Hubert Davis identifies key areas North Carolina must improve

North Carolina coach Hubert Davis knows his team has plenty of room to improve with the season still in the early going. The Tar Heels suffered their second loss Tuesday evening against No. 5 UConn by a score of 87-76.

Davis was asked in his postgame press conference what areas UNC needs to get better in and didn’t hesitate in listing rebounding first. After the Tar Heels were outrebounded 43-33 in the loss, it wasn’t hard to see where the coach was coming from.

“I just want to be a better rebounding team,” he said. “Going into the game, we were a little bit under plus-seven rebounds. I want to be at least over plus-10 rebounding. Rebounding is the biggest key. The thing that I always talk to the guys about is you’ve gotta check three boxes. One, you’ve gotta be a good defensive team. Two, rebound the basketball. Three, take care of it.”

A lack of effort on the glass wasn’t the only area Davis wants to see North Carolina improve. He also cited a need to play better defense after surrendering 80 points for the third time in nine games.

So far this season, the Tar Heels are giving up 73.7 points per game to opponents to rank 243rd out of 362 Division I teams. They allowed UConn to shoot 51% from the field in Tuesday night’s loss, and Davis was clear postgame that won’t cut it.

“That’s just not gonna get it done,” he said. “We can grow defensively. The last couple of games we’ve used full-court pressure that can be used even more throughout the game. Just to put us in better positions defensively. There’s some things that we can grow from and those are some of the things that I’m really encouraged about.”

Still, rebounding remains the main area of emphasis for the Tar Heels at the moment. They currently rank 119th in the country in offensive rebounding percentage as well as 93rd in total rebounding percentage. That being said, UNC has one of the best rebounding big men in the country in Armando Bacot, who averages 11.9 board per contest to rank third in the nation.

Bacot ended Tuesday night’s game with 13 rebounds, but no other Tar Heels player had more than four. Hubert Davis again stressed how important it is for North Carolina to get better on the glass, saying others have to do their part.

“I want to be one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country every day,” he said. “We talk about three, four, five get to the offensive glass so we can be able to get second-chance opportunities. That’s just something I believe in. On the defensive end, just boxing out and making contact first and limiting teams to one shot every possession. That’s just huge. Rebounding, if you can win that battle, you’re gonna put yourself in a position whomever you play.

“So we’ve gotta do a better job boxing out and making contact. Then once making contact, getting those loose balls and those second tips around the rim and around the free throw line. Doing a better job of getting to the offensive glass. Getting more than Armando and Harrison.”

Things won’t get any easier for North Carolina, as it next has a matchup against No. 16 Kentucky at 5:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 16.