Q. Obviously I know they have some limitations offensively, but you guys held them to their season low output. What was working so well for you defensively?
HUBERT DAVIS: Well, it just felt like every shot that they took, we were in a position to contest it. I really liked the job that Leaky did on Clark. One of the big differences from the first time that we played Virginia, I felt like from an offensive standpoint, they were featuring Clark a lot more, especially in late-clock situations.
We wanted our best defensive player on Clark, and we felt like his size and his athleticism would bother him, but it just wasn't Leaky's defense. I feel like everybody else was locked in defensively.
We talk about this a lot. For us to have success out there on the floor, if we can play defense, if we can rebound the basketball and also limit our turnovers, it really puts us in a good position out there on the floor, and it takes care of the offense.
Because we were so good defensively, I don't think we were really good offensively outside of Brady. It allowed us to be really good out there on the floor.
Q. Earlier in the season you guys had some issues dealing with success at times. What was the difference now coming off the Duke game, you guys cutting the cord to that? And at what point do you think you started to see that they were making that adjustment, they weren't having that as an issue anymore?
HUBERT DAVIS: Yeah, you know, so many people had asked how are you going to bounce back and how are you going to adjust after the emotions from the game this past Saturday? And I just didn't understand that. It was an emotional game, but it was just a game.
Our attention and our focus and our preparation and our practice from last Saturday has been squarely on the ACC Tournament. And once we found out we were playing Virginia, it was narrowed in in terms of our focus on playing a really good Virginia team.
That's where we are. We don't look at things that are outside of our control, and we don't look at things in the past. We focus on what's in front of us, and now what's in front of us is playing an extremely good Virginia Tech team that we've played twice this year.
Q. How important was it for you guys to get off to a fast start given that the other top seeds all kind of seem like they struggled in the first half? I don't know if it was because of the double bye and the space between the regular season ending and now playing, but just how important was it to get out to that good start in the first half?
HUBERT DAVIS: It was very important for us to get off to a good start. One of the things that's difficult, you get that double bye, but this was the first time -- we've never practiced here, we've never had a shootaround here, so when we came on the court, this was our first time ever shooting, playing on this floor in this arena.
I wasn't worried, but I was thinking we would be a little hesitant out there on the floor trying to find a rhythm.
On the offensive end, I think it took us a while to get into the rhythm with the exception of Brady, but defensively that's what got us the lead. I thought where we got our confidence and our strength was us continuing to get defensive stops, and even though from an offensive standpoint it took us a while to get in a rhythm, I felt like our defense was so good that it allowed us to be successful.
Q. You mentioned obviously outside of Brady, the offensive exception. He was exceptional in the first half. What's your philosophy on riding a hot hand when a guy is hitting like that and is this the player you guys envisioned when you got him out of the portal last summer?
HUBERT DAVIS: Well, I mean, Brady was in a nice rhythm in the first half, but he's been in a pretty good rhythm the entire season. One of the things that I hope people are seeing, he's not just a great three-point shooter, he's a basketball player, and he can put the ball on the floor. He's an excellent passer, he's always in the right spots. He's an instinctive player on both ends of the floor that just makes plays consistently to put our team in a good position, and we needed him in the first half.
We were trying to establish Armando down low in the paint. We were trying to use ball screens in transition to get downhill. Virginia is so good defensively, at times it's very hard to find good shots, but Brady's ability to shoot the ball from the outside and also penetrate and drive and get to the basket really opened us up from an offensive standpoint and allowed us to play a little bit better on the offensive end.
Q. You of course played in a lot of ACC tournaments. What was it like coaching in one and coming away with a convincing win in your first one as a coach?
HUBERT DAVIS: It was really emotional. I told the guys before they came out to warm up, I said, the ACC, I grew up watching the ACC. I grew up going to the ACC, watching my uncle when he was here playing at Carolina from '74 through '77. I played in the ACC Tournament. I was an assistant coach at the ACC Tournament for nine years, and now I'm the head coach participating in the ACC Tournament.
I just told them that this was a big deal to me. It's significant. I just was really excited and very thankful and humbled to be in this position and to be in this position here at the ACC Tournament.
I love this tournament, and I have so many great memories watching and being a player and now as a coach.
Q. Now you have a chance to make another memory tomorrow. You've played Virginia Tech twice. What stands out and what are some of the keys to that matchup?
HUBERT DAVIS: Well, you know, they're -- from an offensive standpoint, they just have a lot of movement. They've got great spacing and balance. They're an outstanding three-point shooting team. But they also have two guys that can score consistently down low on the block, and both of those guys are outstanding passers.
So automatically it puts you into making a choice; do you double-team the post or do you stay at home with the shooters. They're just a very difficult team to match up with.
The two games that we played them, one in Chapel Hill, another one in Blacksburg, were highly contested and very competitive, and it'll be another great matchup tomorrow night.
Q. Leaky mentioned your message after the Duke game was validation. Could you just explain what you meant by that and why it's important?
HUBERT DAVIS: Well, you know, that's something that we've talked about the entire season is validating a good performance, validating a win, validating who we are as a team. One of the things that we talked about is we've played really well over the last month and a half, and specifically we played really well this past Saturday.
Let's validate the win that we had this past Saturday by playing extremely well today. That's something that we've talked about at great length throughout the season and something that's really important to us, that we want to continue to validate our good performances and continue to improve throughout the season.
