Hubert Davis reveals coaching adjustment that led to Brady Manek on Paolo Banchero

Paolo Banchero was Brady Manek’s assignment. North Carolina coach Hubert Davis made sure the star knew that heading into Saturday’s road matchup against Duke.

Banchero, a freshman phenom and projected NBA lottery pick, has been a problem for defenses all season. But that wasn’t the case Saturday as the Tar Heels cruised to a 94-81 victory. Although Banchero finished with 23 points in the loss, North Carolina managed to hold him to just six in the second half.

During his postgame press conference, Davis revealed the coaching adjustment he made that resulted in the defense’s big performance.

“The first time that we played them, we tried to mix and match all of the lineups and it just didn’t work,” the coach said. “I told them, ‘These are the matchups. Whoever’s playing the power forward position, Brady, that’s you. Whoever’s playing center, Armando (Bacot), that’s you. I just went down the line and I said, ‘We’re gonna man up.’ (I told Manek), ‘You’re gonna have to guard Paolo. He’s one of the best players in the country. You’re gonna have to fight and compete on every play.’ I thought he really did a good job of that. I really believe also in the second half, like, in the first half they got 30 points in the paint. We were just hugging our guys that were off the ball and allowing (Banchero) to get to the rim really easy. I felt like (it was) a combination of Brady playing well defensively and then No. 2 our help defense was really good closing up those gaps and not giving Paolo a lot of space to go one-on-one and be able to score.”

The Tar Heels found themselves trailing in a tight 41-39 matchup heading into halftime. Using the coaching advice from Davis, however, they quickly turned things around. North Carolina shot 59% from the floor in the second half while also limited Duke to just 42%. The Tar Heels took their first lead of the second half with 9:21 remaining and never trailed again.

In addition to guarding Paolo Banchero, Brady Manek was one of four North Carolina players to reach the 20-point mark in the victory. The transfer forward from Oklahoma finished the game with 20 points and 11 rebounds, as well as a block and steal apiece.

North Carolina now turns its attention to the ACC Tournament, in which it earned the three seed. The Tar Heels are to to play their first game of the tournament at 9:30 p.m. ET Thursday.