn] George is one of the best shooters in the country. Tremendous size, and he was in a rhythm to start off the game, and didn’t feel anything — he didn’t feel our defensive presence at all. All year, I don’t know, that has to be the first time he’s made four threes in a game, but it is what it is. He’s a great player. After hitting two, they’ve got to respond, and they were able to make some threes. So they’re a really good basketball team.

“Even though they were without two of their starters, they wen’t to the Final Four last year. They’ve got NBA players on their team. They’ve got competitors, and we knew that it would be a tough game against them.”

While Miami’s been disappointing throughout the season, they can still turn it on when they want to, and could’ve secured an upset against North Carolina. Davis is thankful that didn’t come to fruition, and the team was able to make history in the process.

During the victory, star guard RJ Davis. finished with 42 points, the most ever scored at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill. Tyler Hansbrough previously held the record with a 40-point performance against Georgia Tech in 2006. It’s unlike any performance the UNC head coach has seen.

“I told him after the game ‘I’ve seen a number of performances here at Carolina and also in the NBA. Very few have I seen the type of performance he had tonight.’ I was really proud of him,” Davis said during his postgame press conference.

Going for 42 points is something to celebrate, no matter the occasion. But North Carolina will be thankful for all of them considering how close things got against Miami. Late-game turnovers nearly killed the Tar Heels when Miami began to apply some pressure.

After advancing to 22-6, North Carolina will enjoy this victory before turning their attention to Saturday’s game, an in-state showdown with the NC State Wolfpack. We’ll see if they can keep up their winning ways against their hated compatriot.