North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis spoke to the media after the Tar Heels edged Ohio State 71–70 in a thriller .
As he was falling down, Seth Trimble dished the ball to Henri Veesaar, who slammed home the winning points with authority to give UNC the lead with 7.2 seconds remaining.
Ohio State had two chances to pull off the upset. John Mobley Jr. missed a 3-point try, only to have Devin Royal grab the offensive rebound under the basket. He went back up before the horn, but Caleb Wilson made a heads-up play and blocked the shot to preserve the win for the Tar Heels.
Here is what Davis said after the game:
"We were down by one, and they were told to progressively try to steal in the backcourt, and if they don't get it, and (Ohio State) gets it to the frontcourt, they had to foul. They knew which guys to try to foul. One of the many hard things with Ohio State is they're a great free-throw shooting team, so it wasn't a great choice. We were able to get the steal.""We had a timeout left, and that situation, Seth's ability to be able to create a shot for himself, for others, is the best on the team. From the perimeter, we put the ball in his hands and kind of cleared out that side. (Ohio State) did a good job defensively, but he was able to find Henri around the basket and be able to score."
"Absolutely huge. I've talked about his versatility, but to be honest with you, Devin Royal was real. Just his ability to be able to score, he's not rushed, he's strong, plays off two feet, and the only person that could really make him work to get a good shot was Jarin. And so to have that guy who's 6-9, with versatility, being able to play in the post, on the outside offensively, but from a defensive standpoint, to be able to switch and play multiple positions, is a huge factor for us."
"It gives us versatility, able to do some different things that are specific for each game. This game — and I talked about Devin Royal — but there was really only one guy on our team that had any chance of getting a stop on Bruce Thornton. That was Seth. And so having him in the lineup is huge. Obviously, he's gifted. I felt like in transition, it's the first time that we've gotten pitch-ahead dunks and layups in a while. So we got to get back to that, because a huge part of our offense is being able to sprint."
"First of all, with Bruce taking the ball out, a lot of times the most dangerous person is the person taking the ball out. So just being alert, aware of his ability to be able to score. Also, in four seconds, that's a lot of time. And so their strength, not only to score, but to get fouled and get to the free-throw line, was of concern. So we switched everything. We had a lineup in there that we could switch everything and feel good about the one-on-one matchup, and we were able to get it done."
"I really believe that we can be a really good three-point shooting team. Thus far, we haven't been that good, and that's something that I'm waiting for, because I just feel like we have a number of guys that can consistently make shots from the outside. That's going to be huge for us. It's going to be huge for us because of having Henri and Caleb down in the post; they're going to get even more attention. They will double-team pretty much every time they throw the ball into the post, and so the only way you can loosen that up is to be able to shoot it from three."
"He runs faster. He does. Just the way that he gets out on the break. He can get a defensive stop, he can get a rebound, and within three or four steps, he's across half-court, and he's gone. Just having one person pulls everybody along, and then when they see Seth get those pitch-ahead layups, everybody wants to score. So then they start running. It's contagious, and it's nice to see that back in our offense today."
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Basketball: What Hubert Davis said after win over Ohio State
