Hubert Davis addresses challenges of playing in Allen Fieldhouse

Friday will feature a blue blood matchup in primetime when No. 9 North Carolines comes to Lawrence to play at No. 1 Kansas in a Top-10 meeting.

With that, Hubert Davis discussed the effect that Allen Fieldhouse, one of the best venues in all of college basketball, will have on the game and the Tar Heels. He knows how distinct it is as a gym and that it’ll also be unlike anywhere that anyone on his team has competed in before.

“It’s different,” said Davis to the media on Wednesday. “You know, Kansas – Allen Fieldhouse has its own unique atmosphere that none of our guys have seen before. I have.”

“It’ll be fun for us,” Davis said. “It’s something to be able to play, to play in that atmosphere, to be able to execute against, you know, one of the better teams in the country.”

Kansas won their opener by a margin of 30 points in front of a crowd of over 15,000 inside Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks are now 856-118 (.879) overall in the arena all-time with that, including a mark of 315-18 (.946) after the start of their 22nd season under Bill Self.

North Carolina will have a lot to handle in this one both with their opponent and the environment in which they’ll be playing them in. Still, Rock Chalk is something that they’ll be ready for come tip-off tomorrow night.

“You know, I know that, myself, I am, and the rest of our players are really looking forward to the challenge on Friday,” said Davis.

Davis believes being in tight game was a ‘perfect’ situation

North Carolina tipped off their season at the start of this week with a 90-76 win over Elon in Chapel Hill. It was a victory that came by a 14-point margin but was actually a close matchup during the second half.

The Phoenix took a 71-69 lead with six minutes remaining in the ball game. That was a moment where Hubert Davis said his team had to show some resilience early on in the season.

“Well, I think there’s a lot to learn from the entire game,” Davis said after the matchup. “I think it’s an opportunity to grow and get better in a number of different areas on both ends of the floor. So it’s the first game of the season and there are things that I was really proud of, that I thought the team did really well and did at a high level.”

“There’s things that we’ve got to improve on and we feel very fortunate and to be able to pull away. I think Elon was up 73-71 and we talked about it in the huddle, how are you going to react? How you’re going to respond?” Davis said.”

“This is actually the perfect game and a perfect situation to be in because this will help us grow…This will help us get to be the team that we want to become and so, from that standpoint, there is a lot to learn from it and it’s nice to learn from it from a victory.”