UNC basketball exhibition game will be ‘emotional’ for Hubert Davis. What to watch for
North Carolina’s men’s basketball exhibition game against Johnson C. Smith University Friday won’t mean anything for the standings or the record books, yet it will mean everything to coach Hubert Davis.
The historically Black university, located in Charlotte, has an enrollment of about 1,200 students. The Golden Bulls were picked to finish ninth out of 12 teams in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), which competes in NCAA Division II.
But the game is personal for Davis.
“It’s an emotional game for me because that’s where my parents went to school,” said Davis, whose mother died when he was a teenager. “And so that’s why we’re playing them.”
Davis begins his second year as the Tar Heels head coach, after guiding them within minutes of being the national champion last season, with his team ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll.
Friday’s game represents the only public scrimmage for the Tar Heels before the regular season begins on Nov. 7 against UNC Wilmington. The Heels played Rutgers last week in a “secret scrimmage,” which is permitted by the NCAA as long as it remains closed to the public.
Davis didn’t discuss specifics from the game but said it reiterated his formula of success: defense, rebounding and taking care of the ball.
“It highlighted and it affirmed for us what is going to allow us to have success,” Davis said. “And I was straightforward and direct with the team last year, and I was straightforward and direct with the team this year of how important it is for us to check (those) three boxes.”
Here’s a few more things to watch out for in the Heels’ exhibition:
Bacot and Nance working together
Northwestern transfer Pete Nance will be the sixth different frontcourt teammate senior forward Armando Bacot has had to get acclimated to playing beside. From Garrison Brooks to Day’Ron Sharpe to Walker Kessler to Dawson Garcia and Brady Manek, they’ve all been different kinds of players.
Davis said he specifically paired Nance and Bacot together on the same team in practice in order for them to get used to playing alongside each other.
“It was really important for him and Pete to be able to develop that type of chemistry, and I love the way that they work together,” Davis said. “Their skills complement each other. They enjoy being on a floor together. It just works and I’m excited for everybody to be able to see that tomorrow.”
Passing Love
Last season Carolina was 18-3 in games where junior guard Caleb Love had four or more assists and was 14-0 when he had five or more assists. Davis said in addition to believing the 6-foot-4 Love will be a tougher defender this season, he has challenged him to set up his teammates more.
Love has averaged 3.6 assists per game in both his freshman and sophomore seasons.
“One of the things that I have challenged him, and I really believe in this, is I think he can lead the ACC in assists,” Davis said. “His ability to create shots, not only for himself, but for others, is a gift that he has, and I really encourage him to use that gift consistently out there on the floor.”
Carving out camaraderie continues
What made the Heels so good over the final third of last season was their chemistry. Davis expects that to continue and cited this week when he had the team at his house for a pumpkin carving competition.
“We had a pumpkin carving contest and you know over half the guys, this is the first time they ever carved a pumpkin,” Davis said. “We put them in specific teams, and we had all of our kids be the judges.”
Freshman guard Seth Trimble and junior guard R.J. Davis came in first place. Hubert Davis said Bacot came in last.
“Everybody kind of went with the basic minion, the Mike Wazowski, Monsters Inc. character, but we went with the traditional just jack-o-latern,” said Nance, who teamed with Love and Beau Maye. “I thought ours was the scariest, but the judges thought otherwise, I guess, so we end up coming in third. But it is what it is, you can’t win them all.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 5:40 AM with the headline "UNC basketball exhibition game will be ‘emotional’ for Hubert Davis. What to watch for."