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#UNC coach Hubert Davis after opening-game win over Central Arkansas
Nov 4, 2025
#UNC coach Hubert Davis after opening-game win over Central Arkansas
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0:00
Hey, coach. Uh, Shamaya Cook, CBS 17.
0:02
Can you talk about, you know, how did
0:04
you like seeing uh Caleb's performance
0:08
today just as a freshman? He was really
0:10
great. Uh, can you talk about that?
0:12
Yeah, I know. I mean, he's, you know,
0:14
he's, you know, brings high energy out
0:16
there and, you know, you combine that
0:18
with the length and athleticism and the
0:19
giftedness that he has out there on the
0:22
floor. or um you know, as talented as he
0:25
is, um
0:29
he's a kid that like
0:31
is really hungry to learn. He's not
0:34
somebody that thinks he's got it all or
0:37
knows everything. He's always asking
0:39
questions and um to have that from
0:42
somebody as as good as him um is pretty
0:45
rare. And so I was really happy for him.
0:47
I mean, he did everything. He ran the
0:49
floor, uh, attacked offensive glass, hit
0:52
a three, drove, um, he's a great, um,
0:56
passer and penetrator, and then I
0:59
thought he was good on the defensive end
1:00
in terms of, uh, just being able to
1:02
switch all those actions. It's something
1:04
that we worked on for three and a half
1:07
straight days, even shootarounds. First
1:08
time in shoot around, we did defensive
1:10
stations because of Central Arkansas,
1:12
the way that they have two and threeman
1:14
actions where they can go a number of
1:15
different places. And it put it put
1:17
Caleb involved there and I thought he
1:19
did a really nice job.
1:22
Somebody said they came out with the
1:24
first wave of warm-ups that Luca was
1:25
taking a nap on the couch in the locker
1:27
room. When did they they found out when
1:29
they came back in? When did you find
1:30
out? And um just kind of take us through
1:33
finding out.
1:34
Yeah, I mean we just found out right
1:35
before the game and um just to see the
1:39
smile and the reaction from Luca was
1:41
something that I'll remember for the
1:43
rest of my life. Um he's somebody
1:46
obviously coming from Montenegro
1:49
um that has always since the first time
1:52
that I talked to him had a burning
1:54
desire to be a part of this team, this
1:56
program, this university and this
1:58
community. And to be able to see him run
2:00
out of that tunnel with the uniform on
2:02
and be able to check him in and see that
2:04
smile is something again that I will
2:07
remember for the rest of my life. His
2:08
mom is here. She's been over here uh for
2:11
a week. She'll be over here for two more
2:14
weeks. So to be able to see her son out
2:16
there on the floor, um can't wait. I
2:19
haven't talked to him after the game,
2:20
but um I'm just really happy for him.
2:23
How concerned were you that maybe he
2:25
wouldn't be clear?
2:27
No, as I said before, you know, it was
2:29
the same. It you know, we were we were
2:31
working through it. I felt like we were
2:34
making progress. And I do I I wanted to
2:37
thank the university that did a terrific
2:40
job of uh getting us to this point and
2:42
without them, you know, Luca wouldn't be
2:44
here and he wouldn't be on the court.
2:46
Yeah.
2:47
I was going to try to get a Caleb one in
2:49
before we went to Luca, but um you know,
2:52
those dunks are high percentage shots.
2:54
Um
2:54
like
2:56
I can't remember a guy around here who
2:58
dunked as often as he does. Like I mean
3:00
does he go back to like a maybe a Bryce
3:02
Johnson for you? Can you remember
3:03
someone who's
3:04
knocking his off his hand off?
3:06
I never thought about it that way, but
3:07
that's a great description. I mean,
3:09
Bryce's
3:10
his bounce was real and his second
3:12
bounce was even better. And for Caleb,
3:16
it's it's that way. I mean, whether it's
3:19
an offensive rebound, post, out of
3:21
bounds underneath in transition, he's
3:23
looking to take the rim down. And he's
3:25
always been that way. It's one of the
3:27
things that we always emphasize is
3:29
putting pressure on the rim, living in
3:31
the paint, living at the free throw
3:32
line, and dominating points in the
3:34
paint. And um he's got the length and
3:37
athleticism to be able to get there, and
3:39
he did another really good job tonight.
3:42
A lot of people talk about Lucas
3:43
shooting, but he showed he's a good
3:44
passer tonight. How How does he help
3:47
with the ball movement in the half court
3:49
offense?
3:50
Well, I mean, there's a number of
3:52
things, you know? I mean, we've talked
3:55
before about how much more size that we
3:58
have this year, and I've talked about
4:00
positional size. I mean, at the wing
4:03
position, Luca's 66, almost 67, so he's
4:06
a big guard. Obviously, he can shoot the
4:09
basketball, but you're right, he's a
4:10
basketball player. He can handle it. He
4:12
can pass it. He can initiate offense.
