Tar Heels plan to push the pace in upcoming basketball season: 'A lot of up and down'
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- North Carolina held its men's basketball media day on Friday and the theme for the season quickly became clear: The Tar Heels are going to push the pace.
If you're not in the best shape of your life, you're not going to play," Head coach Hubert Davis said. "If you don't sprint to the offensive end, you're not going to play. If you don't sprint back defensively, you're not in the best shape of your life, you're just not going to play."
Just five players return from last year's squad that finished at the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season standings.
Among those gone is center Armando Bacot, a fixture on the court for five seasons.
"Armando was one-of-one," Davis said. "And so, people ask how do you replace Armando, you can't replace a one-of-one. And so, this group is going to have to rebound, we're going to have to dominate points in the paint a little bit differently than Armando did. We have the personnel to be able to do that."
With 10 new players, there's a lot of work to do. Regardless, Davis said he wants his team to play up-tempo - so fast, in fact, that he wants the Heels to be the fastest team in the country from free-throw line to free-throw line.
"It's going to be a lot of up and down this year," said R.J. Davis, a senior graduate guard and the reigning ACC Player of the Year. "We have a lot of athleticism and speed from the backcourt and even the wings, so I think we're going to be getting up and down a lot ... Coach Davis has been emphasizing pace in practice."
North Carolina's Blue-White scrimmage, originally scheduled for Oct. 13 at Harrah's Resort in Cherokee, was moved back to Chapel Hill because of logistical issues after Hurricane Helene decimated western North Carolina.
The Tar Heels will now hold the scrimmage at the Smith Center on Oct. 12. It will begin 45 minutes after the conclusion of UNC's home football game against Georgia Tech, which kicks off at noon.
