UNC-BYU Exhibition: Hubert Davis Postgame Q&A

SALT LAKE CITY — North Carolina fell just short in a 78-76 loss to BYU on Friday night in a high-profile exhibition game at the Delta Center.

>>> Welcome to the new home of Inside Carolina! Reactivate your account for $1 <<<

UNC freshman Caleb Wilson’s 22-point, 10-rebound double-double led all scorers, while Seth Trimble and Henri Veesaar added 17 and 14 points, respectively. BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa led the Cougars with 18 points and eight rebounds.

The Tar Heels came back from an eight-point deficit in the first half to lead with less than three minutes remaining to play. And UNC had possession with a chance to tie or win the game in the final five seconds. But the driving Trimble’s game-tying layup was blocked by BYU big man Keba Keita as time expired.

This preseason matchup against the Cougars was the first of two exhibition games for the Tar Heels, who face Winston-Salem State next week, before opening the regular season Nov. 3 against Central Arkansas.

Below, read and watch what UNC coach Hubert Davis said in the postgame on Friday night.

What do you feel like your team got out of this game?

Davis: “There’s a number of things that I liked out of this, obviously on and off the court. Off the court, having the rhythm and routine of going on the road, traveling, playing, hotels, meetings, shoot arounds, film, all those things in preparation for the upcoming season. And then playing a quality opponent, such as BYU, and just being able to, clearly identify things that we’re doing well and things that we need to get better at. And also, we’ve got 11 new guys on the team, and one of the things that I always tell them is you really only have control of two things: how you react and how you respond. So I was really excited about how we were going to react and how we were going to respond playing on the road, playing against BYU tonight with this new team.”

How valuable was it to be able to work on late-game situational stuff against such a quality opponent?

Davis: “It really was. You just can’t get that to practice, and so what we got today just really helped us. Before we went out, I said the number one thing that I wanted to get from this is I wanted us to take a big step forward and moving forward to potentially being the best possible team that we can become, whether it’s shoot around, pick up, camp game, whatever. I want to win, but there was a lot of things that I was really happy with.”

It looked like your team got what you wanted at the end of the game, with the handoff to Seth Trimble going toward the paint. Were you happy with how that developed?

Davis: “We’ll take that. We had two plays. If BYU made one, and they were only up by three. We’re still going to call a timeout at half court. I had a play for three and a play for two, and we felt very good about the play that we ran. We got our most athletic, most powerful player, attacking the basket, and just unfortunately missed it.”

It looked like Kyan Evans and Henri Veesaar were successful working together tonight.

Davis: “Yeah, Henry’s dynamic. He’s big. He’s good when he has space, really good on empty side ball screens. Called a couple plays to get him on the roll, on the run to the basket, and he has the ability to be able to finish with either hand. He can really shoot from three, and he didn’t hit a three tonight, but we felt like the way that BYU was playing ball screens with the five, we would have some opportunities to get Henry with some momentum going towards the rim.”

Caleb Wilson provided a lot in different statistical categories. What impressed you the most about his performance?

Davis: “It’s not just about his game, it’s every day. Obviously, he’s very gifted, but he’s a great kid and a great teammate, and his competitiveness is just a joy to coach and to be around. In terms of reacting and responding, I thought he did a really nice job tonight.”

Do you see some of those characteristics from Caleb Wilson with the first-half blocked shots or finishes at the rim?

Davis: “I didn’t teach him that. I mean, those are things that he’s 6-11 athletic and is able to finish, and we were able to call some sets to be able to get him in space, to be able to make those moves and buckets. So we’ve got to grow. We’ve got to get better. I’ve got to get better, and we’re looking forward to getting back home and then get back to practice on Sunday.”

It felt more like a game in February or March than it did an exhibition. Did you see that type of competitiveness tonight?

Davis: “No, it felt real. In the huddles, it was pretty animated, which I like, and it goes back to react and respond. I felt like every time it felt like BYU was going to go on a run, we stopped it, and we either caught back up or took the lead, and that was another thing that I was happy about.”

What made turnovers such an issue in the first half?

Davis: “They were an issue the whole game. One of the things I take from Coach Williams, he always says that turnovers are one of two things. It’s either selfishness or carelessness. With this group, it is never, ever selfish, but it was just careless. You guys have been at practice. I always say two-hand passes, two-hand catches, be fundamentally sound, simple works, make routine plays routinely. And I can’t wait to watch a film. I think a lot of them are one-hand passes, one-hand catches. You know, shot, fake, pass, fake. I mean, just basic, fundamental things. And I think a little bit in the first half, it reminded me, and I told him this in the huddle of the first two weeks of practice, where everybody’s just running around so fast, and I felt like we just needed to settle in. But the turnovers were, I think, the number one determining factor. 19 turnovers, they scored 16 points off those turnovers, and we lost by two.”

Did you team try to push the pace in the second half?

Davis: “We got a lot of transition buckets in the second half because we rebounded better. We can’t run unless we rebound. So we started rebounding better, and that allowed us to get out in transition and run. So for us, the pace that we want to play on the offensive end, I’ve clearly identified with this group, it all ties back to defense, and it all ties back to rebounding. You check the box on defending and rebounding, and now we can run.”

How valuable are these high-level exhibition games?

Davis: “It’s really huge for us. As I said, on and off the court, it’s really big for us. We get a chance to go on the road, go through the routine of shoot arounds and meals and film and all those types of things. It gives us a chance to just spend uninterrupted, unhurried time together as a team, and especially for one where we have 11 new players, the more we spend time together, the better it is. And then to be able to play on the road against a team like BYU. It really gives you a clear picture of the things that you could be encouraged about and things that we really need to address and get better at. I felt like BYU did the same thing. They got to play Nebraska, and they learned something. And then when they came in here, they grew. And so my hope is that next week in our exhibition game, we’ve taken steps forward in our growth as well.”

Is the Kyan and Seth combo in transition something you want to see more of?

Davis: “I do, but I like our team in transition. We’ve got guys that have the ability to run and finish, and we have guys that have the ability to run and spot up from three and make it. So we want to play in transition. I tell them it would be great if I could go a whole game and live out of primary break and never call a half-court set. Well, in order to do that, we have to get stops and rebound and stop fouling, putting them on the free-throw line. So those are areas that we’ve got to improve on.”