MILWAUKEE — Here is a video and a full transcript of North Carolina’s press conference Thursday at the Fiserv Forum, with Coach Hubert Davis, Seth Trimble and RJ Davis, ahead of the Tar Heels’ first-round game on Friday against Ole Miss. Also: dressing room interviews with Drake Powell, RJ Davis, Seth Trimble, Jae’lyn Withers, Elliot Cadeau and Ven-Allen Lubin.
Q. Good to see you. Wanted to ask you about Seth. He’s playing in his hometown, Milwaukee. The other day, he had a productive night. For one, how cool is it that Seth gets to play in his hometown. Also, can you speak a little bit to his ability to get to the line a lot the other night against San Diego State?
HUBERT DAVIS: He’s really excited about playing back at home. Irregardless if we’re here or not, he has a pretty good following everywhere we go. His family does a terrific job of supporting him, whether we’re at home or on the road. To be able to play the NCAA Tournament here is really special for him.
You mentioned Seth’s ability. He does a number of positive and great things for us. One of them is being able to attack the basket and get fouled and get to the free throw line. One, because he has the ability to do that. Two, he has the ability to do that consistently and be able to score and finish because of his athleticism and strength.
Three, when he gets fouled, he can go to the free throw line and is one of the best free throw shooters in our team and conference. I tell him attack, attack, attack under control because I think good things happen when he attacks the basket.
Q. Hubert, wanted to ask you your overall impressions of Ole Miss as you’ve started to dig into studying them. Also, seeing Sean Padulla again after facing him at Virginia Tech, what have you noticed about how his game as changed? Your impression of how he fits with this team.
HUBERT DAVIS: Ole Miss is obviously talented on both ends of the floor. They hang their hat on the way they play defensively. They do a really good job of creating turnovers, which allows them to get out in transition where they’re really good in transition.
They’ve got athleticism. They’re able to switch any type of action, whether it’s on the ball or off, and try to force you and take you out of your offensive sets and force you into a one-on-one situation.
For us, especially over the last month, month and a half, we’ve faced a number of teams that switch 1 through 5 on and off the ball. Obviously, Ole Miss does it at an elite level.
Talking about Sean, he’s just — when I say he’s a basketball player, what I mean by that is from an offensive standpoint, there’s very few guys in the country that can — he is very efficient shooting the ball from 3. He can get to the basket. He has a great mid-range game. Pump fake. Can get to the free throw line.
I talk to the team about elite players make routine plays routinely. That’s a perfect description of Sean. He just makes routine plays routinely. He’s tough. He’s competitive. We’ll have our hands full tomorrow afternoon.
Q. You held San Diego State to eight shots at the rim. What’s changed? What’s the switch that’s been flipped for the perimeter defense where it feels like you’re not allowing straight-line drives anymore?
HUBERT DAVIS: I would say over the last month and a half, our defense has just continued to improve. We’ve talked about containing, contesting. No middle, no paint, no foul. How important it is to protect the paint.
One, we don’t have tremendous length and size from top to bottom. So it’s important to keep teams away from the basket because we don’t have a definitive, consistent shot blocker on our team that can alter shots as well.
A huge emphasis on trying to protect the paint. Our team defensively not only has gotten better in the last month and a half in that regards, but have seen the benefit of defense and protecting the paint because it allows us to get stops, finish it with a box-out rebound, and then allow us to get out in transition where we’ve been pretty good all season.
Q. I guess simply put, do you feel your team is playing with a chip on its shoulder now? Super convincing win in Dayton the other night. Have you silenced the critics that thought you shouldn’t be in this tournament?
HUBERT DAVIS: I always talk to the guys about focusing on what is real, and what is real is our preparation and our play for Ole Miss.
I talked to them at great length of turning down and turning off the noise from the phone, the family, the friends, and college basketball fans. And so our eyes are fixed on us as a team. I give them a Bible verse all the time, Proverbs 4:25: Keep your eyes straight ahead. Ignore all side-show distractions.
The only thing we have control over is us as a team, how we prepare, how we play. If you want to say we have a chip on our shoulder, we’ve had it the entire season because our pursuit is to become the best we can be as a team. That’s something we’ve focused on all year, not just right now.
Q. I think some people might be curious, did you go back to Chapel Hill or come right here from Dayton? How did that work?
