The UNC men’s basketball team will travel to No. 9 Duke on Saturday evening for the regular-season finale. Though the Tar Heels have already clinched a share of the ACC regular-season title, a win in Durham would give Carolina the outright championship for the first time since 2017 and clinch the No. 1 seed in next week’s ACC Tournament.
Here’s what UNC players and head coach Hubert Davis said ahead of the game:
C Armando Bacot
On saying “the ACC runs through me” after UNC’s win over Duke earlier this season, and how it affects Saturday’s game: It’ll be fiery. I think when I said it, it was taken out of context, which is fair. I guess I’ve gotta be smarter in how I say things. But I don’t regret saying it. It’ll be a great game. I think Duke has been, since we beat them, probably a Top 3 or 4 team in the country. It’s gonna be a tough game.
On UNC’s win at Duke two years ago: That was a great [Duke] team. They had some great players. You look at Paolo [Banchero] now, he’s been killing it. Mark [Williams], he’s been hurt but he’s been killing it, too. Us going there and winning that game, I don’t know if we had any business winning that game, honestly.
On hearing from the Cameron Crazies: People, man. They’re mean over there. They tear me up. But at the end of the day, it’s all fun and games. Obviously, they’re Duke students. They want to win. They go there for those types of reasons, to be a fan. It’s all fun for me, but a lot of it is mean.
G R.J. Davis
On Duke’s defense against him: Last time, they face-guarded me, and Harrison [Ingram] and Armando played really well and stepped up in big-time moments. I know it’s gonna happen, so I’ve just got to be prepared. I’ll have to do a good job of setting my man up, taking open shots when I have [them]. And when the double-team does come, be able to kick it to my teammates for them to knock it down.
On Duke’s improvement since the first meeting: The guard play has been really good for them. Obviously, we know [Kyle Filipowski] is really good at what he does, but I feel like from [Jeremy] Roach to [Jared] McCain and [Tyrese] Proctor, they really do a good job of controlling the game and stepping up when it’s needed. And I watched their last game when they played against NC State, and Sean Stewart stepped up big time for them. They’re playing with a lot of confidence right now.
On thinking about his future: I’m not gonna sit here and act like I don’t think about it. But I know for me, mentally, it’s better for me to stay in the moment, stay present, rather than worry about something I can’t control and may happen in a month or two. I’m just realizing what I have right now and finishing out the year strong. Because I don’t know what next year may look like for me. Just going out there and cherishing every moment I have.
F Harrison Ingram
On Cameron Indoor Stadium: I’m excited to play in it and see what it’s all about. I’ve never been in Cameron with the fans that loud. I watched my sister play a few [volleyball] games, but the fans weren’t like they’re gonna be Saturday night. I heard there’s people camping out in tents months before, which is ridiculous to me. I’m excited to go in there and get a W.
On if his sister will be supporting him at the game: We talked about it. She said there’s no way she’s wearing [a UNC shirt], because she thinks she’d get booed out the stadium. But she’s not sitting in our section with a Duke shirt. There’s no way I’m letting that happen.
On the outright ACC title being on the line: We didn’t really celebrate after the Notre Dame win. It was cool to get that feeling, but our eyes went straight to that Duke game, knowing that we might have gotten a share, but we definitely don’t want to share it, and we definitely do not want to share it with them.
On if he plans on interacting with the Cameron Crazies: One hundred percent. I’m all about that. I can’t wait.
Head coach Hubert Davis
On the outright ACC title: I was having a conversation with Coach Jeff Lebo: when I was here at Carolina, two of the years came down to the last regular-season game to determine who was regular-season champs. We were talking about that. But it was a little bit different: the last game was here at home. It’s always competing against the best, and obviously Duke and their program is one of the best in the country. So having an opportunity to be able to play them this Saturday in the last regular-season ACC game is an honor and a privilege, and we’re really excited about it.
On expansion watering down the ACC’s product in coming seasons: The ACC will always be the ACC. Things have changed. You talk about ‘the ACC as we all know it;’ not me. I remember it when it was eight teams and everybody was playing each other twice, and you didn’t have to get on an airplane, you took a bus everywhere. Going to Cole Field House [at Maryland]. It’s a little bit different. Regardless of Stanford and Cal and SMU joining the conference next season, the ACC will always be the ACC, and there’s no difference in that.
On Duke’s defensive plan for R.J. Davis: The Duke game was probably the first game where teams started to… deny every pass and try to take him out of his actions. I feel like we’ve improved in terms of setting screens, running different plays to free up R.J., to give him space, whether it’s coming off of screens or with the ball in his hands. So I feel like we have a better attack for teams that do that. But you also have to give credit to Duke. They’ve got good individual defenders. Proctor was the one that was one him. He has length, he has athleticism. Anybody playing us, it would be advantageous to try to take R.J. out of his rhythm. That’s something that teams, from that Duke game, have tried to with R.J. And we’ll be prepared for that.
On dealing with crowd noise at Cameron: It doesn’t bother me at all. As a player, as a coach, I’m unaware of what is going on in the crowd. I’m so focused on our team and how we play that that outside noise is really mute for me. As a player, the two places that I felt it the most were Reynolds Coliseum [at NC State] and Cole Field House. And Chicago Stadium in the NBA. Maybe that had something to do with MJ.
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