The No. 3 UNC men’s basketball team will host No. 7 Duke at the Smith Center on Saturday night. ESPN’s College GameDay will be in town for the matchup, which is the first with both the Tar Heels and Blue Devils as Top 10 teams since the 2018-19 season.
Several members of the Tar Heels met with the media at the Smith Center on Thursday. Here’s what they had to say about Saturday’s game:
F Harrison Ingram
Image via Todd Melet
On what his teammates have been telling him ahead of his first Duke-UNC game: How there’s nothing they can tell me to prepare me for the energy the crowd’s gonna bring, the energy I’m gonna feel from the fans and from the other team. Just to be ready.
On the vibe around the team this week: It’s the energy from the coaches, from our Director of Basketball Operations [Eric] Hoots. Every time he sees me, he tells me I better be ready to be a grown man, and the fans, the stuff they’re gonna say to me, it’s stuff I’ve never heard. I’m like, ‘Alright, that’s cool.’ It’s the energy everyone has going into this game. We’re ready.
I’ve definitely noticed how energetic everybody is. Everybody’s going to sleep early, getting their eight hours. Getting their shots up. We had two lifts today, one at 8 a.m. And a lot of guys showed up to the 8 a.m. lift just to show that they’re locked in.
On bouncing back from the loss at Georgia Tech: It obviously sucks to lose. No one wants to lose. But I feel like it put a chip back on our shoulder to come in today, have a great practice, go hard. I know the coaches are gonna be amped up. It’s gonna be a really intense, competitive practice coming into this game, knowing we just lost our previous game, and we don’t want to lose two in a row.
On his sister, Lauren, a volleyball player at Duke: She was making fun of me for losing our first game in a while. I wasn’t happy, but she thought it was hilarious. She’s gonna be in here. She’ll be wearing a Carolina shirt, though. She’ll be cheering for us, and that’ll be nice.
C Armando Bacot
Image via Todd Melet
On his legacy in the rivalry: I definitely think I’ve etched myself into the history of this rivalry. Just throughout the years, everything that has happened. But this is an atypical year for me, for Duke and UNC. In the last few years, none of us have been ranked this high going into the rivalry on both sides. So it’s gonna be a lot of fun.
On memories of his first Duke games in 2020: Oh, that was terrible. I can remember being on the bench, it was two or three minutes left. Me being immature, me and [Christian Keeling] were like, ‘Man, it’s gonna be a fun time!’ We’re ready to beat them, we’re gonna storm Franklin. And they came back and won. That was terrible. That was an awful experience. And then we went over there, and I can remember Cassius Stanley getting that breakaway dunk and how crazy it was. The crowd erupted. That was terrible, too.
On his relationship with Duke guard Jeremy Roach, who played with Bacot in Virginia: I’ve been on the same team with Jeremy since he was in the sixth grade and I was in the seventh grade. We played AAU all the way up. Jeremy’s a great player and I love playing against him. He always has a great game against us, so I need him to play bad. Me, R.J. [Davis] and Jeremy, we’ve all got the same managers, so we do a lot of things together. We talk all the time, but we haven’t really talked this year… we all know what’s at stake coming up. We definitely want to take it to them.
On this being his last home game against Duke: I’ve gotta win it. Gotta go out on top. I want to be able to beat Duke two, maybe three times this year. That’s really all there is to it.
G R.J. Davis
Image via Todd Melet
On his advice to guard Elliot Cadeau ahead of Cadeau’s first UNC-Duke game: I’ll probably have a talk with him today, to just [say] ‘Go out there and just be Elliot.’ He’s a supreme talent. He’s been playing really well for us this year. So just go out there and play your game. Don’t get too caught up in the rivalry. Just go out there and be Elliot. That’s what we need from him, and I think he’ll play really well for us.
On if he’s thought about the possibility of this being his last home game against Duke: I haven’t. It actually hasn’t even hit me yet. I think I’ve been doing a good job of staying in the moment and worrying about this year, rather than what the future may look like. So that hasn’t hit me. I’m just gonna enjoy it, enjoy my senior year and come out with this win.
On his favorite memory from the rivalry: Definitely Coach K’s last game [in Durham], and the Final Four. Those are ones I’ll cherish and remember forever, because of the leadup to the game and people doubting us. It was super fun. Just the overall environment and the energy.
Head coach Hubert Davis
Image via Dakota Moyer
On the Blue Devils: Obviously a very talented basketball team. [Kyle] Filipowski, his ability to be able to score around the basket, draw fouls, get to the free throw line and shoot from three. But also the spacing they have. They’ve got four guys shooting over 40 percent from three. They feel very confident, playing very well. But we feel confident also.
On his relationship with Duke head coach Jon Scheyer: I have tremendous respect for Jon. I was a huge fan of his as a player when I worked for ESPN. And he’s continued that as a head coach. His ability to coach, connect with players and pull the best out of them on the court, in the classroom and in the community, what he’s done in his first two years is absolutely fantastic.
On Filipowski: His ability on the offensive end as a five, it’s just very difficult, because he can handle the basketball. He’s a point guard. His ability to be able to pass, he can get a rebound, advance the ball up the floor and make plays. He’s aggressive, he can draw fouls, he can shoot from three. He can post up, he can put the ball on the floor. It’s hard to get the ball out of his hands, hard to double him, because he can catch the ball and attack in so many different areas. And then on the defensive end, he leads his team in blocks. But he’s also doing a terrific job of defending without fouling. He’s one of the better players in the country and he’s having a terrific season. He’ll be a huge focal point for us on Saturday.
On College GameDay coming to Chapel Hill: That doesn’t affect us at all. Our shootaround would’ve been at the same time. Pregame meal, same time. That’s noise. And not in a bad way. But the guys have asked me, ‘What is the definition of noise?’ And I said, ‘Anything that doesn’t help you become a better player, a better person and a better teammate.’ And as wonderful as it is having GameDay here, I don’t see it helping us box out and defend Filipowski.
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