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#UNC postgame press conference with Hubert Davis and RJ Davis
Mar 15, 2025
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0:16
okay okay first question right in front
0:18
of us Bob holiday w.com in your
0:21
four-year coaching career have you ever
0:23
been part of a game where a lane
0:25
violation was
0:28
called I played four years years here 12
0:31
years in the NBA nine years as an
0:34
assistant and now four years as a head
0:37
coach
0:41
and I can't be more proud of a
0:45
team than I am right
0:47
now um just love these guys to
0:52
death I love their
0:54
fight I love their
0:57
togetherness um I love how close they
1:00
are
1:04
and as I said before I'm just I told him
1:08
after the game I didn't I didn't think
1:09
that I could be more proud of a group
1:13
than I am right now but I am even more
1:16
proud
1:18
and I thank Jesus every day that I get
1:21
to be their head
1:23
coach is that an appro
1:26
call
1:28
violation no not answering that it's we
1:31
we we lost
1:36
7471 to our
1:38
right Hubert we saw how emotional jayen
1:41
was coming off the court how do you what
1:43
did you tell him after the game to lift
1:45
the
1:46
spirits well it's not it's all of our
1:49
Spirits guys we are a team this is not
1:54
individuals this University of North
1:56
Carolina basketball team so when we win
2:00
together when we win we win together
2:02
when we lose we lose
2:06
together that's why we're a
2:13
team okay we'll take a questions for RJ
2:16
front
2:18
row RJ Brett freed Lander Saturday down
2:21
south I I know it's out of your hands
2:22
now but do you think that you've done
2:25
enough to get in especially after taking
2:28
the number one team to to the wire like
2:34
this I think we've shown these past
2:37
couple of weeks
2:38
um that we are a tournament team
2:42
um we're a special team I think the way
2:46
if you look at the trajectory of our
2:48
whole season the way we dealt with
2:51
adversity um and perseverance especially
2:54
these last couple of weeks we overcame
2:57
all of that and um
3:01
you
3:02
couldn't ask for a better team than that
3:05
that goes through that type of adversity
3:08
goes through that type of criticism and
3:11
still perseveres through it all and
3:12
comes out on top
3:14
so I think that's a tournament team
3:16
right there for you cuz that's what's
3:18
Mar's
3:19
about second row I guess for for both of
3:22
you all defensively looked like in the
3:24
second half you guys were getting stops
3:26
which led you guys to get some
3:27
transition opportunities to cut into
3:30
that deficit what was different for you
3:31
guys in the second half defensively in
3:33
order to chip away at that
3:36
lead the competitive fight I just you
3:40
know I felt like in the first half we
3:44
you know one of the things that I talk
3:45
to the team all the time is be
3:48
competitive and and compete in your
3:50
individual one-on-one
3:51
matchups and I felt like in the first
3:54
half they had the better of us whether
3:56
it was on the perimeter in the post in
3:58
the second half I felt like
4:00
we were more physical um our competitive
4:03
fight we were defending without fouling
4:04
we were getting loose balls we were
4:06
getting rebounds we were contesting
4:07
shots we were making second and third
4:10
efforts and you're right that allowed us
4:12
to get stops and allowed us to get out
4:14
in transition and that
4:16
was the number one determining factor of
4:18
us being able to come back and and
4:21
outscore them by 18 in the second half
4:23
it was all defense and
4:25
rebound reminder let's address questions
4:28
to RJ right now and we'll finish up a
4:30
coach back of the room uh Thomas Bray
4:32
collegia times RJ in your time here at
4:34
North Carolina what do you think makes
4:35
this game this robbery unique from the
4:38
other ones in college
4:40
basketball I mean I think anytime you
4:43
put on this jersey and you're going
4:45
against Duke um it's the opportunity to
4:48
be part of History um and I've been
4:51
fortunate and grateful enough to playing
4:53
a lot of games that uh I'll cherish and
4:57
remember for the rest of my life but I
4:58
just think with this team um and then
5:02
this year's this year group of guys I
5:04
think um to be down 20 in the first half
5:07
and then fight our way back all the way
