North Carolina
UNC vs. Pitt: Tar Heels' postgame press conference
RJ Davis scored a game-high 25 points as No. 4 North Carolina advanced to the final of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament by beating Pittsburgh 72-65.
Along with student athletes. RJ Davis, Armando Bacot Harrison, Ingram, we're gonna take opening remarks from coach Davis. Yeah. Yeah. Ok. First question here in the front Edward R ESPN. Uh First off, congratulations on the win, guys um for everyone. Um It's been since 2016, since y'all won the AC C tournament title. Um Can you describe your level of hunger to bring that trophy in progress? You guys, um I mean a lot to this program just because we haven't won in a lot, uh a couple of years, but um it just shows how much of a, a team we are and uh how resilient we are and um we set goals at the beginning of this year and for us to be one more game away means a lot, but the job's not finished. Um You just gotta take it one game at a time and um super proud of this group and the way we battle tonight, uh because Pittsburgh is a really good team, they play tough on both ends, uh both ends of the floor. So for us to come out with a win, um that's Carolina Basketball right there. Well, on the end. Rod Baxley Fable Observer for RJ and Armando. I, I noticed you guys made a beeline for each other when the buzzer sounded, what was that conversation before y'all left the court? Just one of those things that just being excited and getting into the championship. I mean, like RJ said, job isn't finished but to go out there and win that game in that fashion. And I mean, I was just super excited RJ. He's been out closer all year and he hit some huge shots. So I was really just embracing him and telling him, thank you second to the last show in the back Tiger, Mud DC News. Now it had the lead going into the half, the second half was a different story and you guys just looked like a completely different team. What changed in that locker room? Our defense, I mean, Coach Davis uh says, you know, someone's got to take the challenge and I think uh Harrison did a terrific job tonight. Uh Garden Henson, we know how dangerous he is from three and holding him to two field goals. I mean, I think Harrison's been phenomenal all year but for him to go out there and just kind of just make it uh difficult for Henson. That was terrific and then Seth um his impact on the on ball against Harrison um super aggressive was, was huge for us. So, uh Coach Davis, main, main message was to take the challenge on the defensive end. Um, offense is always gonna be fine, but it's the defense that's gonna win those games and when it got down to it, we, we got stops and we executed the offensive end third row in Adam Gin with orange fizz coach. There's a chance that Pittsburgh doesn't make the tournament. They're pretty much right on the edge of the bubble right now. How do you feel about that? And just kind of the overall state of the AC C on the bubble? Uh Just personally, I just, that just doesn't make sense at all. I just, I don't care what metric, whatever you look at, there's no way that you can look at this game and look at Pitt and not say it's definitively an NCAA tournament team and not just the NCAA tournament team, a team that could go far in the tournament. Um extremely well coached coach capable does a fantastic job the players that they have on there. Not only are they big time college players that they got future NBA players over there and they play together as a team. Um They gave us everything that, um you know, tonight and uh for us to come away with the win. We're very fortunate who I throw on the in Josh Graham, Wsjs RJ and Armando, given what you guys went through last year and obviously the experience you had in 22 what would it mean tomorrow night if you get the opportunity to cut down the nets again. It would be huge because we've been through so much and we just worked so hard this year. Coaches players, we've all been locked in and we've been a family and I mean, it's just been a fun ride. So to go out with a championship would be huge. And that's been one of our biggest goals this year. Second round the front, David Glenn from the North Carolina Sports Network for Harrison and coach Harrison, Jamir Watkins had 30 plus against FSU. You guys had put him in a bad shooting night. Blake Henson is one of the leading scorers in the league. This is twice this year that you really shut him down. Just give us your mindset going into a game like this where your offensive numbers are smaller than usual, but you obviously help the team win. And coach, could you tell me what you saw from Harrison, those kind of situations against those players? You know, for us, it's, it's team defense. Um, we're the number one defense in the AC C and, you know, we have a lot of, a lot of good players, we play kind of smaller. So our guards, they get into the ball pretty well and, you know, for me, it was easier to kind of stay on Blake Henson knowing that our guards are doing their job on the ball and Mano is doing her job on the ball screens you know, making it