What Hubert Davis said after North Carolina’s win over Duke
The North Carolina Tar Heels got back on track Saturday night, beating Duke to extend their lead in the Atlantic Coast Conference. After a loss to Georgia Tech on Tuesday, the Tar Heels earned a big win over their rival.
After a back-and-forth start from both teams, UNC grabbed a 10-point lead at halftime. From there, the Tar Heels never really looked back. They had control of the game, playing to their tempo.
UNC fought off a few late pushes from the Blue Devils, but it never felt like the game was out of control. Armando Bacot finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds, and transfer Harrison Ingram added 21 points to pace the Tar Heels.
Duke didn’t have an answer for either Bacot or Ingram as UNC bullied it in the paint on Saturday night. Following the impressive win, head coach Hubert Davis met the media to talk about his team’s effort in the win.
Here is what Davis said following the game to the media:
Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
On Harrison Ingram's recruitment and if you knew he'd be this good
“I thought he could be really good. You know Harrison, you know his game with that size and that versatility to be able to play multiple positions helps us defensively and rebounding. It helps us on the offensive in being able to post up, shoot from three, he can bring up the ball and in transition. His personality as I said to you guys before just brightens the room as soon as he comes into it. Our guys just love and enjoy being around him. And so I’m just so glad he’s at Carolina.”
via Inside Carolina
On Seth Trimble
“Well that’s all on Seth. One of the things that he has talked about is he was getting to the basket and struggling finishing. I mean he’s been before and after practice working on finishing, being stronger and using his athleticism and being able to finish around the basket. And those moves were definitive, they were confident. With his athleticism and his ability to attack the basket, that just gives us another dimension on the offensive end. Especially off of close outs, cuts from the corner of the wings and that play where he threw the ball into the post and then cut to the basket and was able to score in a combination of ways. He was really huge for us today.”
via Inside Carolina
On Armando Bacot's peformance
“I thought it was important for him to get off to a good start and he was able to do that. I felt like that gave him confidence to be able to be a force and effective on the offensive end. When he’s dominant down low in the post like that, that just opens everything up for us. It gives us space to drive and to penetrate and get to the basket. It gets us open shots on the perimeter, gets us closer to the penalty. … So there’s a number of benefits for us when our Armando is aggressive and plays the way that he did tonight.”
via Inside Carolina
On UNC countering any Duke run
“It doesn’t happen all the time, but this team, I think one of the characteristics of this team has been being able to handle a little bit of adversity and bounce back. One of the things that we always talk about is, whether good things or bad things happen, the only thing you have control over is how you react and how you respond. And I feel like all year our guys have done a really good job reacting and responding, whether something’s going well for us or we’re struggling with it.
“Just the conversations in the huddle, the conversations on the floor with these guys. They’re locked in, they’re communicating, they’re talking, they’re all on the same page. It gives you great confidence as a coach that they can do the things they need to do to continue to win out there on the floor.”
via Inside Carolina
On embracing Armando Bacot after the game
“I told him I loved him and I’m so proud of him. And I gave him a kiss on the cheek, or on the neck, I couldn’t get up to his cheek. It was good, just really proud of him.”
via Inside Carolina
On the pace UNC played with in the game
“It was good. You know, in the first half, I’ll give you an example. They made a basket and boom, we got to lay up. I mean, I told the guys I said, ‘that’s the pace I want.’ I think we can go faster. And that was the perfect example. That’s the way we want to play. I mean, whether it’s a made basket, miss turnover, out of timeout, free throw, let’s go. And I felt like the way that we transition from defense to offense has been a strength of us all year. That’s why defending and rebounding is so huge for us. If we defend and rebound, that means we get to have some fun and we get to go and transition. So I think the guys are starting to understand that.”
via Inside Carolina
