No Excuses: Hubert Davis Delivers Message

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Hubert Davis jumped out from near mid-court with his tie flailing around his collar. The neck piece matched his frantic hand motions, animating the head coach’s discontentment.

As the buzzer signaled for the under-eight timeout, Davis yanked off his glasses, set them on the scorer’s table, and began hounding his team in the huddle for lackadaisical effort and rebounding struggles that had helped USC Upstate hang around in the second half.

“It was just for our effort,” Luka Bogavac said after the game about what Davis told them in the huddle. “We can make mistakes, but just to be able to give 100 percent every single game. That’s the goal from him to us.” 

Despite No. 14 North Carolina defeating USC Upstate 80-62 on Saturday afternoon at the Smith Center, Davis couldn’t hide his dissatisfaction with UNC’s effort in rebounding. The Tar Heels conceded a season-worst 11 offensive boards for the second straight game, which helped the Spartans to trail by only eight points with under four minutes to go — a byproduct of poor preparation during the week, according to the head coach.

“I just didn’t feel like the practices leading up to the game were at the level of attention to detail that is required to put yourself in a position to be successful,” Davis said after the game. 

Over the six days off since UNC’s win over Georgetown on Sunday, a combination of factors led to an unsatisfactory week of preparation for the Tar Heels. It started with the added mental strain of final exams over the past week  — the reason for no midweek game — which players acknowledged, but stated it was no excuse. 

Caleb Wilson also opened up about a foot injury he dealt with earlier in the week that sidelined him for “two or three days” of practice. When asked further about the injury and its severity, Wilson declined to comment. And despite the freshman’s admission after the game, Davis denied that Wilson missed any practice time at all during the postgame press conference. 

Regardless, the untimely injury likely played a role in UNC’s subpar practice execution and the Tar Heels’ unenthusiastic performance toward a low-major matchup in December.

“It’s been a heavy week for everybody,” Veesaar said. “We’ve had practices, exams, so probably people are a little tired and low, but there’s no excuse for a game to come out flat. At the end of the day, we got the job done, but there’s a lot to improve.”  

To UNC’s credit, however, the team did respond well to Davis’ impassioned speech at the under-eight media timeout. North Carolina held Upstate off the offensive glass for the remaining seven and a half minutes, and pulled away late thanks to a 12-2 run to close out the game.

When asked what the difference was in execution and intensity over the final stretch, Wilson ultimately said it was his own effort that led the team. Wanting to avoid a late push by the Spartans, like what Navy did a few weeks ago, Wilson made it his mission to finish strong. 

He did so by tallying seven points and four rebounds over the final four minutes, upping the effort to put the Tar Heels comfortably past a lingering Spartans team.

“I think it had partly to do with me picking it up,” Wilson said. “At the end of the game, I was just like ‘bro, I’m about to score.’ Like, I’m a good player, and so it’s my job to close games.” 

Though little will be remembered about Saturday’s inconsequential win by fans, Davis hopes his fiery message will ring through the ears of his players all season long and hopefully deter poor practice weeks in the future as ACC play begins soon.

“It’s a tremendous lesson,” Davis said. “I told them, I’m a visual learner. I can’t remember things, but if I see it, I remember for the rest of my life. And my hope is that they could clearly see that there is a connection between how you prepare and how you practice in relation to how you play…

“The things that you have control over, I think those things are non-negotiable. You have to bring it every day. That’s energy, effort, attention to detail, enthusiasm, and you can’t use an excuse that we have final exams. I’m married, and I’ve got three kids, and I got prepared for this game early.”