North Carolina
Davis: We always talk about reacting and responding when things don't go your way and when they do
Hubert Davis speaks to the media after a 80-76 loss to Clemson.
I don't, II, I didn't particularly enjoy or like, um, you know, our practices leading up, uh, to, um, uh, to the game tonight. And, um, you know, it's, it's, it's a thing that I, that I told them in the huddle, um, the first time out in the, at the beginning of the game that, you know, it's just not about Xs and Os. There's nothing from a basketball standpoint, we can talk about until, um, the energy and the, and the effort and enthusiasm rises and if that would rise and things would change and then we can start talking about basketball. And so, um, in order to win a game like this, um, just didn't play well enough and you really have to complement Clemson and the, and, and the way that they played and they're a really good basketball team and ex extremely well coached and they were, they were deserving of winning tonight, I guess when you do notice the team, you know, coming out, how do you get to, like, you know, out of it? Well, I checked them in practice. I checked them, uh, both practices and then shoot around today. Um, uh, you know, the importance of attention to detail. Um um we always talk about reacting and responding. Uh um when things don't go your way and when things do go your way and uh the importance of uh two things always uh showing up to work and not being perfect, nobody's perfect. But um also when you show up to work, uh your job and your responsibility is to be the best that you can be. Well, I mean, you know, again, it's how you react and how you respond and, you know, um we'll go back to work and as I said before, there's two things that you can do, you can whine and complain and point fingers and make excuses, um or you can get back up and move forward and join the fight and uh for us, it's never a choice. It's a requirement for us to get back up and let's get back to work. You guys like you guys maybe let up a little bit. Um And that's why was able to make that run. I don't think we let up. I, I just think, you know, down the stretch, you know, that's when the discipline and details have to be even tighter. You have to execute on the offensive end. I think we had the ball 7770 all and, and we turned the ball over. Um, they scored, they got offensive rebounds, we fouled them, we put them on the free throw line and just those are things down the stretch that you just can't have, that might have been the quickest time out. We've seen you call before. They're at the start of the game, like when he was 15 to 2. What, what were you trying to get across to your guys when you call the time out? Well, I mean, II, I really didn't want to call the time out there. I don't know what else. I mean, we were down 15 to 2. That's obvious we were down 15 to 2 because they were playing harder than us. That's obvious. I don't know what a time out telling them. We need to play harder does, but we, we regrouped and understood that, you know, we needed to, to pick up our energy and effort and we did and, um, we got back into the game and we just weren't able to finish it. Can you write this off as two flat spots around your rival or is it a sign of something more concerning to you that they came out flat against that here again? Um No, I, I, you know, I, I'm specifically thinking about tonight, we just didn't play our best basketball game. And so again, I, I don't know what else to do other than to get back up and go to work, get better, continue to grow and continue to move forward. Um, as I said before, a number of times, there's more to be said and more to be done. And what is it? We've got eight more regular season games to go and let's see if we can continue to improve and get better for the remainder of the regular season that I, I don't have any knowledge of that so I can't react on something that I don't know any information on. What is the situation with Seth and how much could you have used him tonight? Especially given the circumstances of the game. He was so huge in that FSU game coming back. Well, I mean, obviously, yeah, Seth with, you know, with his athleticism and his energy, his, his, you know, the way that he can defend, um, having another guy on, on their perimeter players and then, you know, from an offensive standpoint, his ability to be able to attack the basket and have another guard out there. Um, yes, we would have loved to have Seth available. Um, but the way that Clemson played in the, in the way that we played, I'm not sure if that would have been any different. You, you just really have to tip your hat and congratulate Clemson on what they were able to do tonight. What have you. Well, I mean, they, they're, they're a really good, you know, rebounding team and, uh, uh, and they're very physical and one of the things that you have to do is you have to make contact first and if you don't, you're gonna get pinned underneath the basket and it just is what it is. Um, Ian and PJ are, they, they're men and, uh, their physicality is real and if you don't match it or surpass it, you just have no chance in terms of keeping them off the offensive glass. And, um, they played extremely well tonight and we knew that they w they would in the second half, it seemed like you guys got back into a rhythm there to get the game within a close distance again. What you see from Clemson's defense that gave you guys confidence to make that run. Well, I mean, you know, I, I think, you know, in the second half, they shot 30 something percent. So, um we were able to get out in transition, so it's always better to be able to go up against some a team. Uh and specifically, uh Clemson where it's not a set defense. So I thought we had success offensively but where it came from was our success to get stops uh better defensively in the second half as opposed to the first half. Take two more. What, what do you notice of late about the way some of these teams are defending RJ for lack of a better description. Do you think they've decided just to try to beat him up a little bit? I don't wanna say that they're beating them up, but I mean, obviously, you know, the year that RJ has had he, you know, he, he gets a lot of attention and, um, they're doing a lot of things defensively making it hard for him just to be able to catch the ball. And so we've got to tweak and pivot and alter and, and change some things to be able to get him the ball in some different spots. But you're right. You know, I, I would say the last couple of games, teams have been very physical with him and, and, and done a lot of things defensively, not just individually but as a team to make it very difficult for him to get free, um, lead to them that this was the message to the team, uh, leading into today coming off of the Robber. Well, I, I, um, you know, you know, we were able to be successful on Saturday and we had a game here on Tuesday. I, I just, you know, just a game in a regular season and we needed to move forward and continue to grow and continue to get better. And that was my message. It, you know, it doesn't matter whom we play. Um, there is a schedule out there and we have eight more games left and the teams that we have to play, those are the teams that we, we have to prepare for and play against. And, um, it falls in line with all the things that I say about keeping your eyes straight ahead and ignore the sideshow distractions and focus on what is real and what is real is our improvement and, and how we grow as a team. Thank you. Thanks everybody. Thanks. Thank you.