Playing Time at Stake as UNC Basketball Seeks Help on Glass

UNC basketball head coach Hubert Davis sounds serious about ramping up his team's rebounding effort.

Author:
Matt Giles
Dec 14, 2023 6:02 PM EST

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Last season was the first since 2013-14 that a UNC basketball squad averaged less than 40 rebounds per game. Those Tar Heels began the year at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 Poll but finished 20-13 overall and without an NCAA Tournament bid.

This season, despite a more up-tempo playing style and one absolute rebounding machine down low in graduate center Armando Bacot, Hubert Davis' third batch of Tar Heels is averaging only 38.8 rebounds per game. That's less than even the 2022-23 bunch.

And there's no denying that a 39-29 deficit on the glass played a big part in the ninth-ranked Tar Heels (7-2, 1-0 ACC) coming up short last week in New York City's Madison Square Garden against ultra-physical No. 5 UConn.

Fast forward a week. As UNC basketball gears up for a CBS Sports Classic blueblood showdown against No. 14 Kentucky at 5:30 p.m. ET Saturday (CBS) in Atlanta's State Farm Arena, Davis made it clear during his appearance on the Carolina Insider podcast that rebounding has been a primary focus across the group's longest break of the season.

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"I just think rebounding is the No. 1 determinant factor that allows you to have success out there on the floor," Davis explained to hosts Jones Angell and Adam Lucas. "And we just got to get better in terms of rebounding on both ends of the floor.

"I've been straightforward and direct about how I want to attack the offensive glass with our three, four, and five, relentlessly every possession, and on the defensive end being the best in the country, one of the best in the country, in defensive rebounding percentage, which means limiting teams to one shot every possession. We've got to get back to doing that."

Davis suggested it's more about the players' effort and willingness to build good habits than any new teachable schemes, as he's all about "holding them accountable" in practice to the point of playing time being at stake.

"If someone doesn't box out and someone doesn't go to the offensive glass, then they get on the line and we're going to run sprints," he noted. "So, at the end of the day, we're either going to be able to become a better rebounding team or we're going to be the best in-shape track basketball team that we're going to become...

"At the end of the day, if that means guys earn more minutes and minutes are taken away, then that's what has to be done. I've been straightforward with the guys: if we defend and we rebound and we take care of the basketball, that puts us in a great position to be successful, whomever we play...[Bacot] needs help...It's will, want-to, effort, attitude, a willingness to not be boxed out."