Hubert Davis explains how North Carolina can get Armando Bacot back on track

For whatever reason, Armando Bacot’s scoring took a significant dip after North Carolina’s first three matchups during their three-game trip to play in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Still, Hubert Davis isn’t concerned by it whatsoever.

Davis addressed Bacot’s poor scoring outing in the Bahamas during his press conference on Tuesday. He chalked it up to nothing more than better competition trying to take away one of the keys to the Tar Heel’s success.

“He’s going to be a focal point. He has been every game,” said Davis. “They’re not going to let him just post up and score. They’re going to make it very difficult for him – they’re going to hard dig, they’re going to double-team, they’re going to be physical with him.

“Those are things that all of us, as players, have to adjust to to be able to be the best that we can be out there on the floor.”

It also didn’t bother Davis as the impact of Bacot goes far beyond his points. He influences way too many other aspects of the game for them to only worry about how many baskets he finishes with in the end.

“Armando? Maybe you can say, maybe, from a scoring standpoint? But, like, he brings so much more to the table than just scoring,” Davis said. “His rebounding is, obviously, elite – the best that anybody at Carolina has ever done. His ability to defend and block shots, his experience? The presence of just posting up opens up everything for us out there on the perimeter, driving lanes to the basket?”

In North Carolina’s first three games, Bacot scored 20-plus points in each of the victories. In total, he averaged 22.7 points and 13.3 rebounds while shooting 61.1% from the field.

Then, in UNC’s next three games inside Imperial Arena last week, his highest-scoring game was just 10 points. Over that 2-1 stretch, Bacot averaged only nine points on 37% shooting from the field. His overall impact was still felt, though, with 10 rebounds and 1.3 blocks a game as well.

Bacot just needs to find his happy medium and adjust in this season as a graduate student. Davis expects him to do exactly that too ahead of another ranked matchup against Tennessee on Wednesday.

“One of the cool things about Armando is he can be dominant in a number of different ways,” said Davis. “He’ll be good tomorrow night.”