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UNC's RJ Davis, Ian Jackson and Elliot Cadeau after the Tar Heels' win at Notre Dame
Jan 4, 2025
UNC's RJ Davis, Ian Jackson and Elliot Cadeau after the Tar Heels' win at Notre Dame
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0:00
so you became more of a distributor
0:02
today is that just organic or how did
0:04
that come about uh it was really just
0:06
what the uh I kind of let the game come
0:08
to me a little bit and just made a
0:10
couple of reads and uh that's what the
0:12
game called for me today it was more by
0:14
just um getting my teammates involved
0:17
because the the way they were playing me
0:18
was kind of just um up on ball screens
0:21
off ball screens and um in the gaps and
0:24
I watched film from Louisville with
0:25
Marcus and just like film with the
0:27
coaches and I just saw like how defense
0:29
are now playing me so what they told me
0:31
is to use my gravity because I'm pulling
0:33
so many guys with me and that way I'm
0:35
able to get Guys open shots rather than
0:37
making it tougher on my game so um I
0:40
know I'm I'm wired to score but at the
0:41
same time I think it's good for me
0:43
because now I'm able to kind of just
0:44
showcase my Distributing my playmaking
0:46
skills which I think I did a good job of
0:48
doing today about the transition law for
0:49
the Ian dunk you talk about that one
0:51
yeah that was a good one um they got the
0:53
guys got on me cuz they said my
0:55
celebration was whack when I did The
0:57
Little D way LeBron joint
1:00
um but um I saw Ian running transition I
1:03
know he's always out in transition so I
1:04
threw it up there so he could go get it
1:06
you see a point he pointed pointed up
1:09
well I heard him he's like Ari
1:11
he so um I didn't see him point but I
1:14
heard his voice he says Ari so I know
1:16
throw he get it so a few days ago in
1:18
Louisville I asked you about the closes
1:20
how you guys had really struggling to
1:22
close games you got one today aside from
1:24
Elliot's play why were you guys in
1:26
position to maybe take advantage of a
1:28
play like that um we took the full pass
1:30
a little bit we was up like I going to
1:31
say 10 to 12 points and um foul out um
1:34
they was able to get Buckets uh straight
1:36
line drive for myself and a couple other
1:38
players so we got do a better job of
1:40
defensively finishing up the game strong
1:41
because that was a that's how they was
1:43
able to get back into the game um just
1:45
we had a good lead and we was able to
1:47
extend it but we took off off the gas
1:49
and we got to do a better job because um
1:51
those type of En games can't happen how
1:54
good does it feel to sort of come out of
1:56
a close game like this and actually you
1:58
know have some positive reinforcements
2:00
uh feels good you know uh just I feel
2:02
like it's a game we needed um just from
2:04
a positive standpoint I feel like things
2:07
been a little bit down just because we
2:08
things haven't gone our away we've been
2:10
in close games and we haven't did a good
2:12
job of closing them so just have this
2:13
win under our belt um it feels good for
2:15
us and we kind of just we could kind of
2:17
build off this but at the same time I
2:19
know second half we we didn't play
2:21
really well I think they shot like 50%
2:24
from the field or something like that
2:25
and um that can happen because nor Dame
2:27
is a good team and we're going to be
2:28
playing other great teams as going to be
2:30
able to finish out games better than we
2:32
did so we got do a better job of close
2:33
down second half but I'm super happy the
2:35
win today RJ the the shot by Elliot
2:38
which was rather huge take us through
2:40
your Vantage Point of how that play
2:41
unfolded you didn't call timeout you let
2:44
it play out and he hit 41 with the step
2:47
back and you know just just tell us what
2:49
you saw and how you reacted in that
2:51
whole thing yeah I mean that's a play
2:52
that we practice um in practice um off
2:55
often just in late game situations so um
2:58
we had Elliott it was a go screen with
3:00
Ian and then had me we side come up a
3:02
pin down with Drake sending it for me so
3:05
um and they shut that down didn't they
3:07
they did they basically just kind of
3:08
just read it but all the defense was
3:10
pulled in on the opposite side which
3:12
allowed Elliot to have a one-onone
3:13
opportunity um and he had the confidence
3:16
and um to knock it down hit a step back
3:18
three and finish with a fourpoint play
3:19
with the free throw so um super happy
3:21
for him and just for him to have the you
3:23
know the ball's enough to take that side
3:25
means a lot RJ winds are precious is
3:27
this maybe a little more precious than
3:29
some others given the way it played out
3:31
and what you guys have been going
3:32
through yeah I mean I feel like just our
3:35
energy overall throughout the game and
3:37
leaning up into the locker locker room
3:38
going into the game it it was great like
