Hubert Davis explains how he's ensuring that UNC doesn't look ahead of Syracuse

Having gone 2-2 over their last four, one would expect that No. 7 North Carolina would be happy to play a team that they’d beaten by 36 earlier in the year. That’s no excuse for the Tar Heels to potentially ignore Syracuse up next on the schedule, though, according to Hubert Davis.

Davis spoke about the chances of UNC potentially overlooking the Orange during his press conference on Monday. In his opinion, his team should be mature enough to know better, regardless of how lopsided the first matchup was.

“Well, I mean, you know, we have a mature group,” said Davis. “Understanding that, in our first matchup, we were at home. We played really well and they didn’t play particularly well. Those things happen.”

In conference play, especially during this campaign, every team is having to give each and every opponent some due respect. Davis did exactly that considering how he views Syracuse, specifically with them getting this edition in their own gym on Tuesday.

“We understand that Syracuse is a really good basketball team and, as I said before, are even better at home. They’ve got some of the better players in our conference,” said Davis.

The first meeting between UNC and Syracuse was the second-largest win for the Tar Heels this season. North Carolina won 103-67 in Chapel Hill on January 13th and essentially blew them out from start to finish. They led by as much as 39 over the Orange as they dominated down low with a 23-board edge on the glass and 53 points in the paint. They also, defensively, held them to just 36.5% shooting from the field while also forcing 17 turnovers.

However, to Davis, his team can avoid this scenario altogether if they simply put their focus where it needs to be. That approach shouldn’t change with any team that they face on any court on any night.

If they focus on themselves and prepare how he expects them too, he won’t be worried at all about his Tar Heels looking past Syracuse and risking a third loss over the past two weeks.

“One of the things that I always tell the guys is to focus on what is real. What is real is our preparation and our practice for Syracuse tomorrow night,” Davis said. “If we dive into the process, which is the preparation and the practice? Our play will take care of itself.”

“It doesn’t matter who we play. Play Syracuse, play the Denver Nuggets – it doesn’t matter. Like, our concentration is on our improvement and us playing the best that we can play,” said Davis. “That’s where our focus is.”