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#UNC coach Hubert Davis after victory at Kentucky
Dec 3, 2025
#UNC coach Hubert Davis after victory at Kentucky
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0:03
Yeah, obviously uh you know kind of foul
0:06
trouble when you put Derek Dixon in the
0:07
game. He closes it out. Obviously does
0:09
hit the big shots, but even beyond that,
0:11
what did you like about the minutes that
0:12
he provided you kind of down the stretch
0:14
of the second?
0:15
Yeah, I thought he was really good
0:16
defensively. Um he's a big guard and so
0:19
um we were having trouble especially in
0:21
the first half guarding their pick and
0:22
roll action, keeping them out of the
0:24
paint. Um I mean they had 42 points in
0:27
the paint. I was felt like 30 points to
0:30
the paint in the first half and so but I
0:32
thought he did a really good job
0:33
defensively
0:35
um containing the dribble drive, keeping
0:37
them out of the lane and making them
0:38
take tough shots, rebounding the
0:40
basketball and then him just running the
0:42
team. You know, there was situations
0:44
where we ran a play and you just didn't
0:47
get what we were looking for. And in
0:50
those times, you know, you just need
0:51
players to step up and make plays and
0:53
Derek made a number of them. I'm really
0:54
happy for him.
0:58
They missed Oh, let me hit you to your
1:00
right.
1:00
Okay. Okay. Sorry.
1:02
Uh they missed 13 straight shots from
1:04
about 1308 about 10-minute span. Was it
1:08
them just missing shots or were there
1:09
some things you guys were doing that
1:10
maybe uh kind of led to some of those
1:13
parent shots? I thought we weren't uh
1:15
from a defensive standpoint, we weren't
1:17
making mistakes. I mean, Kentucky is an
1:19
unbelievable team, but I felt like,
1:21
especially in the first half, they were
1:22
scoring off of our mistakes, and I felt
1:25
like we were sound and simple on the
1:27
defensive end. We were standing between
1:29
them and the basket. We were giving them
1:31
one contested look and then we were
1:32
boxing out and rebounding. And so, you
1:35
know, I always go back and say that
1:36
rebounding is the most important factor
1:38
in the out outcome of a game. And, um,
1:40
we got 20 offensive rebounds and we
1:42
outrebounded them by nine. And so, to
1:45
me, that's that was a ball game. Hey,
1:47
Ben and CL.
1:49
Uh, Cuber, um, you guys shot, I think,
1:52
40% from the field total. Offense seemed
1:54
to struggle, I guess, at times. What did
1:56
you see out there and maybe what needs
1:58
to kind of be better for you guys to
2:00
improve
2:00
from the perimeter?
2:01
Yeah, maybe just from the offensive
2:03
scoring, it seemed like the offense
2:04
struggled specifically in the half
2:05
court.
2:06
Well, well, I I would
2:08
I would respectfully disagree with a
2:11
little bit of that. I felt like when we
2:13
were in the right spots and we executed,
2:16
we we did a good job in the half court
2:18
and and so I was I was happy with that.
2:20
I felt like where we struggled was in
2:22
the half court taking care of the
2:24
basketball in the first half. I think
2:25
they had a number of pick six turnovers.
2:28
Um they do a good job of getting steals
2:29
and deflections in the passing lanes and
2:31
so um that was something that I thought
2:34
we did a better job with in the second
2:35
half. Yeah, we're kind of uh kind of
2:39
talking about the the earlier uh your
2:43
earlier answer to the shots,
2:44
specifically three-point shooting. They
2:46
were one for 13 and that is supposed to
2:49
be a strength of this team. What did you
2:51
guys do to kind of take them out and
2:53
from ever establishing a rhythm?
2:56
Well, I mean, we knew that they were an
2:58
elite three-point shooting team, you
3:00
know, and um I think in large part we
3:04
kept them out of transition. That's
3:05
where they get a lot of their threes.
3:07
Um, unfortunately for us, like they were
3:11
getting to the basket pretty much at
3:12
ease in the first half. They didn't need
3:14
to kick it out. But I thought, um, the
3:16
way that we play defense and way that we
3:18
switch on and off the ball, the size and
3:21
length um, I thought was a factor. You
3:24
know, when you have Jiren at 610 at the
3:27
three, Caleb at 611, and then Henry 7
3:30
ft. And then you talk about the
3:32
positional size at the guards where
3:34
Luca's 66 67, Derek 6'5, you know that
3:38
against a jump shooting team or against
3:40
a jump shooter size really matters and I
3:42
thought we did a good job contesting
3:44
those shots.