3:41
uh we were energetic we were ready to
3:42
play um obviously we had a lot of
3:45
slippage in the second half that we
3:46
can't happen moving forward but just to
3:48
have this one under our belt um is well
3:51
needed and uh we I know we got we got
3:54
practice tomor going to have to watch
3:55
film and uh look at the mistakes that we
3:57
made
3:58
because moving forward that's going to
4:01
extend to a bigger lead than it was
4:03
today but um I'm happy that we we came
4:05
out with the win today thank you RJ had
4:07
you started to feel at all like you all
4:09
were cursed in these close games I
4:16
mean huh give me in the record book so
4:20
somebody else got do so somebody else do
4:21
it they don't say since and Jackson huh
4:24
so somebody else do anybody since Ian
4:25
Jackson so when somebody else do anybody
4:27
since Ian Jackson yeah in 10 in 10 years
4:29
y y y uh what this game aside the last
4:33
four games obviously you really felt uh
4:36
hbert said you're scoring with EES
4:38
what's has anything changed for you
4:39
obviously we saw you do it against
4:40
Alabama but doing it consistently and
4:43
now more is the focus of attention
4:45
anything change for you um I say a
4:47
chance I an opportunity to present
4:48
himself I was ready you know
4:51
um coach Davis put me in in stting
4:54
lineup uh and kind of give me
4:57
opportunity to go out there perform and
4:58
I feel like I to play and when when I
5:00
was ready my opportunity to call I was
5:01
ready to perform you guys have been in
5:03
so many close games how badly did you
5:04
need to kind of get the positive
5:06
reinforcement of finding a way to pull
5:07
one out um it was great man it was great
5:09
you know winning is always good winning
5:11
isn't easy so whenever you get a win
5:12
especially in this in this conference uh
5:14
it isn't easy so you get a win it's
5:15
always big time you know um so yeah it
5:17
was good foron what kind of look did you
5:19
have at Elliot shot a man I was at top
5:22
of the key uh he passed to me um I
5:25
passed it right back to him uh he he he
5:27
took a three he made it man he made it
5:30
did you have a sense when it was in the
5:32
air whether it was good or not yeah I
5:36
think it's good n that was a great shot
5:38
but I went to crash the rebound and it
5:39
went in went I ran over to him yelled at
5:42
him a little bit did you know he was
5:43
follow yeah I heard the wh ball I heard
5:45
the wh R over to him excitement then he
5:47
made a free throw then looking to get
5:49
defensive stop so you're you're not fed
5:51
about being the team leading score for
5:53
great games and and the team leaning on
5:57
you a lot um no man no
6:00
uh I said I work really hard you know I
6:02
work really hard and like I said when
6:04
the opportunity came came and it's here
6:05
now going to make the best of it and do
6:08
I know I can do it seemed like you took
6:10
stride you taking strides on defense you
6:12
had some good defensive plays today did
6:14
you see that going for sure man uh I'm
6:16
always take stdes in every aspect of my
6:17
game you know espe on the defensive end
6:19
on offensive end wherever I can get
6:21
better I'm looking to get better uh with
6:22
I'm watching film talking to coach
6:24
always tring looking get
6:25
better did you take that scrape today
6:27
under the eye yeah man lot of the other
6:30
games you guys were on the opposite end
6:32
of that just what was the difference
6:33
today in being able to get that that
6:36
lead you said the difference between the
6:38
first half and yeah yeah yeah the
6:39
difference well the difference between
6:41
this first half and other first halfes
6:43
you guys yeah um we just been trying to
6:46
improve on our first halfes the whole
6:48
year we felt like we've been slow every
6:51
game so we just have a lot of emphasis
6:53
on coming out as good as possible I feel
6:56
like this was our best start this season
6:58
I'm sorry if you answer take me through
7:00
the the play where you H the
7:01
three-pointer yeah so it was drawn up
7:03
two pin Downs me coming down one RJ
7:05
coming down one and um they they kind of
7:08
knew RJ was trying to come get the ball
7:10
for three I feel like everybody in the
7:12
gym knew that and they knew Ian wanted a
7:14
good look because he been shooting the
7:16
lights out and so I felt like I was the
7:18
only person with open look so I got the
7:20
ball and just created some space and
7:22
shot what was the last time you made a
7:23
shot that big
7:26
um I'm not even sure you know you what
7:29
what the assist to turnover ratio for
7:31
you and RJ was really good today uh how
7:34
how were you able to do that I mean
7:36
that's been a struggle recent games yeah
7:38
that's been the focus for me um has been
7:41
really my only focus just having a
7:43
better assist turnover
7:45
ratio I feel like I've been like really
7:47
high on turnovers and that's not normal
7:48
so coming out in games like this that's
7:51
that's really my goal to have zero
7:53
