Hubert Davis press conference on UNC basketball 2025-26 roster
UNC basketball coach Hubert Davis spoke with media members for 31 minutes, answering questions about the Tar Heels’ 2025-26 roster.
CHAPEL HILL — UNC basketball coach Hubert Davis knows he’s entering his fifth season with pressure and high expectations, but he views it no different than his debut season as leader of the Tar Heels.
Following roller-coaster results in his first four seasons, Davis is aware of the implications surrounding his situation with UNC entering the 2025-26 season. For a program with six NCAA championships and a seemingly-endless stream of banners hanging inside the Smith Center, the blue blood-standard doesn’t shift.
“I feel the same way that I have felt the last four years,” Davis said inside the Smith Center media room in his first preseason press conference before practice officially starts Sept. 22.
“There is a pressure and expectation for us to be good this year. But that pressure and expectation for us to be good is no different than any other year. The standard is at the highest here. I always talk to the guys: the standard is the standard. There’s an expectation every year for us to reach that standard.”
Davis, who led UNC to a Final Four and national championship appearance in 2022 before the Tar Heels missed the NCAA Tournament in 2023, went on to say he recently had a conversation with UNC basketball spokesman Steve Kirschner about the four-year stretch in Chapel Hill.
“Yeah, there’s a pressure and expectation to be good this year. But also, in some sense, to keep in there, if that makes sense,” Davis said.
“The first year we were a rebound away from winning the national championship, but the next year we win 20 games and we don’t make it to the NCAA Tournament. The third year we’re a top-5 team pretty much the whole season, No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and won the regular-season title. Last year, we win 23 games and just make the NCAA Tournament. So, there is a determination to get there and to stay there.”
In their quest to chase consistency, the Tar Heels will have to do it with nine newcomers expected to be among the squad’s top contributors around senior guard Seth Trimble. Five-star recruit Caleb Wilson headlines a three-player freshman class, along with five additions via the transfer portal and international prospect Luka Bogavac.
UNC opens its preseason schedule against BYU on Oct. 24 in an exhibition game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Tar Heels start the regular season Nov. 3 against Central Arkansas at the Smith Center.
Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them to rbaxley@fayobserver.com.