3:46
Uh Hubert, you mentioned the the
3:48
rebounding earlier, 22 to five and
3:51
second chance points. Just what did you
3:52
see from a resiliency standpoint from
3:54
from your guys throughout the night?
3:56
I'm so glad I can hammer this. You know,
3:59
one of the things I always tell them is
4:01
I'm not really a big stats guy, but I
4:03
will use it to confirm what I already
4:05
know. And I keep telling them like this
4:07
is who we are. We've got to get to the
4:09
offensive glass. We have to get second
4:11
chance opportunities. And so I've got
4:14
great evidence to prove that what I'm
4:16
telling them is beneficial not only to
4:18
them uh personally, individually, but
4:20
also as a team. Huge factor for us.
4:22
22 is a season high second chance.
4:26
Cubert. Um, with Caleb, it seemed like
4:28
he struggled pretty much for most of the
4:30
game from the floor. But what what did
4:31
you see them do? First of all, taking
4:33
him away and then also he had it was a
4:37
bunch of assists and a bunch of
4:38
rebounds. Like I don't have the number
4:39
in front of me, but
4:39
he had six assists and only two I mean
4:41
that Caleb is not just a scorer. I mean
4:43
like he's a dude, okay? So I mean this
4:46
guy can score. I mean he's a he's an
4:48
elite passer. So I mean he led our team
4:50
in assists. you know, more teams are now
4:54
loading up on him, double teaming him,
4:56
trying to make him a passer more than a
4:58
scorer. That actually benefits us
5:00
because he's he's such an elite passer.
5:03
And um we always talk about making
5:05
plays, not just in scoring, but what can
5:08
you do out there on the floor that can
5:09
be a benefit to the team? He checked a
5:12
number of boxes there, and I think like
5:14
some of the shots that we got was
5:16
because of how much attention is paid on
5:18
him. So, he was he was fantastic
5:20
tonight.
5:22
Yeah, just um going back to Derek,
5:24
obviously the two shots for you guys at
5:26
the end there super clutch. I'm curious,
5:28
you know, you had timeouts going into
5:29
both of those. It seemed like maybe from
5:31
my vantage point, especially the three
5:33
kind of things broke down. It's just him
5:35
putting that up, but I just wanted to
5:36
ask kind of what was the play call or
5:38
maybe the set with
5:40
I'm not going to tell you the exact play
5:41
call.
5:42
Not everything.
5:43
I'd like to maybe run it again, but no,
5:45
the three was he he had to go make a
5:48
play. Just is what it is. is the one
5:50
where he got to the basket. He had a
5:52
number of options. You know, he can
5:53
pitch to the corner. He can he can
5:56
bounce pass uh to Henry rolling to the
5:58
basket, but he felt like he had an edge.
6:00
One of the things that we have talked
6:02
about um after Michigan State was like
6:05
when we get into the lane, hey, we got
6:07
to go strong. And if you feel like you
6:08
can't finish and play off of two feet,
6:10
just don't throw up anything. Um it's
6:13
interesting. Every day, not every day of
6:14
practice, we have this drill, fast break
6:16
drill number one. always say right side,
6:18
right hand layup, left side, left hand
6:20
layup. And they look at me and like why
6:22
such detail? And I just he was on the
6:24
left side, left hand layup against a
6:26
sevenfooter who was able to score.
6:28
A couple of them here. Yes.
6:30
Yeah. Hubert. Uh I know obviously it's
6:32
kind of early to be talking about this
6:33
stuff. I know it's a long way to go in
6:35
this season, but typically I guess road
6:37
wins against, you know, ranked opponents
6:39
tend to go a long way when people talk
6:41
about March and everything like that.
6:43
Uh, how I guess significant I know it's
6:44
early, but how significant is it for you
6:46
guys to kind of go against a team that
6:48
will likely be in the postseason and
6:50
kind of get away? I think it's
6:51
significant for this new group, this new
6:55
team. Um,
7:00
for them to win in this type of
7:02
environment. I just think it's good for
7:04
them. Um, I told him after the game that
7:07
I just want to give them just
7:11
just a taste of what it's like to put on
7:14
that jersey and play in this building
7:16
against this type of team and program
7:18
and be able to come up big. And so it's
7:21
just great for our growth as a young
7:23
team. We're only eight games in, but
7:24
it's just it's just real good for our
7:27
team.
