Hubert Davis evaluates North Carolina’s ability to find an identity

North Carolina started the season in need of a complete revamping. After opening as the preseason No. 1 team, the Tar Heels freefell from the Top-25 following an uninspiring 5-0 start which was preceded by a four-game losing streak. Hubert Davis knew something needed to change. Now that his team is back on a two-game win streak, he shared how they’ve made those necessary adjustments since returning from Blacksburg.

Davis said during his postgame press conference following North Carolina’s 100-67 win over The Citadel that the key has been identity. He demanded that they find some sense of it after their losing streak. In order to do so, he made it a player-led exercise.

“That’s something that we’ve talked about. About having an identity, both on the offensive side and defensively,” said Davis. “I’ve mentioned before, right when we got back from Portland and Indiana, one of the things I asked them to do was to write down what they wanted to look like. What do you want to look like on the offensive end and what do you want to look like defensively? What is your identity?”

Whatever they wrote down obviously looks more like how they’ve looked in their last two games. UNC returned home and defeated Georgia Tech by 16 by outrebounding them and shooting 47.4% from the field. Next was Tuesday’s win over the Bulldogs where they shot 48.4% from deep.

Davis took what his players wrote down as a form of contract. Since they wrote it up and signed it, he now expects those things from his players each and every game.

“They wrote these things down, everybody signed the piece of paper, and I have a copy upstairs laminated in my office. And I show it to them all the time to tell them these are your words. This is what you want this team to look like,” Davis said. “So, since they wrote it down and they signed it, I hold them accountable to it. So that’s what we’re trying to build to throughout the entire year. (We’ll) just see what the end product looks like.”

Based on a two-game sample size, this identity contract seems to be working for Davis’ team. Now, as they sit at 7-4, they’ll just need to prove it against top competition as they’ll face Ohio State and Michigan before truly kicking off ACC play.