UNC-NC Central Hubert Davis Q&A: ‘Defensively We Continued to Get Better’

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — No. 18 North Carolina stormed past NC Central 97-53 on Friday night at the Smith Center, thanks to a stifling defensive effort and an uptick in 3-point shooting during the second half.

Caleb Wilson supplied 21 points, 13 rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists. Luka Bogavac (13 points), Henri Veesaar (12 points, 11 rebounds, five blocked shots) and Zayden High (11 points off the bench) added productive contributions for the Tar Heels.

UNC (4-0) struggled taking care of the ball during the first half with 10 turnovers, but didn’t give it away once in the second half. On defense, the Tar Heels held the Eagles to a stifling 16-for-66 from the field (24.2-percent shooting). That included a scoreless stretch of 4½ minutes to end the game, as NC Central misfired on its final eight shots of the night.

Watch coach Hubert Davis’s postgame press conference from Friday night in full, and scroll down to read some of his noteworthy comments below.

What were the keys to your team’s defensive effort tonight?

Hubert Davis: “I felt like, defensively, we just continue to get better throughout the game. I felt like, from an offensive standpoint, they were taking us one-on-one, milking time off the clock, and then with 15, 10 seconds on the shot clock, they were trying to take us. I just felt throughout the entire game, we just got better, one-on-one defense, our ball screen attack, our switches were better. We were boxing out better. So I felt it overall was a really good defensive night for us.”

Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar combined for nine blocked shots tonight. How would you describe their length and rim protection?

Davis: “It’s real. Whether if they don’t block a shot, their ability to alter shots is huge for us. And so when guys get into the lane, it’s not easy to be able to finish around there. I think they do a good job of staying out of foul trouble. But it’s not just those two. I mean, Jarin is 6-10, we’ve talked about our positional size, so even our guards are 6-5, 6-6, and so it’s really helped us out defensively. And I don’t think we’re anywhere near where we need to be. We have so much more to improve on defensively, especially one-on-one, defending without fouling, finishing it with a box out. So I think there’s a lot more growth there as well.”

UNC led by six points with under four minutes left in the first half. What allowed your team to pull away from NCCU with scoring runs in the second half?

Davis: “I thought it was all tied to us taking care of the basketball. I mean, in the first half, not only did we have 10 turnovers, I think we had like 15 balls tipped in the second half. It wasn’t that we were getting shots. And then also defensively, we were getting stops, we were rebounding, and then it was allowing us to get out in transition. But I think the number one determining factor was because we took care of the basketball.”

Gage Lattimore came into the game averaging 24 points per game for NC Central, but finished with 12 points tonight on 4-for-19 shooting. How did your guards defend him?

Davis: “We highlighted Gage. I mean, yeah, he was averaging 24, but he had 38 on Wednesday, and was shooting 62 percent from three-point range heading into our game. And so, when we switch a lot, it wasn’t just one defender; it was a number of guys on them. I felt like everyone had their antennas up when he had the ball, and knew that a lot of their actions ended with him getting some type of screen to get free from three. He got a couple clean looks, but pretty much he had to really work hard, and they were contested. And so overall, I thought we did a good job on him.”