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#UNC coach Hubert Davis after the Tar Heels best Cal for their fourth win in a row
Jan 16, 2025
#UNC coach Hubert Davis after the Tar Heels best Cal for their fourth win in a row
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4839 they they cut it to nine you guys a
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15 nothing lead the guy said that that
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was really important because it shown
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that they're able to kind of put foot on
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throat and extend a lead and sort of put
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a team away mid Midway through the
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second half what did you see during that
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run how important was it based on the
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other night when you said something
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about you don't want to have those close
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games anymore you want to put teams away
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when you can that they did put them away
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well I I I thought the key in the second
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half in particular was was Seth uh Jay
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wit Jay wash and Vin I just felt that
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Seth was off the chart his his energy
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effort um attention to detail he was all
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over the place he was getting rebounds
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deflection
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steals um running in transition scoring
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at the basket uh
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passing um just his overall activity on
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both ends of the floor just um made
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winning plays everywhere and those other
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three that I mentioned and I just felt
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like that was the huge key for us to be
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able to extend the lead in the second
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half was was just their energy and their
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effort and um I was really proud of them
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I told the team that that that was a key
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to second half and the importance of
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them doing that which they talked about
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because uh Elliott said that you guys
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watch film at the end of the SMU game
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where they weren't able to fully put
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them away put foot on throat but they
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were able to do that tonight so how big
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is that they were able to apply what
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they learned from that film and use it
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tonight I thought it was great you know
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I think I don't know this is the first
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time in a long time where we played
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defense the entire her game usually in
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the second half I think the last five
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games teams were shooting 51% average in
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the second half against us and so you
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know we at halftime he said you know are
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we going to be able to put two halves
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together or you know you know what kind
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of team are we going to be in the second
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half and so to be able to put two halves
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together defensively rebounding the
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basketball we out rebounded them by 12
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um K is one of the best rebounding teams
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in our conference in particularly from
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you know getting Second Chance
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opportunities I thought we did a much
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better job of that in the second half
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and probably the only box that we didn't
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check was you know we had more turnovers
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and assists but we only had 10 turnovers
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and I just thought our job defensively
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being able to defend and not put them on
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the free throw line that's been a
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problem for us it was a problem for us
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against Notre Dame against Louisville I
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mean this is team leads I think the ACC
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in terms of free throw three free throws
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made or free throw attempted they only
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went to the free throw line five times
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that's absolutely huge Hubert Stak came
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into this game he hadn't scored less
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than 10 points in any game this season
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and he had scored 30 24 and 23 in the
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previous three games you guys holding to
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six what was the key in that defensive
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match up just I mean um just trying to
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win our individual one-on-one matchups
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uh um I mean he's one of the best
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players in the country he's gifted he
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can score three LEL score can does a
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great job of getting fouled getting to
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the free throw line he has really really
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good size for a wing play player and
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athletic um I thought we did a good job
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when he was trying to post us up we
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doubled got the ball out of his hands we
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didn't give him any open looks really
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from three and we defended him without
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fouling and then on the offensive end we
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you know with our movement and you know
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in our plays you know you know we went
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at him as well and um I thought everyone
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as a team did a really good job against
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one of the better players in the country
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Hubert along those lines on sto yovic in
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terms of the individual matchups when
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you go Drake Powell with the length and
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everything that he has and then bring
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Seth Trimble Off the Bench that's huge I
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was going to say in terms of a one-w
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punch for you guys that's about as good
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as it gets you would I would say that's
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as good as you can get you know those
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are you know Drake and U and Seth both
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of those guys you know they're just
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gifted athletically especially on the
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defensive end and so you know to have
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those two guys on them and then put a
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third one with Jay wit who has length
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and athleticism now now you have
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something and so so that's also
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something that we have talked about is
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you know leading scores coming in you
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know we want to do a good job on them
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defensively you know in the past you
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know teams leading
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scores they lead the team in scoring and
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so that's a step forward for us tonight
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and that's something to be encouraged
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and something to build confidence moving
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forward you talk about the back and
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forth with you and I on the text threads
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how have those conversations evolved