4:15
Gives us another playmaker out there on
4:17
the floor. And I thought he did a really
4:18
nice job defensively as well.
4:20
Did you have a conversation with Luke
4:21
pregame at all? just once he found out,
4:23
did you talk to him at all?
4:24
Oh, yeah. I said,
4:25
"What were the I guess what were his
4:26
emotions like talking to you? I know you
4:28
used to smile and everything, but like
4:29
what what did he tell you?"
4:32
Well, at the time I found out, I told
4:33
him to get his uniform on. You're
4:35
playing. I didn't think it was time to
4:37
sit down and have some coffee and tea
4:39
and and and talk. I wanted him to to get
4:42
dressed. I wanted him to get taped. I
4:44
wanted him get warmed up and get ready
4:47
to go. And um for him to find out before
4:51
the game and end up scoring 10 points
4:54
and had five assists, that's that's
4:56
pretty good.
4:56
I don't I don't know if you already said
4:58
it specifically, but how did he find
4:59
out? Did you find out first and then
5:01
told him or did somebody come in there
5:02
and tell him? How did he
5:03
I found out first and I told him.
5:05
Okay.
5:05
He seemed like Henry was really working
5:07
hard um tonight and they seemed like
5:09
central Arkansas was getting physical
5:11
with them. Then he came away with first
5:12
career double double 14-10 through
5:14
seventh foul.
5:15
That was shocking to me. That was his
5:16
first career double double. When they
5:18
said that after the game, I was like,
5:20
"Oh, beasties. That's crazy." And I just
5:22
didn't I just didn't think that was
5:25
real. But that, you know, it was
5:26
something that um
5:29
from an offensive standpoint, that was
5:31
our number one emphasis over the last
5:32
three days. You know, I just talked
5:35
about that that we have to dominate
5:38
points in the paint. We've got to do a
5:40
better job of looking inside. And um you
5:42
know, we've got length and we've got
5:44
athleticism to be able to take advantage
5:45
of that. I don't know what it was for
5:48
for the game, but in the first half, we
5:50
were shooting 72% in the paint. And I
5:52
was like, guys, like we took 18 threes,
5:55
but we're shooting 72% in the paint.
5:57
That's where our strength is. And so
5:59
when you do that, you put pressure on
6:00
the the opposing team, you get into the
6:04
penalty, you knock down free throws, and
6:05
I thought we did a better job hitting
6:07
free throws today. But Henry did a
6:10
really nice job of giving us a post
6:12
presence and that's something that we're
6:13
going to continue to look at every game
6:15
all day long.
6:16
And JB backing him up. How would you say
6:18
they did?
6:18
Yeah, I thought they did a really nice
6:20
job as well. I mean, it's it's not just
6:23
when I say dominate points in the paint,
6:24
it's through post and penetration and
6:27
offensive rebounds. So, you know,
6:31
everybody on the floor, it's live
6:32
action. And so I thought JB and Zayn did
6:35
a nice job, but I also think Jiren and
6:39
um and Caleb did a nice job as well.
6:42
Kayen, uh obviously he was able to kind
6:44
of move the ball around well, shot the
6:46
ball well, things like that. He seemed
6:47
pretty comfortable in that lead guard
6:49
spot. What did you like about his
6:50
ability to kind of, you know, get others
6:52
involved and, you know, just overall he
6:54
was on the on the boards as well. What
6:55
did you like about his, I guess, overall
6:57
performance?
6:57
I did. You know, one of the things that
6:58
he's been consistent with is just
7:00
instinctively he's really good at
7:02
pitching the ball ahead in transition. I
7:04
thought he was really good at that.
7:06
Trying to give us, you know, early
7:07
opportunities in transition. Thought he
7:10
made really sound decisions and
7:12
obviously his ability to be able to
7:14
shoot the basketball is something that's
7:17
very valuable to us. And but um you
7:20
know, him you know getting five assists
7:22
tonight and only two turnovers, I
7:24
thought it was a really nice start for
7:25
him and I was really proud of him.
7:27
the opponent tonight is relative to how
7:29
you view the result, but there's a lot
7:31
of impressive things tonight. Do you
7:33
think that the ceiling of this team is
7:35
higher than some of the ones you've had
7:36
before? Maybe the highest that you've
7:38
had here at Carolina.
