Hubert Davis on where UNC basketball must improve the most this season

A brand new era is about to get underway in Chapel Hill. Following the news of longtime basketball head coach Roy Williams retiring, Hubert Davis was named as UNC’s next coach. As the season nears, Davis wants to see some improvement on both sides of the ball from the Tar Heels.

One area that Davis wants to see UNC improve in is in taking care of the ball. The Tar Heels turned the ball over 14.8 times per game last season, which was the most in the ACC.

“One of the areas that we want to continue to get better at is taking care of the basketball,” Davis said. “That’s something that we struggled with last year. I think we were last in terms of we committed more turnovers than anybody in the ACC. So one of the things that has been a huge emphasis for us all year is making easy plays and taking care of the basketball. I actually thought we did a really good job of that against Florida in the secret scrimmage.

“So that’s something that’s always been a theme for us to continue getting better at is taking care of the basketball. Making sure that we’re getting shots. I was very encouraged with our effort on the offensive glass, that will never change. We’ve always been great at getting second chance opportunities and that’s something we were able to get in that scrimmage against Florida. And I really liked our pace. The way we pushed the ball either on a made or missed basket.”

Davis: UNC has a tough and resilient team

While it will be weird not seeing Roy Williams coaching UNC this year, Davis has spent plenty of time around the team. In fact, Williams spent ten years as an assistant coach under Dean Smith before taking over as head coach. Davis? He spent nine years under Williams as an assistant at UNC.

UNC loses Garrison Brooks, Walker Kessler, and Day’Ron Sharpe from last year’s team. The Tar Heels went 18-11 (10-6 in the ACC) last year and lost to Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Davis talked about UNC’s recent “secret scrimmage” against Florida, where he was impressed with the Tar Heels’ resiliency.

“One of the things that was really good for me as a coach to see is how tough and resilient this team is,” Davis said. “Florida, they’re very athletic, they’re very aggressive, especially on the defensive end. For the first couple minutes they kind of punched us. I really felt great about how we responded to that and I was really excited. I was very encouraged at the end of that scrimmage.”

UNC adds a few transfers to a roster that returns some talent in Caleb Love, Armando Bacot and others. While the transition from Williams to Davis might not be seamless, Davis does have plenty of talent to work with in the ACC this season.