Rick Barnes expresses respect for Hubert Davis, North Carolina

One of the most exciting matchups of the ACC/SEC Challenge challenge tips off in Chapel Hill on Wednesday when the No. 10 ranked Tennessee Volunteers visit No. 17 North Carolina.

Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes is from the state of North Carolina, and ahead of the marquee matchup, he was asked if there’s any extra energy or excitement for him returning to his home state against a familiar foe.

“You know, maybe years ago Rob, not now,” Barnes said. “First of all I’ve got great respect for the University of North Carolina and it’s a storied tradition and everyone that’s from North Carolina knows about it, knows what it’s about.”

Barnes is one of the most experienced head coaches in the country, providing an interesting backstory regarding his relationship with North Carolina’s third-year head coach Hubert Davis.

“And I have great respect for Hubert Davis, when I became a head coach he was the very first player I recruited … his high school was literally a quarter of a mile from George Mason,” Barnes revealed. “He would come over and shoot at George Mason.”

Davis was a senior at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia just five miles away from George Mason in 1987 where Barnes was a head coach for the first time in his career.

“I can remember sitting on the front bricks out in front of the gym talking to him and at the time he wasn’t being highly recruited and obviously he grew up wanting to go to North Carolina,” Barnes explained.
I did in high school play against his uncle, Walter Davis, so he grew up a huge Carolina [fan] and he basically just said hey give me a chance and he went there and made the most of it.”

The two would go their separate ways, with Davis following the footsteps of his uncle with a basketball career at North Carolina and in the NBA and Barnes only spending one season at George Mason before taking his head coaching talents to Providence and eventually three more programs as a part of his 30+ year head coaching career.

But the respect for Davis has remained and even grown in the eyes of Barnes, providing a rare full circle moment that will culminate in the Smith Center on Wednesday night in what should be an exciting matchup.

“Just a great human being and a person, I have great respect for his whole staff. I mean I’ve watched all those guys it seems like grow up,” Barnes said. “But the fact is I’ve always thought these are the two leagues that should be playing a challenge, being as close as we are, bordered up against each other, and I think it’s gonna be good for both leagues.”