What Hubert Davis said after UNC beat Virginia
The UNC basketball program knows what it needs to do to get into the NCAA Tournament. On Saturday night, it checked off one of those boxes.
UNC came out hot against Virginia, taking down the Cavaliers in the Dean Dome, 71-63. The win moved the Tar Heels to 1-9 against Quad 1 teams, an important factor for a tournament resume.
They did it on the back of Pete Nance.
The graduate transfer had a game-high 22 points in addition to his four blocks: His best game of the year. Nance went 4-of-4 from the 3-point line and gave the Tar Heels valuable minutes when Armando Bacot was in foul trouble.
If UNC can get this type of play from Nance moving forward, they have a chance to win out and make noise in the ACC Tournament.
Following the game, head coach Hubert Davis met the media to discuss the game and what he liked.
On What UNC did well
Hubert Davis: "At the end of the day we needed to knock down some open shots and we were able to do that."
— Ross Martin (@RossMartin_IC) February 26, 2023
On people criticizing Pete Nance
Hubert Davis on the Pete Nance criticism this season: "Criticizing kids is absolutely disgusting."
(Via postgame interview with @JonesAngell)
— Ross Martin (@RossMartin_IC) February 26, 2023
On UNC's connection with.... Lemon Oreos
“Guys, you have no idea what allowed us to be pretty good today.”
You’ll want to hear Hubert Davis explain how lemon-flavored Oreos helped the Tar Heels beat No. 6. Virginia. pic.twitter.com/XTdpNDXy0N
— Josh Graham (@JoshGrahamRadio) February 26, 2023
On Pete Nance's game
“I was very proud of Pete, but I was very proud of him earlier this week with Notre Dame. I said there’s many ways that you can be a positive impact for a team, and against Notre Dame Pete led our team in assists, I think he had a double-double, was perfect from the free-throw line, a season-high five offensive rebounds. So that was huge for us.”
On his team's response after ND game
“I am pleased with the response but it’s not over yet. I’m still ticked off. And I told them to enjoy today and then let’s get after it tomorrow and prepare against a Florida State team that won at Miami today down by 25.”
On the ACC this season
“I think it shows the strength of this league. I really believe this — I think our league has been undervalued over the last two years. And I don’t know why. Nothing against other conferences, I think all the other conferences are really good. But I think we’re really good, too. And for whatever reason, our entire conference has not gotten its credit of how good we are from top to bottom, how competitive we are. People were surprised last year that they had three teams in the ACC in the final eight. I wasn’t surprised to see Miami there. I wasn’t surprised to see Duke there. Got some really good basketball teams in this league.”
On Puff Johnson
“It was huge. Puff has always been like the first guy coming off the bench. His versatility of being able to play small forward and power forward, but we need his ability to shoot the basketball. And he was really good at practice yesterday. During the Notre Dame game his right eye was almost shut and he played during it. And he actually had a stye. On Thursday he had a patch over his eye. And so he didn’t practice on Thursday. He practiced yesterday, had a good practice and he played really well today. It was huge. His energy, his effort, not just his threes, he always attacks the offensive glass. I thought he did a good job rebounding, defending. And he’s another guy that can handle the ball and bring the ball up. And I thought he was fantastic.”
