Up next in 10
#UNC coach Hubert Davis at weekly ACC Zoom press conference
Mar 3, 2025
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0:00
game the other day when you said that
0:02
it's always March for you uh I would
0:05
like for you to expand on that and just
0:06
kind of tell us when you're in October
0:09
and you say it's March and you're in
0:11
January and you say it's March and how
0:13
you relate that to the
0:15
kids
0:17
um I relate that to the kids um I give
0:22
them just personal stories um one of the
0:25
stories that I give
0:27
them is um
0:30
my uh mother passing away at
0:33
16 that uh she was my best friend and
0:37
out of the blue she got diagnosed with
0:40
cancer
0:41
and eight months
0:44
later um she was gone on August 31st
0:48
1986
0:51
and unfortunately that
0:54
gave me as a 15 and 16 year old going
0:58
through that 15 and 16 years old it gave
1:02
me um a perspective of you know you
1:07
think that you're going to have your mom
1:10
and dad with you all of your life and
1:13
the reality is my mom
1:17
missed I I thought I missed her when um
1:22
when she passed away but I miss her more
1:24
now than I did when she died and because
1:28
she missed
1:31
me coming to Carolina me playing in the
1:33
NBA me getting married her hanging out
1:35
with my kids and my
1:37
wife um me everything and um things
1:42
aren't guaranteed you think you get to
1:45
hang out with your parents tomorrow you
1:47
think you can play another day and I
1:49
just have a different perspective on
1:52
being thankful for where you're at and
1:55
understanding that uh take advantage of
1:57
every moment that you have and I to the
2:00
team when you share these personal
2:03
stories with the kids how much do you
2:05
think it connects and resonates with
2:06
them and do you think that there's like
2:08
an underline there where it kind of
2:10
helps you in the coaching aspect of of
2:13
of them with them as well since they
2:15
know some personal stuff about you well
2:18
they know a lot of personal stuff about
2:20
me I I you know
2:22
I that goes to the piece Andrew
2:26
about you know how much time I spend
2:29
with him and like I I think I said um on
2:33
Saturday like I can't coach them unless
2:34
I know them and they can't play for me
2:36
unless I know them like to know each
2:39
other you have to know personal
2:41
things and and does it resonate with
2:46
them I don't know but my job is to give
2:50
them
2:51
those personal experiences that I've had
2:55
in my life
2:57
and whether they listen to it or not I'm
2:59
going to give it to him because I think
3:01
it's important for me to communicate
3:03
those things to him right thank you I go
3:06
next to Jeremiah
3:08
holway hey Huber good morning hey
3:10
Jeremiah yeah I just wanted to ask about
3:13
obviously you guys have you know just
3:15
these you know two more games regular
3:16
season and then the conference
3:18
tournament starts up the week after that
3:20
obviously you guys have you know been
3:21
surging recently do you feel that at
3:24
this point of the year you know guys are
3:26
maybe settling into their roles a little
3:29
bit better you know it kind of seems
3:30
obviously you know you've seen what Vin
3:32
has been able to do of late you've seen
3:33
what Jay Whit has been able to do of
3:35
late do you feel guys are getting I
3:36
guess a better grasp of you know what
3:38
they're asked to do and just you know
3:40
the expectations you know kind of called
3:42
upon them at this point I do I think I
3:44
think um we have a number of guys um
3:48
that are settled whether it's settled in
3:51
their role settled with their game and
3:55
we just have a number of people that are
3:59
in that place at the same time and so
4:02
you know you mentioned you know Jay Wht
4:05
and Vin but you know
4:07
also you know RJ Elliott Drake Seth you
4:12
know Ian Cade you know we just down the
4:15
line J wash I think we have a number of
4:18
people for the first time all year where
4:22
we have a number of people settled
4:24
whether it's in their role or settled in
4:29
terms of their own personal game and
4:30
what they can bring consistently out
4:32
there on the floor if I could follow up
4:34
real quick what do you think has like
4:36
allowed that settling to happen like
4:38
what's what changed to where they could
4:40
you know kind of you know get
4:42
comfortable in that way I don't know I
4:44
mean
4:46
it's probably it's time I I
4:50
think everybody
4:52
has like everybody
4:56
wants to H you know like it it just
4:59
takes time you know I I everybody
5:02
individually has a different timetable
5:05
like not everybody can be settled at
5:09
this time at the same way I you know I
5:12
just think over
5:14
time this team has grown together and
5:18
we're at a point now
5:22
that I think we're playing well and I
5:26
think we're playing consistently well
5:28
that that's allowing us to be