turnovers Jay said it was really big
7:55
that you're the guy that hit the shot
7:56
because you've been struggling a little
7:58
bit and he wants to see your confidence
8:00
grow and he thinks that's the kind of
8:01
play moment that can really help Propel
8:03
you yeah for sure I definitely think
8:05
that'll help my confidence how and just
8:08
elaborate on how it helps your
8:10
confidence how play like that can kind
8:11
of maybe get get things on the right
8:15
B yeah um I took that shot yeah I took
8:19
that shot before at Kansas and people
8:22
were really like saying a lot of things
8:24
to me saying a lot of bad things so
8:26
because you shouldn't have been the guy
8:27
taken is that what they were saying um
8:29
or CU you miss I mean just just cuz I
8:33
missed yeah just cuz I missed but um
8:35
yeah this is definitely help with my
8:37
confidence sure was that on social media
8:39
not people directly to you just social
8:40
media like both
8:42
both what you mentioned on the last way
8:45
they were going to be looking at Ian two
8:47
he so high what's gotten into him the
8:48
last four games you think um I just
8:50
think he's being himself like he does
8:51
this every day in practice and it's just
8:54
he just got comfortable that's pretty
8:55
much it what were you in the first half
8:57
you guys times they taking the ball out
8:59
hands they were defending some other
9:01
guys while he was able to kind of Step
9:03
Up either in the flow of the offense or
9:04
to create his own shot is that what he
9:07
does in practice or was this sort of him
9:09
taking over in a way that he hasn't yeah
9:11
for sure it it it happens every day in
9:13
practice um he's just are really talent
9:15
to score he can score all three levels
9:17
and it's really hard to guard so we just
9:19
tell him to be aggressive and we want
9:21
him to shoot all the shots he takes we
9:22
want him to shoot more than he does so
9:25
you mentioned Kansas you guys have been
9:26
in so many close games how's it feel to
9:28
kind of have the posit reinforcement of
9:30
getting it across the line at the end
9:32
yeah um I feel like we've been playing
9:34
better down the stretch um in close
9:36
games because we've been through it so
9:38
much uh we've been through a lot of
9:40
games where we're either like up four 3
9:42
minutes left down two with 3 minutes
9:44
left so we watched a lot of film and I
9:46
feel like really experienced and we know
9:48
what we want to do and what we don't
9:50
want to do down those stretches a lot of
9:51
players shut down social media during
9:53
the season but you monitor it the whole
9:55
way good and bad um
9:59
like i' be on Instagram but like I don't
10:02
I don't I shut down Twitter and
10:04
everything else but you still saw the
10:05
comments you said was that
10:09
Instagram yeah Elliot one thing you kind
10:12
of you know mentioned was or one thing
10:13
Hubert was mentioning about that second
10:15
half he was saying some of the defensive
10:17
breakdowns started to you know set in a
10:19
little bit as far as the the one-on-one
10:20
defense how much were you guys talking
10:22
about that in the Huddle down the strats
10:24
of just you know needing to kind of
10:26
buckle down on on those yeah we defense
10:28
was the main and the huddles because we
10:31
we didn't really have a problem scoring
10:32
it was just um they were shooting really
10:35
very well from the floor and that's
10:37
something that we tried to pride
10:38
ourselves
10:39
on it wasn't like none of their actions
10:41
that was killing us it was just
10:42
one-on-one defense so we were just
10:44
telling each other like take pride on
10:46
defense ellot you ended up having to
10:48
take a three at the end of the Kansas
10:50
game I know this was a different
10:51
situation but what did you feel like
10:55
worked out this time to make it happen
10:58
for you guys whereas that was a little
11:00
bit of a jumble it was kind of the same
11:01
spot on the floor a little bit but you
11:03
had the one-on-one coverage like what
11:04
did you think worked out this time for
11:06
it to for it to go
11:08
in I just shot a better shot like that's
11:11
pretty much it like the last one was
11:13
short and I knew I literally been in
11:16
that position in Kansas I feel like it
11:18
was the same exact it was pretty much
11:20
the same exact play so um yeah that's
11:24
what I was kind of thinking when it was
11:25
unfolding a little bit when when you got
11:27
41 on you I don't know if that was a
11:28
switch or not have to go back and look
11:30
at it but did you it was yeah did you
11:33
feel confident no one he might not be
11:35
able to to keep up with you yeah I
11:37
definitely felt confident that I could
11:38
get the shot off
11:40
um people haven't been really guarding
11:42
me so like very tightly for me not to be
11:45
able to get a shot off so I always feel
11:46
comfortable being able to get a shot off
11:48
off the dribble were you surprised
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