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throughout the season it's just I mean
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the communication between me and Ian is
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you can't get any higher than that I
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mean we just um and the reason being is
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he's willing to be coached you know and
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just the conversations that we have he I
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think he trusts me that everything that
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I say and I'm trying to do is in the
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best interest of him being the best that
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he can be and you know when you have a a
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player that wants to be coaching and you
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combine that with just the giftedness
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that he naturally has it's something
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special and again he scored 20 points
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again I didn't I would have never
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thought I mean but
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he's but he also had seven rebounds too
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he always talks about he wants to be a
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two-way player and just get better every
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day defensively he moves his F feet
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extremely well and I think he can be a
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elite Defender also when it comes to
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Seth you were talking about his his uh
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activity great he's active on the on the
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boards I guess how much did he look I
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guess closer to pre injury set so to
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speak I know he's been getting his
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rhythm back just how much more
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comfortable did he I felt like this was
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the most comfortable since he's come
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back
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um Seth Seth can do a number of things
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out there on the floor and you know as I
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mentioned before I felt like he had his
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fingerprints on a number of different
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plays whether it was offensively and
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defensively and so um I felt like his
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energy was there his attention to detail
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I mean it was
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just um it looked more like Seth tonight
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and um he had a good practice uh the two
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practices leading up to California so it
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doesn't surprise me that he played at a
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high level today couple more coach with
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Seth coming back and with Elliot scoring
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the ball like he did tonight how do you
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find the proper balance to get all four
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of those guards just kind of the proper
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shot diet to be best for the
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team
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um you know this is a team that that
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instinctively shares the basketball I
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mean I don't think about a shot diet I
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don't think our team thinks about that
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we always talk about get the best shot
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every possession and a shot that the
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whole team wants and so um when you have
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talented for example talented guards
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like this you know tonight it was um you
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know it was Elliott and and Seth the
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next night it could be RJ and Ian I mean
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it's just
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um the versatility and what each one of
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them brings together it compliments each
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other um it works together out there on
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the floor and that's why they're on the
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floor a lot at the same time you have
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your um kind of tenants for winning the
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things you talk about rebounding and
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defense and energy at the beginning of
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the year it felt like you were having
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emphasized those a lot but now are you
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seeing it kind of soak in where the
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players are kind of doing it on their
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own I say it every day okay you know and
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and actually before the game I said I'm
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not wavering I'm not moving my mess
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message is consistent with them I I
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desperately and this is the exact words
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that I said to him I desperately want
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them to see and experience what this
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team would look like if we fully commit
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to becoming the best defensive team
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rebounding team and taking care of the
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basketball and
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um I've said that since the team has
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gotten together and I will say that for
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the remainder of the Year even at
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practice tomorrow are they are they
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there yet are they close no they're not
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there yet but we're getting there and um
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I think they're getting better every day
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and you're never there the only time you
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can say that you're there is when you're
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54 like me and it's over you're never
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there you always can get better you can
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always improve you can always strive uh
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um to get better what of the other
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things you know you talk about all the
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time is just the the discipline um have
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you seen the players um get better in
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terms of just holding each other
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accountable to the little things just
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that leadership within the group that's
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gotten better and that there's room to
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grow for that um I
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just I've been a part of so many teams
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as a player as a coach you know the good
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teams hold each other accountable the
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reason why they hold each other
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accountable because you care about each
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other you know one of the things I
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always tell them I said you should be
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worried as a player if a Coach never
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says anything to you if a Coach is
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saying something to you whether it's in
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practice in a game you should hold both
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of your hands up in the air and go thank
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you because the reason why we're taking
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time to congratulate you to encourage
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you or to correct you because we care
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about you and we love you and we want
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the best of you and so it's the same way
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as a player um holding each other
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accountable shows how much you care
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about each other and there's room to
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grow but I feel like it's gotten better
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and better throughout this season thank
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you coach thanks every