5:31
successful go next to Adam
5:33
Smith Hubert good morning good morning
5:36
good morning Adam I guess sort of uh
5:39
piggybacking uh on that a little bit
5:41
just wanted to ask you about your
5:44
messaging to your team here as you
5:47
you're going into the final week of the
5:48
regular season two games left like what
5:51
given that you guys do seem to be
5:53
playing some of your best basketball
5:55
lately what do you want them what do you
5:57
want them hearing from you uh as you go
5:59
into these final two games they've been
6:01
hearing from me consistently that you
6:04
know the times that you like I I've
6:10
said you know um I I I even referenced
6:14
uh I said you know when we were in New
6:16
York City I said you know
6:18
like for a building the higher the
6:20
building goes up the deeper the
6:24
foundation that the building has to have
6:26
if if it's for it you know New York with
6:30
all the skyscrapers as big as those
6:31
buildings are the the foundation has to
6:34
go deeper and so for us for us to
6:37
continue to have success what actually
6:39
has to require is we have to go deeper
6:42
we've got to go deeper into those little
6:45
things we've got to be better boxing out
6:47
we've got to be better taking care of
6:49
the basketball we've got to be better um
6:52
at uh shot selection we've got to be
6:54
better in talking in transition and so
6:57
I've actually communicated with them
6:59
that this is a time to dive even deeper
7:02
into those little fundamental discipline
7:06
things um to continue to try to
7:11
improve is that another aspect of the
7:14
way that you've been playing that is
7:15
pleased you is that that what you have
7:17
been asking them to do you have seen the
7:19
Improvement like it's been pretty
7:20
tangible I feel like yeah it has I mean
7:22
it's it's great to see um um I mean
7:26
that's what you want as a coach you want
7:27
you know you want your players
7:29
individually to get better and to
7:31
improve and you want your team to
7:32
improve and I feel like we're headed in
7:36
that direction and you know but there's
7:39
a long way to go this is a huge week for
7:42
us and Virginia Tech is a really good
7:46
basketball team and it's very difficult
7:49
to play them anywhere especially um on
7:52
their home
7:54
floor thank you Michael
7:57
Co hey there Hebert good morning um you
8:00
you alluded to this but you know in
8:02
recent years blackburg has been a
8:04
difficult road trip for for you guys um
8:07
so tomorrow night what is there like
8:09
what is there to look out for especially
8:11
with with Virginia Tech well I mean
8:15
one you know just you know from an
8:18
offensive standpoint they're just very
8:20
efficient and methodical in their
8:22
approach offensively um just a ton of
8:26
action to free up their Shooters but you
8:29
know
8:30
you know they've got guys that can um
8:32
you know they have the ability to score
8:34
from three and also throw the ball into
8:36
the paint so you know
8:37
from an offensive standpoint that's
8:40
pretty good to have and um you know
8:43
defensively they're athletic uh they can
8:46
pressure um they can create Steals
8:50
and
8:53
um you know they're really good on both
8:55
ends of the floor and so for us to be
8:57
successful on the road we're going to
8:59
have to play extremely well and uh we've
9:01
got to take care of the basketball we've
9:03
got to get good shots we've got to
9:04
rebound which we've been
9:06
doing um we've got to get out in
9:09
transition in order to do that we've got
9:10
to get
9:12
stops please one last Quick one in from
9:14
myON
9:15
meta hey Hubert how you doing good good
9:18
how are you I'm doing well uh obviously
9:22
not your first game but your next game
9:23
youve played against a lot of great
9:25
players what makes Cooper flag such an
9:27
impactful player on both of the
9:31
floor well I mean what makes him
9:33
impactful is that he does make plays
9:36
consistently on both ends of the floor I
9:38
mean that's that that that's what makes
9:41
them impactful I mean he's you know he
9:44
can he can guard anybody out there on
9:45
the floor because of his length and his
9:48
athleticism uh offensively he's a
9:51
three-level scorer that can also get
9:53
fouled and get to the free throw line
9:54
knock down free throws and get to the
9:57
offensive glass he can get the rebound
9:58
and bring the ball up himself in
10:01
transition
10:02
and probably the thing that uh he does
10:06
best and and to say that because he's
10:10
does a lot of things really well is he
10:13
plays hard like he's he's a tough kid
10:16
and he's always playing at Max Pace on
10:21
both ends of the floor and that is a
10:24
talent to be able to play that hard all
10:27
the time and that's something that uh
10:29
coopa flag does thanks a lot yep thank
10:33
you appreciate the time okay guys see
10:35
you guys later see you