HUBERT DAVIS: Well, it just felt like every shot that they took, we were in a position to contest it. I really liked the job that Leaky did on Clark. One of the big differences from the first time that we played Virginia, I felt like from an offensive standpoint, they were featuring Clark a lot more, especially in late-clock situations.
We wanted our best defensive player on Clark, and we felt like his size and his athleticism would bother him, but it just wasn't Leaky's defense. I feel like everybody else was locked in defensively.
We talk about this a lot. For us to have success out there on the floor, if we can play defense, if we can rebound the basketball and also limit our turnovers, it really puts us in a good position out there on the floor, and it takes care of the offense.
Because we were so good defensively, I don't think we were really good offensively outside of Brady. It allowed us to be really good out there on the floor.
Q. Earlier in the season you guys had some issues dealing with success at times. What was the difference now coming off the Duke game, you guys cutting the cord to that? And at what point do you think you started to see that they were making that adjustment, they weren't having that as an issue anymore?
HUBERT DAVIS: Yeah, you know, so many people had asked how are you going to bounce back and how are you going to adjust after the emotions from the game this past Saturday? And I just didn't understand that. It was an emotional game, but it was just a game.
Our attention and our focus and our preparation and our practice from last Saturday has been squarely on the ACC Tournament. And once we found out we were playing Virginia, it was narrowed in in terms of our focus on playing a really good Virginia team.
That's where we are. We don't look at things that are outside of our control, and we don't look at things in the past. We focus on what's in front of us, and now what's in front of us is playing an extremely good Virginia Tech team that we've played twice this year.
Q. How important was it for you guys to get off to a fast start given that the other top seeds all kind of seem like they struggled in the first half? I don't know if it was because of the double bye and the space between the regular season ending and now playing, but just how important was it to get out to that good start in the first half?
HUBERT DAVIS: It was very important for us to get off to a good start. One of the things that's difficult, you get that double bye, but this was the first time -- we've never practiced here, we've never had a shootaround here, so when we came on the court, this was our first time ever shooting, playing on this floor in this arena.
I wasn't worried, but I was thinking we would be a little hesitant out there on the floor trying to find a rhythm.
On the offensive end, I think it took us a while to get into the rhythm with the exception of Brady, but defensively that's what got us the lead. I thought where we got our confidence and our strength was us continuing to get defensive stops, and even though from an offensive standpoint it took us a while to get in a rhythm, I felt like our defense was so good that it allowed us to be successful.
Q. You mentioned obviously outside of Brady, the offensive exception. He was exceptional in the first half. What's your philosophy on riding a hot hand when a guy is hitting like that and is this the player you guys envisioned when you got him out of the portal last summer?
HUBERT DAVIS: Well, I mean, Brady was in a nice rhythm in the first half, but he's been in a pretty good rhythm the entire season. One of the things that I hope people are seeing, he's not just a great three-point shooter, he's a basketball player, and he can put the ball on the floor. He's an excellent passer, he's always in the right spots. He's an instinctive player on both ends of the floor that just makes plays consistently to put our team in a good position, and we needed him in the first half.
We were trying to establish Armando down low in the paint. We were trying to use ball screens in transition to get downhill. Virginia is so good defensively, at times it's very hard to find good shots, but Brady's ability to shoot the ball from the outside and also penetrate and drive and get to the basket really opened us up from an offensive standpoint and allowed us to play a little bit better on the offensive end.
Q. You of course played in a lot of ACC tournaments. What was it like coaching in one and coming away with a convincing win in your first one as a coach?
HUBERT DAVIS: It was really emotional. I told the guys before they came out to warm up, I said, the ACC, I grew up watching the ACC. I grew up going to the ACC, watching my uncle when he was here playing at Carolina from '74 through '77. I played in the ACC Tournament. I was an assistant coach at the ACC Tournament for nine years, and now I'm the head coach participating in the ACC Tournament.
I just told them that this was a big deal to me. It's significant. I just was really excited and very thankful and humbled to be in this position and to be in this position here at the ACC Tournament.
I love this tournament, and I have so many great memories watching and being a player and now as a coach.
Q. Now you have a chance to make another memory tomorrow. You've played Virginia Tech twice. What stands out and what are some of the keys to that matchup?
HUBERT DAVIS: Well, you know, they're -- from an offensive standpoint, they just have a lot of movement. They've got great spacing and balance. They're an outstanding three-point shooting team. But they also have two guys that can score consistently down low on the block, and both of those guys are outstanding passers.
So automatically it puts you into making a choice; do you double-team the post or do you stay at home with the shooters. They're just a very difficult team to match up with.
The two games that we played them, one in Chapel Hill, another one in Blacksburg, were highly contested and very competitive, and it'll be another great matchup tomorrow night.
Q. Leaky mentioned your message after the Duke game was validation. Could you just explain what you meant by that and why it's important?
HUBERT DAVIS: Well, you know, that's something that we've talked about the entire season is validating a good performance, validating a win, validating who we are as a team. One of the things that we talked about is we've played really well over the last month and a half, and specifically we played really well this past Saturday.
Let's validate the win that we had this past Saturday by playing extremely well today. That's something that we've talked about at great length throughout the season and something that's really important to us, that we want to continue to validate our good performances and continue to improve throughout the season.
