Hubert Davis slaps North Carolina with harsh reality despite historic win

Despite improving to 14-2 with a win over Wake Forest, North Carolina head basketball coach Hubert Davis is not happy with how his team has been playing.

The fifth-year head coach liked how his team rebounded from an upset loss to SMU, but he still did not see the progression he wanted defensively. Davis made it clear that North Carolina’s defense is still “not even close to where I want it to be” entering the second half of the season.

“In regards to our defense, there’s a number of things over the last couple of games that just have to get better,” Davis said, via On3 Sports. “The first thing is just guarding the ball. Pressure on the ball, whether it was off ball screens, just allowing Wake Forest to get into the middle, where they could make plays or throw it out for three. In the first half, I felt like our defense struggled transition-wise, even after made baskets, not getting picked up… At times, it looked like where I wanted it to be, but not even close to where it needs to be moving forward.”

North Carolina allowed Wake Forest to hit 48 percent of its shots, including 40 percent from three-point range. The Tar Heels led by as much as 15 in the game, only to watch that lead shrink to one point late in the game. They managed to do just enough down the stretch to hold onto an 87-84 victory.

North Carolina achieves historic feat in win over Wake Forest

The victory might not have been clean, but it was still a historic one. The win was North Carolina’s 500th all-time in the Dean E. Smith Center, which has been home to the basketball team since 1986.

Leading scorers Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesar led the Tar Heels with a combined 47 points in the win. Both players were extremely efficient from the floor, missing just one shot each while adding 21 rebounds between them.

Senior Seth Trimble added 10 points in just his seventh game of the year, while junior Jaydon Young added 12 off the bench.

Juke Harris and Nate Calmese paced Wake Forest in the loss, dropping 28 apiece. No other Demon Deacon managed to breach double figures in the game.

Davis has four days to prepare his team before its next outing against Stanford on Wednesday. The game will be just North Carolina’s third road game since the start of December, through it will have to travel across the country.

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