Jan 14, 2026; Stanford, California, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Hubert Davis looks on against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

Hubert Davis Highlights UNC's Defensive Issues

Originally posted on North Carolina Tar Heels on SI
By Logan Lazarczyk | Last updated Jan 16, 2026 12:00 PM ET

The North Carolina Tar Heels let one slip through the cracks on Wednesday night, falling to the Stanford Cardinal 95-90 at the Maples Pavilion. It was even more disappointing when to taking into account the Stanford led for only two minutes in the entire game.

While speaking with the media during his postgame press conference, head coach Hubert Davis went into depth of how the Tar Heels' defense was not up to its standards in the loss.

Davis' Thoughts

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"I don't think you can point to one specific thing, and I think it's coming from a number of different directions," Davis said. "I think not getting picked up in transition. Short closeouts. No pressure on the ball. Late rotations. Kickouts from offensive rebounds. Just coming from a number of different directions."

Stanford presented several challenges for North Carolina, who had to alter its defensive gameplan to attempt slowing down the Cardinal's high-octane offense. The 55-year-old head coach discussed that with reporters following the game.

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"Well, we did a number of things differently defensively," Davis said. "We weren't doing any switching off the ball to keep certain defenders on certain guys. We tried to blue which was to try to get the ball out of Okorie's hands and you know his ability to be able to split and get around and you know maybe so I think it's easy to say that now."

Across the last two games, the Tar Heels have built comfortable leads, just to see them slowly dwindle as the game progresses. Davis believes that has been the biggest issue for his team's ability to close out games.

"No, I just, you know, you're right. I mean, we were able to get some leads in the first half, you know, around 12 and then got into a nice rhythm at the beginning of the second half, Davis said. "And I mean, from an offensive standpoint, we're getting what we want."

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"It's just you know defensively we're just not getting sustained stops you know and it's you know two three-minute stretches where you know teams will go on a seven or nine point run and it's something that's been happening to us all year," Davis continued. "It's something that's just going to have to change moving forward."

Again, the Tar Heels were efficient and dominant on the offensive end of the court, but if you can't string consecutive stops together, it does not matter how great your offense is. It cannot combat a lackluster a defensive performance.

This article first appeared on North Carolina Tar Heels on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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