5:09
down to the minute and a half I mean I
5:12
don't think u a rivalry gets better than
5:14
that it was it was a greaty game and um
5:18
I'm just proud of the way we not just
5:20
only against Duke but just this whole
5:22
tournament all year uh we consistently
5:25
battle and compete at a high alltime
5:28
level so
5:30
um it just happened to we just had to
5:32
play happen to play Duke and uh be a
5:34
part of our
5:35
rivalry next question for left RJ David
5:39
teal with the Virginia pilot the last
5:42
side out of bounds with 2.9 seconds to
5:45
go what did you all draw up in the
5:47
Huddle and then you were trying to get
5:50
off some screens there and they switched
5:52
onto you how did you see it all unfold
5:54
yeah I me we had Seth take the ball out
5:56
and then they had a uh I think their big
5:57
man um using his height and length um
6:02
guarding Seth and uh they switched one
6:04
through five so um I tried to my best to
6:07
get the ball in it was kind of obviously
6:09
difficult for Seth to make the pass just
6:11
we have a seven-footer over top um and
6:13
yeah that was basically the play right
6:16
in front of us middle of the room up
6:18
holiday w.com RJ in the first half uh it
6:21
was a six-point game and then they
6:23
finished on a 15 run uh in the second
6:26
half even though you didn't make many
6:27
threes Elliott was the only one who hit
6:28
threes you got came all the way back
6:30
what was different in the second half um
6:34
like coach David said our overall
6:35
competitive Spirit was there um and
6:37
everyone contributed it was we had uh
6:42
four guys in double figures and a lot of
6:44
guys made a lot of um plays that allowed
6:46
us to get back into the game and um it
6:48
was it was a team effort and that's all
6:51
you can ask for when you're trying to
6:52
Calla back into the game so uh I'm just
6:55
proud of the way
6:57
we every time we got came in the HUD of
6:59
he said you know just take a possession
7:00
by possession just keep chipping away um
7:03
was a 12-point game next you know it's a
7:04
four-point game um so I mean that's just
7:08
a team basketball right there and uh so
7:10
yeah any other questions for
7:13
RJ okay RJ thank you thank head the
7:15
locker room nice
7:18
work okay questions for Coach right here
7:21
in the
7:24
aisle coach right here Tim donelly 999
7:28
the fan um yesterday some of your
7:31
players talked about yesterday's game as
7:33
one that maybe they wouldn't expect or
7:36
didn't think they would have won in
7:37
November uh how do you think this team
7:40
reacted differently kind of since the
7:42
Clemson loss to a deficit at half today
7:45
uh versus how they might have reacted
7:46
earlier in the season when when they
7:48
were struggling a little bit more well I
7:50
mean actually you know at halftime we
7:53
talked about um examples earlier in the
7:57
season
7:59
Michigan State Dayton Kansas where we
8:01
were
8:03
down double digits 20 points and we were
8:06
able to come back and so I said
8:09
unfortunately we have experienc in this
8:12
and experien being able and fortunate
8:14
that we have experience of being able to
8:16
come back and
8:17
that you know going into the second half
8:20
20 minutes there's so much can happen
8:22
and so I broke it up in four part I mean
8:23
in in 4 minute Parts I said you know
8:26
let's let's win the first four
8:28
minutes um you know at the 12 minute
8:30
Mark let's let's cut this thing down to
8:33
you know 15 or 12 8 Minute Mark let's
8:36
cut it a single digits and uh 4minute
8:39
Mark we're right there it's a
8:40
two-possession
8:42
game and it was at the 4minute mark it
8:45
was six points and I said guys look at
8:47
the score and I said is I said is it a
8:50
two-possession game and they said yeah
8:51
and I said we're right there and I said
8:54
we're building we're getting stronger
8:55
and so I think you know unfortunately
8:58
fortunately being in that experience
8:59
earlier in the year we were able to draw
9:01
upon that and understand that there was
9:03
a lot of basketball to be played in the
9:05
second
9:05
half back right uh Michael Co wchl Chapa
9:10
bro.com Hubert what can you say about
9:12
what ven did for you guys today 20
9:14
points 10 rebounds his I believe fourth
9:18
double double in the last five games uh
9:20
he obviously helped you guys immensely