difficult for everybody else. And, you know, at the end of the day, coach, he challenges us, um, every single day to play defense and take our matchups one on one. And today I feel like I did. Yeah, Harrison did, um, uh, just a job defensively that he did on Henson, but it's not just, you know, specifically to tonight. Um, Harrison has been that guy for us on our defensive end all season. His size, his athleticism gives us versatility on the defensive end to be able to put him in a number of different situations. Um along with Armando, the two best rebounders in the AC C and so, um we always talk about um making impact plays and there's a number of ways that you can make, make impact plays to give our team an opportunity and a chance to win and I can go down the line with everybody that played what they did impactfully for us to be able to pull out a win tonight. No, no problem. Uh Michael Co Wchl Chapel bro.com. This one's for Armando and coach Davis Pitt comes back to tie it at 6262 with about four minutes left. Immediately next possession for you guys. It's, the ball gets to RJ and he knocks down a three. Just. What, what does that say about RJ stepping up to that moment? And what does that say about his toughness and his leadership? Yeah. Like I said, all year RJ has been our closer in moments like that. I mean, it's a huge luxury to know you can put the ball in our guards hands and he'll either make the shot or make the right play. And I mean, I think it just shows all the hard work that he's put in to be able to make a huge shot like that when we need it most on the biggest stage. Yeah, you know, uh RJ made a great move but it was a terrific, terrific screen by Armando that got RJ open and, you know, specifically in the second half, we put the ball in the hands of RJ and Armando and if they didn't score, uh just their passing and decision making was just fantastic. And then after RJ hit that three, he looked over, I don't know if you were looking over at me or your parents or I don't know if he was looking over at me for approval. I was like, yeah, I like that and do it again. And so it was great, but it's not just tonight. RJ and Armando and Harrison, they have, they've shown up the entire season last round the end, uh Shane Holcomb Newhouse Sports Media Center, uh Armando. First of all, congratulations on now holding the all time AC C record for most starts um in a career, you have 164 stars, which is pretty awesome. Um Also your 16 double, double of the, of the season tonight. How much pride you take in that physical nature inside the post, especially going up against a team like Pittsburgh, that brings a lot of that energy. And because sometimes, you know, that doesn't show up pretty on the stat sheet. But do you provide a lot of that energy for this team? It has always been a physical team and going into this game, we knew we had to set this home in the trenches. And that's one of the main things that me and Harry talked about going into this game. We wanted to rebound the ball specifically on the offensive end and try to create second chance opportunities, but also get their big man in foul trouble because we knew if we can get Federico in foul trouble and also, uh, Diaz that we were having an advantage. So I think we did a great job and I think that allowed us to have a lot of success. All right, I'll last question in the back. Uh Zach P, the CBS sports for Harrison. Um You're a guy who had played a lot of basketball and now you've joined a team that has played a ton of basketball, especially the two guys next to you. How in specific do you feel kind of that experience, especially in those late moments, especially along alongside these two guys. You know, it, it's, it makes the game so much easier knowing that I got two veterans right here, you can just give the ball to and, you know, they make a play, I mean, whether it's a play for themselves or, you know, RJ hitting his little three or Armando flexing and in the dunk, I mean, just having two players like that on my team, you know, it makes it a lot more easier for me to just, you know, trust them to do their job and I do my job. We're gonna take one last question here in the front. Thank you. Uh, Adam Smith with South Carolina. Uh, it, I'm pretty sure it was, the, the last 18 points were scored by Armando and RJ. If we've got that right. And Mondo, it looked like as the time was, was ticking down at the end, you went over to RJ in the corner and you guys were sharing a moment. I mean, what, what were you saying that you were pretty fired up? It looked like just super excited to get a chance to play in the championship and it was a tough game and I mean, they got closed down in the stretch and I think me and RJ just really wanted to make plays to so we can win the game. And we were just excited defensively too because we shut them down in the end and we always practice, um, those situations with three minutes left or a minute and a half left on what to do and I think we really just apply what we practice into the game. Ok. Well, thank you, coach and players. Thank you. Thank you, please not.