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#UNC coach Hubert Davis postgame press conference after exhibition loss to BYU
Oct 25, 2025
#UNC coach Hubert Davis postgame press conference after exhibition loss to BYU
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0:00
like that you got out of this tonight?
0:02
Well, I mean, I think there's a number
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of things that I liked out of this.
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Obviously,
0:08
um on and off the court. The off off the
0:10
court having the rhythm and routine of
0:13
going on the road, uh traveling,
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playing, hotels, meetings, shootarounds,
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film,
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um all those things in preparation for
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the upcoming season, and then playing a
0:26
quality opponent as BYU.
0:28
Um
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and just being able to clearly, you
0:33
know, identify things that we're doing
0:34
well and things that we need to get
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better at. And and also just, you know,
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we've got 11 new guys on the team and uh
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one of the things that I always tell
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them is you really only have control of
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two things. How you react and how you
0:48
respond. And so I was really excited
0:51
about how we were going to react and how
0:53
we were going to respond playing on the
0:55
road and playing against BYU tonight
0:58
with this new team.
0:59
Hubert, not only the the quality
1:01
opponent
1:03
uh in this setting, but I mean you got
1:05
to really work on some late game stuff,
1:07
situational stuff. I mean, we did.
1:09
Do you feel like that was another
1:10
valuable part of this whole experience?
1:12
It really was. you know, um
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you just you just can't get that in
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practice, you know, and so what we got
1:22
today,
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um I just really helped us at the be,
1:26
you know, before we went out, I said I,
1:29
you know, the number one thing that I
1:30
wanted to get from this is I I wanted us
1:33
to take a a big step forward and
1:36
becoming moving forward to potentially
1:39
being the best possible team that we can
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become. And I
1:43
whether it's shoot around, pick up,
1:48
camp game, whatever, I want to win, but
1:52
um there was a lot of things I was
1:54
really happy with.
1:55
And just to to add on to that, it looked
1:57
like you got what you wanted at the very
1:59
end coming out of the last time out with
2:01
getting, you know, the Basar, the
2:02
handoff to Seth, the rush to the goal. I
2:04
mean, I'm sure you'll you'll take the
2:06
way that developed.
2:07
No, I I we'll take that. We had two
2:09
plays. Um if uh BYU made one and and and
2:13
they were only up by three, we were
2:15
still going to call a timeout at half
2:16
court. I had a play 4-3 and a play 4-2.
2:20
And um we felt very good about the play
2:23
that we ran and we got our most athletic
2:26
mo most powerful player attacking the
2:29
basket and um just fortunately missed
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it.
2:32
Looks like you have some stuff there
2:33
with Kenne and Henry. and kind of missed
2:35
a lot of time in the first half with the
2:36
foul trouble, but really had a lot of
2:38
success there in the second half finding
2:39
him and finding some others.
2:41
Yeah, Henry's dynamic. He's big. He's
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he's good when he has space. Really good
2:46
on empty side ball screens. Uh we called
2:49
a couple plays to get him on the roll on
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on the on the run to the basket and he
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has the ability to be able to finish
2:55
with either hand and um he can really
2:59
shoot from three. He didn't hit a three
3:01
tonight, but uh we felt like the way
3:03
that BYU was playing ball screens with
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the five that we would have some
3:07
opportunities to get Henry uh with some
3:10
momentum going towards the rim.
3:12
Obviously, Caleb brought you a lot a lot
3:14
of different statistical categories, but
3:16
what impressed you the most about his
3:17
game?
3:18
Oh, it's just I mean it's not just about
3:21
his game. just just every day. I I just
3:27
obviously he's he's he's very gifted,
3:30
but
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he's a great kid and a great teammate,
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you know, and his competitiveness um
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just a joy to coach and and and to be
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around. I was um in terms of reacting
3:45
and responding, I thought he did a
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really nice job tonight.
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And you could see the some of that too,
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right? you were some of the play like
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the block in the first half I think to
3:53
get the shot clock violation and
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some of the finishes I mean you could
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see it in this setting I think.
3:57
Yeah. I mean those are I didn't teach
3:59
him that. I mean those are things that
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he's 6'11 athletic and and be able to
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finish and uh we were able to call some
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sets to be able to get him in space to
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be able
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um to make those moves and and buckets.
4:12
And so we we've got to grow. Um we've
4:15
got to get better. I've got to get
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better. and we're looking forward to uh
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getting back home and then um getting
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back to practice on Sunday.
4:22
A lot a lot of the talk from the players
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and even you even the other day about
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how competitive things have been going
4:28
back this summer when they had open gym.