HUBERT DAVIS: No, we didn’t go back to Chapel Hill. We came right after our game against San Diego State. We caught a 2:30 a.m. flight and got here about 4, 4:30 on Wednesday morning and had a good practice yesterday. Have a couple good practices today in preparation for tomorrow.
We’re very thankful and blessed to still be part of this tournament and be here in a wonderful city, Milwaukee.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach, good luck tomorrow.
HUBERT DAVIS: Thank you very much.
Q. Seth, I know your family travels really well around the country for you. How cool is it going to be to be able to play in front of them here in your hometown?
SETH TRIMBLE: It’s amazing. I’ve always dreamed of a moment like this, especially at the collegiate level. I know it will come at the next level, but this isn’t something that comes every single day at this level. To have this blessing and this opportunity to have some people who maybe can’t make it to North Carolina or can’t make it out anywhere else to be able to make it to this game is amazing.
I’ve never played here at the Fiserv, so it’s a dream come true for me.
Q. What goes through your mind when you see these 5-out switches. I feel like Ole Miss switches a lot on tape. What goes through your mind when you get those switches and when you get into kill mode. If felt like you got that early against San Diego State.
RJ DAVIS: Take advantage of the match-up. I think I do a good job of just repping it out in workouts and stuff. It’s trusting my work. Whenever I see a match-up I like, it’s about taking advantage of that.
So I know Ole Miss does a good job of switching, but at the same time, they do a good job of swarming. So I know if the shots is not going to come from me, it’s going to be from my teammates. It’s really just giving what the defense takes me.
Q. Seth, you said you never played here before. What was it like when you saw it on Selection Sunday, that the possibility would be there? And coming out of the tunnels, what do you think it will be like tomorrow?
SETH TRIMBLE: Seeing it on TV, I was in shock. I got chills. A couple days before, I was talking about how crazy it would be if we got a bid in Milwaukee. It came through in the moment. I was stuck on the couch with a blank expression. But there was so many chills going through my body.
It will be the same once I run out of the tunnel tomorrow. To be able to play and in Milwaukee, right next to my hometown, play in front of my family, in front of my friends. Run out of the tunnel I’ve always dreamed about playing in, I’m sure it will be an amazing experience. I’m looking forward to it.
Q. Impressive performance the other night in Dayton in the First Four. Do you guys feel like you have silenced the critics who said you didn’t belong in this tournament? How have you — did you use that as motivation, what you heard, noise you heard about the team?
RJ DAVIS: One thing about this team is we’re not worried about the noise and what’s being said about us. Obviously, we hear it, but we ignore it. We don’t pay much attention to it. So it’s more about sticking to our game plan and proving ourselves like we know we’re capable of. We’re a tournament team and we want to prove it to ourselves. We did a good job in doing that at the First Four.
SETH TRIMBLE: We want to prove ourselves, right. We want to be the team we know we can be. The last game against San Diego State, we did a great job of doing that. We’re the University of North Carolina. Whatever we do, there’s going to be hate. This isn’t anything new for us. We know how to block it out. We’ve been doing a really good job of that.
Q. Seth, obviously, the main reason is basketball that you’re here. While you’re here, are you showing your teammates around Milwaukee, giving them any suggestions? How are they experiencing the city since they’ve been here?
SETH TRIMBLE: I’ve been giving — me and Coach Sullivan have been giving some good dinner recommendations. Dinner’s been amazing. Our hotel is nice. They’re not too happy with the weather, the rain. Turned to a little bit of snow last night. The wind, I don’t think they’re used to the wind. I have to tell them we’re by the lake. This is what’s going to happen.
I’ve been telling them it won’t get warm here for another three or four weeks. Buckle in. Don’t expect sunny days in the next coming days. I hope they’re enjoying it. I’m enjoying it. That’s all that really matters.
Q. A couple of your teammates, very, very talented, have always got high ratings from the scouts and all that. I wanted to get your opinion on what specifically they do right that makes them so special. That’s Ian Jackson and Drake Powell.
RJ DAVIS: Both are — besides basketball, they’re really good kids. They have really good personalities and just on the court they do whatever it takes to win.
For Drake, with his athleticism and length in the defensive end, he’s able to guard our perimeters, best player, and make it tough for them. I’ve been asking him to be more aggressive on the offensive end and he’s done a good job of that.
Ian is a confident kid. He’s a shot maker and is able to get it going. When you have two talented kids like that, they’re being highly scouted by NBA scouts, it makes the team more fun to watch and helps us out as a group.
Transcript courtesy of ASAP Sports; photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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