UNC basketball renews emphasis on flexibility amid schedule changes, COVID concerns
North Carolina hasn’t played a men’s basketball game since its win over Appalachian State on Dec. 21. And in the midst of coach Hubert Davis emphasizing defensive principles during their extended practice time, he has one more ask of the Tar Heels: Be flexible.
Davis said all of Carolina’s coaches and players are “safe and healthy” and “doing all the things that we need to do to put ourselves in a position to continue to stay healthy as well.”
As COVID-19 has continued to force programs to pause and games to be postponed, Davis said Carolina (9-3, 1-0 ACC) has to be prepared for possible changes. The Heels weren’t informed of their 1 p.m. tipoff time against Boston College on Sunday until Friday at noon.
“In terms of how we prepare, that hadn’t changed,” Davis said. “But in terms of being flexible on any given day for plans to change, that is different. Usually in a week, we’re not preparing for four teams, we’re preparing for two.”
The Heels’ originally scheduled game against Virginia Tech on Wednesday was postponed, while the Hokies paused program activities after entering protocols. UNC was also supposed to face the Eagles on Saturday, but they were just coming out of COVID protocols.
Davis said there was discussion of possibly playing a different opponent and then talks shifted to another, before the ACC circled back to Boston College (6-5, 1-0) and moved the game back to Sunday.
The Eagles haven’t played since falling to Albany 61-57 on Dec. 13. The program paused activities due to COVID and had to postpone its games against Wake Forest and Florida State.
The Virginia Tech game has not yet been rescheduled. UNC has a week gap between playing Virginia on Jan. 8 and Georgia Tech on Jan. 15 that could be a landing spot to make up potential postponements. But with no clear-cut mechanism in place for rescheduling, Davis is preparing for the unexpected.
It won’t really be a cliche this season should he repeatedly claim to be taking one game at a time.
“The schedule that as it is right now is going to have to be tweaked, it’s gonna have to be changed,” Davis said. “We understand that and whenever they tell us to play, whatever time, whatever opponent, we will be there whether it’s home or on the road.”
With some unexpected free time on Wednesday, Davis said he held an intrasquad scrimmage instead.
“I just felt like playing as close to a game as possible was beneficial for us,” Davis said. “And I really felt like we benefited from that on Wednesday. And then also it has given us more time to just re-emphasize what we want to do on the defensive end.”
Carolina has not forgotten its defensive fiasco in a 29-point loss to Kentucky, during which UNC gave up a season-high-tying 54 points in the paint, days after another schedule change swapped the Wildcats in for UCLA after the Bruins had their own COVID concerns.
Davis hopes they handle this tweak in the schedule better.
BC’s season-high for points in the paint also happens to be 54 against Holy Cross. Under first-year coach Earl Grant, the Eagles have manufactured 49.4 percent of their total points from scoring in the paint. That stat has Davis had reiterating his mantra of no layups and no dunks while trying to get better on-ball pressure from the Heels.
“Our end game is to protect the paint and that’s something that we have reinforced over the last 11 days,” Davis said. “I’m excited to see what it looks like when we play an opponent.”
UNC at Boston College
When: Sunday, 1 p.m.
Where: Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
TV: ESPN2
Stream: ESPN3