4:30
Did you see that competitiveness
4:31
tonight? And were there moments where
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you kind of thought, hey, this is an
4:35
exhibition game and it feels like this
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is a game in late late February, March.
4:38
No, it felt real, you know, and in the
4:41
huddles it was pretty animated, which I
4:44
like. And it goes back to the react and
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respond. I I felt like every time it
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felt like BYU was going to go on a run,
4:55
we stopped it and we either caught back
4:58
up or took the lead. And that was
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something that um another thing that I
5:03
was happy with.
5:05
The turnovers were the turnovers were an
5:06
issue particularly in the first half.
5:08
No, they were an issue. They were an
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issue the whole game. You know, one of
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the things I I take this from uh Coach
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Williams. Uh he always says that um um
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turnovers are one or two things. It's
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either selfishness or carelessness. With
5:26
this group, it is never ever selfish.
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But it was just careless. You know, I
5:34
you guys have been at practice. I always
5:36
say two-hand passes, two hand catches,
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be fundamentally sound, simple works,
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make routine plays routinely, and a lot
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of I can't wait to watch a film. I think
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a lot of them are one-hand passes, one
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hand catches, you know, shot fake, pass
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fake. I mean, just basic fundamental
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things. And um I think a little bit at
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the at in the first half it reminded me
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and I told him this in the huddle of
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like the first two weeks of practice
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where everybody's just running around so
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fast and I felt like um we just needed
6:06
to settle in but the turnovers were I
6:08
think the number one determining factor.
6:10
19 turnovers and they scored 16 points
6:12
off those turnovers and we lost by two.
6:15
Did you think some of that was because
6:16
of the foul trouble for Cayenne where
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you're shuffling around a little bit at
6:21
the point guard because I mean he had to
6:22
sit for a long time in the first half.
6:24
I think it was us.
6:25
Yeah.
6:26
Did you
6:26
everyone
6:28
did you try to push the pace in the
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second half? Seemed like push 10
6:31
minutes. You got a lot of transition
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buckets.
6:33
We got a lot of transition buckets in
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the second half because we rebounded
6:36
better. We can't run unless we rebound.
6:40
And so we started rebounding better and
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that allowed us to get out in transition
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and run. So for us, the pace that we
6:48
want to play on the offensive end, I
6:50
I've clearly identified with this group,
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it all ties back to defense and it all
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ties back to rebounding. You check the
6:57
box on defending and rebounding. Then
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now we can run.
7:00
Any of the local folks have a question
7:02
for coach?
7:02
I just wanted to ask coach, in terms of
7:04
these new highlevel matchups you have in
7:06
the exhibition season, how valuable is
7:08
that?
7:08
It's really huge for us. you know, it's
7:11
um you know, as I said, on and off the
7:14
court, it's really big for us. You know,
7:15
we get a chance to go on the road, go
7:18
through the routine of shootarounds and
7:20
meals and film and all those types of
7:23
things. Uh it gives us a chance to just
7:27
spend uninterrupted, unhurried time
7:29
together as a team. And especially for
7:31
one where we have 11 new players, the
7:34
more we spend time together, the better
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it is. And then to be able to play on
7:39
the road against a team like BYU, it's
7:44
it really gives you a clear picture of
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the things that um you could be
7:48
encouraged about and things that we
7:51
really need to address and and get
7:52
better at, you know, and I felt like BYU
7:55
did the same thing. You know, they they
7:56
got to play Nebraska and they learned
7:59
something and then when they came in
8:00
here, they grew. And so my hope is is
8:03
that next week in our exhibition game,
8:05
we've taken steps forward in our growth
8:07
as well.
8:08
Last one.
8:09
Uh going back to the rebounding in
8:11
transition, I would imagine Kayen and
8:12
Seth in transition out there together is
8:14
something you want to see a lot of.
8:16
Yeah, I I I do. And but I I like our
8:20
team in transition. We've got guys that
8:23
have the ability to run and finish and
8:25
we have guys that have the ability to
8:27
run and spot up from three and make it.
8:29
And so we want to play in transition
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that that I tell them I it would be
8:36
great if I could go a whole game and
8:39
live out a primary break and never call
8:41
a half court set. Well, in order to do
8:43
that, we're going to have to get stops
8:44
and rebound and stop fouling and put
8:46
them on the free throw line. So, those
8:47
are areas that we've got to improve on.
8:50
Thank you, coach. Thanks, everybody.
8:51
Okay. Thank you. Say
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