7:28
Cubert, you touched on the environment a
7:30
little bit there. What does it say about
7:31
Derek that in those final two moments
7:34
there there was no hesitation, no fear.
7:36
He was he was ready for it and he got it
7:39
done.
7:39
Yeah, I mean, you know, he's he you
7:41
know, he's
7:43
he's not scared of the moment, you know,
7:46
um and you could see that throughout the
7:48
entire game. I mean, he was felt really
7:50
comfortable out there. Felt like he had
7:52
good command on both ends of the floor.
7:54
And so, um decided to put him in again
7:58
in the second half. And I just felt
7:59
like, you know, going into the game, he
8:01
was shooting 50% from three. And so the
8:04
attention that Caleb was getting, I
8:06
wanted guys out there that could had the
8:08
ability to shoot the basketball. Luca
8:10
fouled out. And so, um,
8:14
he got interviewed after the game and
8:16
all the guys were behind them. Um, kind
8:18
of like OKC. And, um, it's just great.
8:22
One of the biggest things that that
8:24
anybody can do is to be able to
8:26
celebrate somebody else's success. And
8:28
so when you got 15 guys in there that
8:31
feel like they made the three, they made
8:33
the layup, that's really great as a
8:35
coach to be able to see that.
8:37
Okay, we've got two more. One here and
8:38
then Ryan here, let's go back to the
8:40
rebounding for a minute. Against Kansas
8:42
and Michigan State, you guys had 12
8:43
second chance points on 28 offensive
8:45
boards. Tonight it was totally
8:46
different. What was the difference and
8:48
how much have you been harping on that?
8:51
I've been really harping on that one. I
8:53
just, you know, um
8:58
I really feel like we can be a great
8:59
offensive rebounding team, you know, and
9:02
and I just
9:04
I haven't been harping on it. I've been
9:07
telling them every second of the day,
9:09
every day that we meet of how important
9:11
it is to the success of this team. And
9:14
um even if we didn't get it, we kept the
9:17
ball alive. And also what it does is if
9:20
you go to the offensive glass, the other
9:22
team has to box you out so they can't
9:23
get out in transition. So I mean there's
9:25
just a number of things benefits for us
9:28
to be able to do that and that was a
9:29
huge determining factor of us being able
9:31
to come away with the win tonight.
9:33
The difference in being able to score
9:35
off the offensive
9:36
Yeah.
9:37
that wasn't there against Michigan
9:38
State, but it was tonight.
9:40
It was tonight. You know, just the uh
9:43
the ability to get it and then the
9:45
ability to be able to finish and and
9:47
score around. I thought that was a huge
9:49
key for us to be able to convert on
9:51
getting e extra opportunities to be able
9:53
to score.
9:54
Okay, last one. Ryan,
9:56
Kentucky has won five games against
9:58
teams from nonp power conferences, but
10:00
you guys now have won this game and the
10:02
game against Kansas. So, I'm just
10:03
curious given what you guys did
10:05
responding the second half against
10:06
Kansas. How confident did that make you
10:07
that you guys are going to respond
10:08
tonight and make the winning plays down
10:10
the stretch?
10:10
No, you we always talk about how do you
10:13
react, how do you respond? It's
10:14
interesting the last couple days at
10:16
practice, we've specifically worked on
10:19
late game situations where we're up by
10:21
six, down by six, tie score, different
10:24
situations. And so, it was really cool
10:26
to be able to huddle and be able to have
10:28
conversations in regards to what we
10:30
practiced in practice the last couple of
10:32
days and what we have to do in order to
10:34
put ourselves in a position to win. And
10:36
so again, I mean, it's very young, but
10:38
again, the confidence, the growth of
10:41
this young team and and and to be able
10:43
to come in this this environment is off
10:46
the chart. And if I mean, if you can't
10:49
walk out on that floor and not have
10:51
goosebumps and ready to compete and for
10:54
us to be able to do it on the road, it's
10:55
just I'm very proud of this group.
10:58
Thank you, coach.
10:59
All right. Thank
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