North Carolina
Davis: Emotional night, so many memories
Hubert Davis speaks to the media after a 84-51 win over Notre Dame.
You were obviously an emotional night on senior night and you got out the same with all those guys at the those guys. Yeah, it was just a really emotional night of seeing them before the game with their parents on the floor. And you know, you just thinking about so many memories, so many moments that you spit with each other. And you know, I've talked about how things get so busy that you just go from moment to moment. You don't have very few times just to be able to enjoy the moment and it was nice to be able to enjoy the moment of, of them being celebrated for what they've done for this year's team for what they've done for this program, this university and this community. And uh it was just a continuation by the way that they play tonight. Did, you know, he's gonna shoot those threes there at the end. I did not. But if they go in, I'm OK. And uh it's the first three that he's hit since uh we played Oklahoma and Charlotte. So it's the first of 2024. And if he makes it, I, I don't I don't have a problem with it. If he misses it, then we'll have a discussion. All teams kind of struggling to see because there's a lot of other factors you're playing three times talking about how the mission must, don't let the other things sort of get in the way that, no, they've been really good at that all season, uh, eliminating or turning down the noise and focusing on what's most important and what was most important was our preparation, our practice, how we played tonight. Um, even in the huddle, the guys just kept saying more to be said more to be done. But I think it was also a motivational factor from the standpoint. They, it was, it was really a desire for them, you know, to hang a banner and, um to at worst be, you know, co regular season ac C champs. And that's something that hasn't happened in five years. And it was something that this group desperately wanted to do. Start going back to Armando aside aside from getting, that's what you must please. I was really proud of our defense. I thought, I thought, you know, you talked about being locked in, I thought we were really locked in defensively. I thought our energy, our effort, attention to detail was really good. I thought we were impactful on the ball with the exception, you know, some offensive rebounds that led to seven points in the first half. I thought we, we we did a good job limiting them to one shot every possession. I thought we were disciplined for the most part staying down on shot fakes. Uh It put us in good positions to defend their three point shooters. You know, defense is where it starts for us, defense and rebounding and taking care of the basketball. And I felt like we check those three boxes the entire game. You were going back to Armando. He got very emotional with us uh in, in the uh media room just a few minutes ago. Um What is your description of his, of his legacy? Knowing that this is gonna be his final game here in front of the uh T nation and just what he, what he means to the entire community. Well, II I, I'm glad that you said that it, it, he's more than just what it means to this team. It's what he means to this program, this university and this community when you think for himself and RJ, what they've been through in their four or five years here at Carolina, I mean, just the explosion of college basketball with the transfer portal extra COVID year. I'm sure as they came in as freshmen, they didn't know they were gonna deal with that with NIL and this is a group that went through a pandemic and they've had to deal with a lot. And so for them, you know, one of the things that I think is great about senior night that I hope never goes away. The tears of happiness are because you're happy because you're sad. But it's also you, you're thinking about all the perseverance through the rainy days that have allowed you to experience tonight. And that's the cool thing that, you know, you know, through to all the things that they've been able to go through that they stayed at one school as successful as they have been. That's the legacy that they leave um for this team, for this program, for this university and this community, how important was it for you to give them that curtain call to see you at the end? And what was that moment like sharing that those talks with them as they left the court? Yeah, I just, you know, I told them that they were earlier today that this would be a moment that they would remember for the rest of their life and for us to be in a position where we can take them out one at a time and for them individually to be celebrated. I know this is something that they will remember for the rest of their life. And um our crowd has been off the chart and they were here to celebration before the game and then after the game just showing how much they appreciate, not only their game but who they've been here at Carolina and I'm glad we had the opportunity to do that. You would, um, you know, before the game and even at points during the game, RJ got a lot of one more year chance there were a lot of, you know, one more year signs as well, I guess kinda, how different was it seeing that? Because obviously, you know, 1/5 year senior is a more, I guess recent thing with the COVID and everything like that. So, how different was it to see, you know, people put, you know, pleading for a, a player to take them with you? Well, I mean, they've done that over the last couple of years. They did that with Leaky and they did that with Armando last year. And so, you know, since the extra COVID year, we've, we've actually had a couple of guys um hear those chants from the student body from the fans of wanting them to come back and, you know, RJ S had the historic career. He's put himself in a position to be able to make the best decision that's best for him and his family. I can't think of a better player to coach or be around this program than RJ and his family. H uh let's talk about Cormack Ryan. He had a big game tonight won against his old team. Uh How did it feel for you just to see the transfer, the ball? Yeah, I mean, Cormack, that's the sad part for me is I only get to coach him for one year. You know, what he has brought to this team and this program in just one year, he has left a legacy, um, by the person he is by the player, by the teammate. He is, you know, usually it's a somewhat emotional play, your former team, but I, I don't think there were very few guys from the team that were on when he was at Notre Dame. So it was almost rela, you know, kind of playing against a new team. But, you know, Cormac's always locked in. He's our guy, the voice in the locker room and the huddles on, on the court and he had everybody, you know, focused on what was most important for us and that was to get a win tonight. Tell me about the, um, in defensive intensity that your seniors, like, like Cormack and Armando brought tonight. Yeah, just defensively o our, our guys know what allows us to have success. I, I mean, I think we can score. I, I think what has allowed us to be successful thus far has been our commitment to defense. I remember speaking to you guys like right before the Oklahoma game and, you know, I hadn't spoken to the team and I said we hadn't made a full commitment to it to defending and rebounding. And since that time, I think we've outrebounded, every opponent said in a row. I mean, that's huge. And so, and then from that Oklahoma game, obviously, it's varied a little bit but I, I think our defense has been consistent, you know, and in league stats, we're number one defensively and, um, defending the three and, you know, in combination with how we can score that puts you in a position to be successful. Whomever you play Monday two for two from behind the arc. Were you aware that he was becoming a sharpshooter? Um, no, he, but, you know, he can shoot the three and, and I've told him he can shoot it. I just want him to shoot it at the right time and because he's so good around the basket, I don't want him to go away from dominating points of the paint. I'll let anybody on the team. You, you could, you can use whatever is in your bag. Sometimes the, the question is, you know, a, a debate on what's actually in the bag. I, I've given Armando permission to shoot the three. He can shoot it. Um I just want him to shoot it at the right time and I don't want him to go away from what he does real best and that's rebounding and dominate points. So you say the three is in Armando's bag, it is in his bag at the right time. Now, when is the right time? Maybe never. I got you. But that's for me to determine we're gonna be back here in two days. A last one. Hebert, did you have any sort of message afterward about clinching a share of the, the AC C regular season or is that I did talk about that another day. No, I, we talked about it and we talked about it before the game. We talked about it after the game and we talked about the opportunity to play Duke um on Saturday and, and have a chance to win it outright. And so, um they were looking up in the rafters the last couple of weeks and they were saying that there's a little bit of room, there's some room right there that, that 2019 banner and they were talking about it. This is really important to them and they wanted this group to have something that was, that was sustainable. They were partially able to do it tonight and, but we're excited about preparing and playing against a Duke team that's, I think playing their best basketball thus far. Right now. We'll talk more about here on Thursday one.