Hubert Davis on North Carolina's loss to Kentucky: "They were tougher than us"

Multiple times during his postgame press conference on Saturday night, North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis used some form of the word “toughness”. It was an aspect of the Tarheels’ 98-69 loss to Kentucky in Las Vegas that was notably absent from the time the ball was tipped all the way to the final buzzer.

“They were tougher than us,” Davis said of Kentucky after his team’s 29-point loss. “Rebounding is really not about technique. Whether you’re going off their offensive glass or you’re boxing out, it’s all about will and want-to. It’s about toughness.”

You didn’t even have to watch the game for long to know what Davis was talking about. Looking at the box score, the discrepancy in “toughness” was easy to spot. Kentucky scored 18 more points in the paint (54-36) and grabbed 18 more rebounds (44-26) than UNC, including 11 more on the offensive glass (17-6). Even when UK’s starting center and most physically imposing presence, Oscar Tshiebwe, went to the bench in the first half with two fouls, the toughness factor never swung in the Tarheels’ favor.

Kentucky was first, second, and third to attack loose balls. The ‘Cats were pushing harder in transition. Every single UK player was a half-step ahead of any Tarheel. It was an overall throttling in every sense of the word.

“From a defensive standpoint you have to make contact first,” Davis added. “I always tell the guys, there’s a 50/50 ball is 100 percent North Carolina, and so a missed shot is really a 50/50 ball. It’s your will and your toughness that will allow you to box out and to rebound, and we didn’t do that.”

Granted, Kentucky had every possible reason to come out as the more energized team. North Carolina is a slight step down in talent compared to Ohio State (Kentucky’s original opponent prior to COVID-19 issues). If losing to Notre Dame on the road the weekend prior wasn’t going to light a fire under them, nothing could. But it did, and UK turned that fire into constant energy.

“I know that Kentucky played with a fire inside of them after losing to Notre Dame, and they played harder, they played smarter, they played tougher,” Davis said. “I don’t think you have to lose a game or lose a game in this fashion to get back to that.”

There was one mini-run near the end of the first half where North Carolina finally began to play with that missing toughness and energy. Kentucky ballooned its lead to as many as 18 at the 4:21 mark (35-17) with Tshiebwe on the bench. For what felt like the first time all afternoon, UNC began to fight back.

Hubert Davis’ squad managed to trim the Wildcat lead down to 11 by the intermission, heading into the locker room with its first taste of confidence. Coming out of the break, UNC had a real chance to chip away at the UK lead and make this a game. But Kentucky came out focused. A corner three-pointer from Kellan Grady to open the second half put the ‘Cats up 14 and it was all over from there.

“I just feel like the last four minutes of the first half, that’s when we finally started to pick up the energy,” UNC guard R.J. Davis said after the game. “The first 15 minutes of the first half, and then the second half we just didn’t execute our game plan. We weren’t the aggressor. We didn’t show any energy or effort.“

Credit is due to Kentucky for preventing North Carolina from establishing any rhythm that could have led to added energy. UK came out early and smacked UNC in the mouth repeatedly. After a disappointing loss to the Fighting Irish a week ago, it would have been easy to come out lackadaisical, but Kentucky showed it has the fight that helps build great teams.