7:39
Um, in terms of a ceiling, I mean, uh,
7:42
the only thing that we talk about is
7:44
reaching our full potential. Um,
7:48
obviously we're nowhere near that. Um,
7:51
you know, I think we can be a really
7:53
good defensive team. I think we can be
7:55
even a really good rebounding team. I
7:58
think from an offensive standpoint, our
8:00
ability to be able to score near the
8:02
basket, but also be able to uh shoot the
8:05
ball from the perimeter is something
8:07
that I'm excited about. I think the
8:09
thing that's um you know, it's just, you
8:13
know, the potential of this group and
8:15
it's really exciting to to have this
8:17
process to start the year and and to see
8:20
how good this group can become. Shelby,
8:23
really quick, just um again going back
8:25
to how important do you think it is for
8:28
both him and the team for him to and
8:30
again not going through the full warmup
8:32
and everything, but to have this game
8:34
and the ability to play with everyone
8:36
heading into a marquee match up is
8:39
I don't look at it from the standpoint
8:41
of this game
8:44
um in preparation for the game on
8:47
Friday. I just,
8:50
you know, he's been practicing and
8:52
didn't get to play against BYU or went
8:55
to Salem State and so even though
8:59
he was a part of the team, you you feel
9:02
a little separation when you're not
9:04
dressing out and
9:07
um it was nice to have everybody dressed
9:10
and um that was really a lot of fun.
9:13
Last three. Um, you talked about kind of
9:17
points in the paint. Is that maybe where
9:18
this team has kind of evolved
9:19
offensively or improved offensively from
9:22
last year's team?
9:23
Well, I mean, it's a much different team
9:25
than last year, but um, that is that's
9:28
always been an emphasis for us. That's
9:30
just who I am as a coach. Um, I like
9:32
shooting threes, but the first thing
9:34
that I always say is, you know, I want a
9:36
layup or a dunk, a deep post catch.
9:38
Let's get fouled, get to the free throw
9:39
line. And so we've got some guys that
9:42
can do that, that can check those three
9:43
boxes, but we also have guys that can
9:45
shoot the ball from three. But I just
9:48
always have felt this from coach
9:50
Williams. You know, the number one
9:52
determining factor and outcome of a game
9:54
is rebounding and dominating points in
9:56
the paint. And so that's rubbed off on
9:58
me and that's who I am as a head coach.
10:00
Grant then Rob, last two.
10:02
Hey coach, I'm kind of going off that,
10:03
but all you guys had 18 second chance
10:05
points. How important is all three of
10:06
those things, especially when you're
10:07
going up against a team like Kansas?
10:09
that's very big and physical in the
10:11
making.
10:11
No, just in regards to anyone, you know,
10:14
um with the exception of last year, I
10:17
think we've always been a really good
10:18
offensive rebounding team, the best in
10:20
the ACC, and so that's always been a
10:22
staple of North Carolina, putting
10:24
ourselves at second chance
10:26
opportunities. Nobody can ever get me
10:28
off of that. Um we were able to win a
10:31
national championship in 2017 because we
10:33
got two offensive rebounds on a free
10:35
throw. So, um we're always going to the
10:38
offensive glass. those and I
10:40
specifically tell the guys those are the
10:42
little things that make big things
10:44
happen and one of those little things
10:46
that makes big things happen. It's going
10:47
to be we got to get even better at that
10:50
is going to the offensive glass.
10:51
Last one. Rod
10:52
Hubert, I know you say you always like
10:54
to have multiple playmakers out there.
10:56
23 assists back me up here. I think that
10:58
only happened once last year. Okay.
11:00
What's it like to see so many guys rack
11:02
up that many assists and multiple for
11:04
multiple guys?
11:05
I do. I just felt like um everybody was
11:08
sharing the basketball. Sometimes I
11:09
think we turned the ball over because we
11:11
were sharing too much. I've never seen a
11:13
alleyoop to to two guys.
11:16
I I didn't even know what to say after
11:18
that. And but um I did, you know, we've
11:22
talked about good to great and not just
11:25
selling for a good shot. I think we're
11:27
good enough to get a great shot every
11:28
possession. Um, you know, one of the
11:31
things that Central Arkansas does is
11:33
they throw a number of different
11:34
defenses at you. A number of different
11:36
ball screen defenses out of bounds
11:38
underneath. They'll switch it up.
11:40
They'll pick up full court. They'll
11:41
press. And I thought we handled that
11:44
really well. And just instinctively
11:46
hitting the open guy. And having 23
11:48
assists, that's,
11:50
you know,
11:53
I really like that. And that's something
11:55
that I talked to them after the game
11:56
about that. I I I told them after the
11:58
game, one the assist, and then number
12:01
two is I was really proud of their
12:03
preparation leading up to Central
12:05
Arkansas. There was a lot of moving
12:07
parts that we had to get prepared to be
12:09
able to play them and they accepted it.
12:11
They learned and they were able to
12:13
implement it out there on the floor and
12:15
I thought that was um really good for
12:17
us. Coach, thank you.