Duke basketball: Hubert Davis 'just stating facts' about fouls
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The fact is Dereck Lively II was a beast. The presence of Duke basketball's 7-foot-1 freshman center, whose eight blocks in Saturday night's 63-57 home win are a program record against UNC, understandably turned the Tar Heels (15-8, 7-5 ACC) into desperate 3-point shooters in the second half, especially down the stretch.
Nevertheless, that's not how second-year UNC head coach Hubert Davis sees what happened against the Blue Devils (17-6, 8-4 ACC).
"I don't think just because we shot 27 [threes] makes it we turned into a 3-point shooting team," Davis said in response to a question suggesting precisely that. "That's your opinion. The stat that I'm looking at is, going into the game, we had shot 150 more free throws than any other opponent in our conference. And we shot three [against Duke] — zero in the second half. So that's what I'm looking at."
For starters, as Inside Carolina's Ross Martin noted in an article, the fact is the Tar Heels had attempted only 93 more free throws than second-best Wake Forest.
Facts aside, why didn't UNC find its way to the charity stripe more often on Saturday night?
"You answer it," Davis commanded Martin. "We attacked the basket."
Davis credited Lively and the intense Duke basketball defense, which fueled a 20-2 advantage in transition, only after being prompted to do so and not without repeating his exaggerated free throw stat.
"He did [impact the game]," Davis conceded. "Oh, he's a fantastic player. And Duke is a fantastic defensive team. They pressure you. They do a great job with their quickness, moving their feet. Dereck is one of the best, if not the best; even if he doesn't block it, his length and his athleticism can alter it. We went to the free throw line three times, and we shoot 150 more than any team in the conference."
UNC's 57 points marked a season-low, 21 points below their average. It was the lowest point total by any Tar Heel team in Cameron Indoor Stadium since Duke basketball's 82-50 blowout victory in 2010 on Senior Night for Jon Scheyer, now the first-year head coach of the Blue Devils.
Tar Heel star Armando Bacot (blocked three times) did not attempt a field goal across the final 12 minutes. The 22-year-old, who scored only two of his team-high 14 points after halftime, seemed to give up on attacking the 18-year-old Lively.
And the UNC guards, also seemingly timid about entering "Dereck Lively Lane" in the second half, settled for outside looks time and again rather than feeding their big man.
How does Davis explain that? Well, not without alluding to the same exaggerated number as before.
"Dereck and Ryan Young are really good defensive players," he explained. "They did a really good job of not allowing Armando to get to those spots. And with us being by far the best in the conference at getting to the free throw line, our best guy that gets to the free throw line is Armando, and he got to the free throw line twice."
Is Davis blaming the refs for not giving his team more friendly whistles?
"No," Davis answered, "I'm just stating the fact that we shot 150 more free throws than anybody in the conference, and tonight we only shot three."
That sure sounds like he's implying something else.
"No," Davis restated. "I'm just stating facts."
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