By R.L. Bynum
From no longer always playing two post players to creating more spacing on the offensive end, Coach Hubert Davis has put his stamp on Carolina basketball while following many of the philosophies of Coach Roy Williams.
At the end of No. 3 North Carolina’s 74–73 loss at Georgia Tech, there were two specific examples of differences — ball-screen defense and late timeouts.
Both ways can be very successful, but Tuesday night in Atlanta didn’t work out that way, thanks to a crazy shot and a foul that wasn’t called.
Under Williams, the Tar Heels generally fought through screens on defense. But Davis is having them switch on screens, feeling that every player on the court can guard 1 through 5, though sometimes the switching only goes 1 through 4.
UNC has improved as the season has gone on about switching effectively, with productive results. The Tar Heels are holding ACC teams to 64.5 points per game. UNC leads the league in opponent field-goal percentage (37.3%) and three-point shooting percentage (26.8%) in ACC games.
Sometimes, those switches have led RJ Davis to guard post players, but the reverse happened late in Tuesday‘s game.
With Carolina clinging to a one-point lead, RJ Davis was guarding freshman Georgia Tech guard Naithan George. When Davis hit a high Tyzhaun Claude screen, he switched off, and Armando Bacot became the primary defender on George.
With Bacot not as quick as Davis, George sped around him. It still took a circus shot from George to loft the ball over Bacot’s outstretched hands and bank in the game-winning shot, so it wasn’t easy.
At that point, there were 7.7 seconds left, with UNC trailing by one.
Williams’ approach in the final seconds was to call a timeout when there were seven or fewer seconds left when the Tar Heels got the ball. But he usually let the game flow play out with more than seven seconds left, feeling that the players know from practice what to do and a timeout would give the opponent a chance to set its defense.
That didn’t always work out for Williams, but it notably went well after Kentucky tied the 2017 South Regional final with 7.2 seconds left. The rest is part of Carolina basketball lore, as Theo Pinson dribbled down court and flipped the ball to Luke Maye, whose shot with 0.3 of a second left gave the Tar Heels a 75–73 victory.
RJ Davis took the inbounds pass from Harrison Ingram, hustled down court and was just outside of the 3-point arc when Coach Davis got a timeout with 4.6 seconds left to set up a play.
That figured to be a good decision, though, because Carolina has scored on a high percentage of possessions after timeouts this season, with Coach Davis seemingly knowing the perfect play to draw up many times.
RJ Davis took a handoff pass from Bacot and drove into the lane. A promising play went awry when the Jackets’ Ebenezer Dowouna appeared to foul Davis, who missed the shot.
A notable example of UNC calling the perfect late play out of a timeout under Coach Davis came last season against Ohio State in Madison Square Garden. On an out-of-bounds play with 1.2 seconds left, Pete Nance hit a short jumper to force overtime, where the Tar Heels won 89–84.
That day, Williams would have also called a timeout because UNC got the ball with two seconds left after the Buckeyes took a two-point lead. After the first timeout, UNC threw the ball in and got a second timeout at halfcourt to set up Nance’s shot.
Clearly, the success of this season’s team shows the differences between the approaches from Williams to Coach Davis haven’t changed the winning. Certainly, frustration with the referees hasn’t changed.
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UNC season statistics
| Team | League | Overall | NET* | WAB* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 1 Duke | 17–1 | 29–2 | 1 | 2 |
| No. 10 Virginia | 15–3 | 27–4 | 13 | 11 |
| Miami | 13–5 | 24–7 | 32 | 28 |
| No. 19 North Carolina | 12–6 | 24–7 | 23 | 19 |
| Clemson | 12–6 | 22–9 | 36 | 33 |
| No. 24 Louisville | 11–7 | 22–9 | 14 | 25 |
| N.C. State | 10–8 | 19–12 | 35 | 45 |
| Florida State | 10–8 | 17–14 | 69 | 74 |
| California | 9–9 | 21–10 | 65 | 49 |
| Stanford | 9–9 | 20–11 | 59 | 51 |
| SMU | 8–10 | 19–12 | 39 | 50 |
| Virginia Tech | 8–10 | 19–12 | 53 | 52 |
| Wake Forest | 7–11 | 16–15 | 64 | 81 |
| Syracuse | 6–12 | 15–16 | 83 | 92 |
| Pittsburgh | 5–13 | 12–19 | 109 | 146 |
| Notre Dame | 4–14 | 13–18 | 93 | 121 |
| Boston College | 4–14 | 11–20 | 159 | 217 |
| Georgia Tech | 2–16 | 11–20 | 167 | 210 |
* — Through Sunday games
Saturday’s results
No. 1 Duke 76, No. 19 North Carolina 61
Boston College 77, Notre Dame 69
Clemson 79, Georgia Tech 76
No. 24 Louisville 92, Miami 89
Florida State 92, SMU 78
Stanford 85, N.C. State 84
Wake Forest 80, California 73
Pittsburgh 71, Syracuse 69, OT
END OF REGULAR SEASON
ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday through Saturday
| Date | Month/day | Scores | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 17 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 11 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 9 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | W, 71–68 | vs. No. 1 Duke | 19–4, 7–3 |
| 10 | Tuesday | L, 75–66 | at No. 25 Miami | 19–5, 7–4 |
| 14 | Saturday | W, 79–65 | vs. Pittsburgh | 20–5, 8–4 |
| 17 | Tuesday | L, 82–58 | at N.C. State | 20–6, 8–5 |
| 21 | Saturday | W, 77–64 | at Syracuse | 21–6, 9–5 |
| 23 | Monday | W, 77–74 | vs. Louisville | 22–6, 10–5 |
| 28 | Saturday | W, 89–82 | vs. Virginia Tech | 23–6, 11–5 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 67–63 | vs. Clemson | 24–6, 12–5 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 76–61 | at No. 1 Duke | 24–7, 12–6 |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte | |
| 12 | Thursday | L, 80–79 | Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson | 24–8 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 19 | Thursday | L, 82–78, OT | First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C. | 24–9 |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
