UNC notes ahead of game vs Marquette: Tar Heels packed for long stay in Fort Worth
North Carolina’s brief appearance in last year’s NCAA tournament has remained a topic of conversation among its players this season. The Tar Heels lost to Wisconsin 85-62 in a game that felt over at halftime.
Forward Armando Bacot said having a repeat of last season was unacceptable.
“That left a bad taste in all of our mouths and it’s something that coach (Hubert) Davis emphasized earlier on in the week and just telling us that it won’t go down like that,” Bacot said. “I would say for all of us, we packed four or five outfits so we don’t plan on going home early.”
Sophomore guard R.J. Davis went so far as to say this year’s tournament appearance offered the chance at “redemption.”
“We all have a mentality of just to win, play together, toughness,” Davis said. “So I refuse to have the same outcome as last year.”
Smarting backcourt
Marquette coach Shaka Smart recruited both UNC guards Caleb Love and R.J. Davis when he was still at Texas. He faced both — and won — last season, when the Longhorns beat the Heels in the Maui Invitational.
And as Smart watched video clips of Carolina while preparing to face them in the first round, he said he can see their improvements.
“I see their maturity, they’ve taken leaps and bounds with that relative to where they were in high school and where they were last year,” Smart said. “And I think, you know, Hubert Davis and his staff, and then those two individual players deserve a lot of credit for that development.”
Sooner(s) or later old teammates become foes
UNC forward Brady Manek and Marquette center Kur Kuath both played for Oklahoma last season before transferring out when Lon Kruger retired.
Kuath said he hadn’t spoken with Manek since both left OU. But he’s informed his teammates of what to expect.
“It’s helpful for my teammates because I’m able to give them the insides and outs of how he likes to play, what are the tendencies, his weaknesses, his strengths,” Kuath said. “So that’s a big help for everybody, anybody guarding him (Thursday.)”
Manek could say the same thing.
“His game developed ever since I met him,” Manek said. “Blocking shots, rebounds, he developed a little bit of an inner jumper every now and then. But he’s just a really good teammate overall. I really enjoyed being around him. I enjoyed playing with him. One of those guys that, you get blown by or something, you could rely on him to protect you at the rim.”
Motivational speaker
UNC players give Hubert Davis high grades for his pre-game motivational speeches. Davis said he never plans out what he’s going to say, he just tries to organically tie in what he says to what the team needs to focus on for that game.
Bacot and Leaky Black said they would “run through a wall” for Davis after hearing his speeches.
“His words of wisdom goes a long way,” R.J. Davis said. “Sometimes he plays in my head while I’m playing. That’s just shows how much his pregame speeches mean. So it’s definitely something that carries a long way, not just for myself but for my teammates.”
Black added the fact that Hubert Davis does it without using profanity was, “impressive.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 5:42 AM with the headline "UNC notes ahead of game vs Marquette: Tar Heels packed for long stay in Fort Worth."