The North Carolina Tar Heels failed to take advantage of a big opportunity on Saturday night, falling to Duke for the second time this season. And now their NCAA Tournament hopes are all but dashed.
After grabbing a seven-point lead in the second half, the Tar Heels struggled to score over the final 12 minutes and lost by double digits again. Now, they pretty much have to run the table in the ACC Tournament and a potential third meeting with Duke looms.
Basically, UNC will be in a very similar situation having to beat Duke to get in.
Following the game, head coach Hubert Davis talked about his team’s efforts and coming up short when he met the media. Here is what Davis had to say about the Tar Heels.
Hubert Davis on taking RJ Davis out in second half. Was it cramps?
“I think we’re up six. Wanted to give RJ a break. He was giving a lot of effort out there, and I wanted to give him a break, and he needed one. And during that stretch, I felt like offensively, we just couldn’t get to the basket. I felt like we took some quick jump shots and long shots led to long rebounds, and they were able to get out in transition. But I thought I agree with you, I thought that was a key stretch. We were up by six and by the time RJ got back into the game, I think we were tied or down by two. So that was a very important stretch in the second half.”
Challenging containing Duke?
“I thought Maliq Brown was a huge key. I thought him defensively, he’s their best defensive big. I know they have others that can block and alter shots, but his ability to guard on a perimeter, guard in a post, defend without fouling and get steals and deflections, is at an elite level. So I think them getting him back in the lineup really helped. And then I think prior to today, he had only hit two 3s, and he hit two 3s today. So that hurt too. He played almost 16 minutes and I thought those were really impactful for them.”
Trying to attack Cooper Flagg with his three fouls?
“We weren’t specifically trying to get a fourth foul on him. For us to be successful, we have to attack the paint and try to dominate points in the paint through post, penetration and offensive rebounding. We didn’t do as good a job offensive rebounding today when we got into the lane. That’s where we generate, drawing defenders, then being able to pass it out and shoot wide open 3s. We weren’t able to do that.
That’s something over the last month that I think we’ve been really good at and it’s contributed to us shooting the ball really well from 3. They’re long, they’re athletic, and I think that really bothered us. They’re long and athletic, and not just one or two positions, but at all five, and I felt like their length and their physicality at times wore us down in the second half. And as a result, we really struggled offensively.”
Margin of error against a team like Duke?
“I thought our energy, our effort, was on point. I felt like defensively, our pressure, especially on the ball, either sped them up or created turnovers and we forced them into 14 turnovers. We just weren’t able to sustain that midway through the second half, towards the end of the game, kept going back. I think in the first half, Duke was up 15, and then we caught back up, and then we took the lead, and then they caught back up. And it was just a really high energy, competitive game out there.”
Not letting this loss derail momentum
“This is the same message that I’ve given before. You’re only in control of really two things, how you react and how you respond. I’ve been proud of how this group, this team has reacted and responded all year, specifically over the last month. Them staying connected and staying the course. And I don’t think that’s going to change at all. We’ll regroup and be ready to go. And our preparation, our practice and our play will be on point on Wednesday when we play.”
On the physicality against this Duke team
“It was definitely an emphasis on pressuring the ball. I thought we did a really good job of whomever had the ball, I felt like we were in their space and making it tough on them to connect the dots in regards to how they’re trying to execute on the offensive end. And as I said before, I think that helped us, resulting in turning them over 14 times today. So I thought that was good. That was something that we talked about, and it was an emphasis going into this game.”
On mindset and motivation heading into ACC Tournament
“The motivation is always there. If you don’t have motivation for having an opportunity to compete and play, then I just don’t think you should be playing. (The) opportunity to play in the ACC Tournament is a great opportunity, and we’re excited about the challenge of going up to Charlotte and competing and doing the best that we can.”
On approach going into ACC Tournament
“You guys know me. I’ve never looked at it that way. I think it’s most important to focus on what is real. And what is real is the game in front of you, and we play on Wednesday and our job and our responsibility is whomever we play to be prepared to play our best game on Wednesday. If we play well enough, and we get to play on Thursday, then our preparation will be focused on that. What you can control, and what we can control is, is our play and our preparation for next week on Wednesday in the ACC Tournament.”
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