9:23
in the pain well he did I mean
9:27
um you know not just is scoring you know
9:30
his defense his rebounding keeping the
9:32
ball Alive running the floor it's been
9:35
consistently at a high level
9:38
for you know for a while and giving us
9:41
that inside presence
9:44
alongside
9:45
um you know our ability to score from
9:48
the outside has has really helped us out
9:50
offensively and I just thought again
9:53
Vin's activity um you know Duke
9:57
even without
10:00
you know Malik and and Cooper they still
10:03
have tremendous length and so for Vin to
10:06
be able to do what he did against um a
10:10
long and athletic team uh was exactly
10:12
what we needed to be able to get back
10:14
into the
10:15
game third row in the aisle uh D excuse
10:18
me David H with the ESPN um maybe to
10:21
build on that a little bit this is now
10:22
the third time you've played Duke but
10:23
the first time that Cooper has not been
10:25
on the court curious how much different
10:27
was the matchups than you maybe were
10:29
anticipating based on on your past games
10:31
against them and did that kind of throw
10:33
any wrenches uh in the first half just
10:34
in terms of maybe what you were
10:36
expecting versus what reality was
10:37
without him on the
10:39
court well I mean
10:41
Cooper it's a very good chance he's
10:43
going to be National player a year and
10:45
so and the impact that um you know Malik
10:50
Brown has out there on the floor his
10:52
ability to defend and rebound he's an
10:55
excellent passer he h two threes against
10:57
us a week ago at at at our place and so
11:01
um as I said before Duke is the number
11:04
one team in the country because they are
11:06
a team it's not just one or two guys
11:08
it's a number of guys
11:10
that um are really impactful and really
11:13
good on both ends of the floor so even
11:14
without those two
11:17
um yeah they had different lineups but
11:19
the way that they played on both ends of
11:22
the floor was the same way that they
11:23
played uh the previous two times we
11:25
played
11:26
them third row right in front of us
11:28
coach d Avid Glenn from the North
11:30
Carolina sports network so much of this
11:32
sport is defined by whether you make the
11:35
NCAA tournament and what you do there
11:38
how do you view that part of your job
11:41
when it comes to success or falling
11:43
short of
11:45
that
11:47
um I don't look at it that way at all
11:52
um I I'm on
11:55
assignment and I know that Jesus has put
11:59
and placed and purposed and planned me
12:00
to be here
12:02
and
12:04
um my job is to walk with him my job is
12:08
to abide in him and to serve these kids
12:11
and give them everything that I got
12:13
every day and it's a blessing and an
12:16
honor to do that and to have these
12:18
experiences with these kids every day
12:22
and for the rest of my
12:23
life that's even more than success
12:26
that's a blessing and it's something
12:28
that is with me for the rest of my
12:31
life last question coach Brian Murphy
12:34
with wrl your team seemed to think that
12:37
they had done enough to get into the
12:39
tournament uh how will you spend these
12:42
next couple days waiting for for
12:43
official word and do you think you have
12:45
done enough to get into the
12:49
tournament we're going to go back
12:53
home and um one of the things the most
12:57
thing that I've been proud of
13:00
of this group is
13:02
is and and there are good questions in
13:06
regards to the NCAA
13:10
tournament and those are questions that
13:12
have been asked over a
13:15
month and for our
13:18
guys to stay focused on what is real and
13:22
that was being the best team that we
13:25
could
13:25
become continue to prepare practice and
13:29
play whomever we're playing keep our
13:32
eyes focused and straight ahead on the
13:35
competition right in front of us and be
13:37
the best that we can be and for a month
13:39
and a half we basically played must-win
13:45
games and in that situation our team
13:48
played the
13:51
best that's pretty cool from a bunch of
13:54
kids and so you want to talk about
13:57
success or proud I can
13:59
go a number of different directions on
14:01
that
14:04
one okay thank you that was too good of
14:06
an answer good thanks Co sorry we're get
14:10
miss you next year at the
14:12
jump got it buddy see you k