UNC Basketball: Hubert Davis goes back to old ways in UConn loss

In the UNC basketball program’s loss to No. 5-ranked UConn, we saw head coach Hubert Davis go back to his old ways in terms of rotation use.

Heading into the 2023-2024 college basketball season, fans of the UNC basketball program were anxious to see how Hubert Davis would utilize his bench.

With a team that was expected to be deeper than the one a season ago, Davis silenced the fans who criticized him for not using his bench enough by going deep in his bench over the first stretch of the new season.

However, that all changed on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, as flashes of the “Iron Five” were on display, leaving us all curious if this is going to be a consistent theme moving forward.

Four players came off the bench, as only Seth Trimble (16 minutes) saw more than 10 minutes of game action. With Armando Bacot playing 35 minutes, Jalen Washington barely was a factor, while Jae’Lyn Withers and Paxson Wojcik saw limited action as well. Zayden High, a freshman who typically plays at least 2-4 minutes, didn’t even step foot on the court.

When asked about using a tighter rotation, Davis wasn’t willing to tip his hand.

Of course, what Davis said could simply be the truth: he was sticking with the guys he felt gave the Tar Heels the best chance to win.

However, it’s also fair to have a bit of concern regarding this. As the season goes along, it should be expected that the rotation will get tighter. Even though that is the case, it is concerning to have the team’s starters logging so many minutes early on in the season.

Was this a fluke, or is Hubert Davis about to go back to his old coaching ways?

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