What Hubert Davis said after UNC's loss to NC State

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What Hubert Davis said after UNC's loss to NC State

Zack Pearson, Tar Heels Wire · Tar Heels Wire

Wed, Feb 18, 2026 ·

4 min read

On emotions following Duke win to now

"Over the last eight days? I mean, that's life. I don't know how else to put it. I'd like to hear if anybody in this room has had consistent, sunny, clear sky, no wind days. I mean, things you have to adjust to, the only thing you have control over is how you react and respond. And so we'll get back to work and move forward."

On energy and effort on Tuesday night

"I just felt like our competitive fight wasn't there. Especially from a defensive standpoint, they didn't feel us defensively. Didn't feel our presence at all. We talked about that, and at the end of the day, it's going to end up being one-on-one defense. Can we defend them without fouling? Are we man enough when the ball goes up in there on the ground? Can we go get it? And I don't think we did a very good job of that."

"I've been consistent with this all year, that our heartbeat, our lifeline… it starts with defense and us rebounding. That's what leads us to really good offense, and we weren't tough enough. We weren't good enough on the defensive end. Now, we did get offensive rebounds, but the physical presence that you have to have defensively, we just didn't do that today."

On Henri Veesaar's status

"His outlook is day to day. Every day, he's getting better. In regard to the lower extremities, he's getting better, also with his flu. He's making huge strides every day, and every day we'll evaluate and see when he's available to practice, and then when he's able to practice, see when he's able to play."

On guards matching up with Copeland

"Quadir, I mean, I felt like he controlled the game. I mean, his talent out there is real. He's, a 6-7 guard and is able to handle the basketball. Really makes great decisions when he has the ball, whether it's for himself or for his teammates. Because of his length and his size, he can shoot the three. He's got a good percentage, but he doesn't settle for it, and he really is persistent and stubborn in getting to the basket and being able to score, get fouled, pass the ball from that position."

On what were the issues for UNC offensively?

"One, I want to give credit to State's defense. They do a really good job of getting in the passing lanes and swiping and getting steals and deflections. And so we knew that we needed to be sound with the basketball on the offensive end and make the easy play. We just couldn't — outside of Jaren and Zayden — we just couldn't generate any good shots consistently. Whether it was off dribble, drive, pick and roll, D.H.O isolations, we just couldn't generate consistent paint touches, putting two on the ball and being able to generate consistent, really good shots. That being said, of the 33 threes that we took, it was a good portion that were wide open, and we just didn't make them. And so going into this game, we knew that we needed the ability to be able to shoot from three and make, and we just didn't do it tonight."