All eyes were on Michael Malone in Charlotte on Wednesday morning.
The new head coach of the UNC basketball program took center stage in his first ACC Tipoff event, one where he had plenty of time to speak to the media ahead of the 2026-2027 season.
While Malone answered some questions we've heard before, there were a few wrinkles thrown in that provided some insight into the new leader of the Tar Heels.
Miss any of the ACC Tipoff action? Don't worry, you can hear Malone, along with Neoklis Avdalas and Jarin Stevenson, in their session with the media from Wednesday morning below. You can also view a transcript of what Malone had to say during his session:
The biggest adjustment going from the NBA to college level
"I’ve been asked that question many times in the last four or five months, and the easiest way I could answer that would be in the NBA all you do is coach. It’s all basketball. In college, the last thing you get to do is coach. You’re doing so many other things to kind of build your program.
I understood that. You know, I’d coached in college many years ago before going to the NBA, but that’s one thing I’ve realized the last five months from recruiting to fundraising, to relationships, and then when you get the hours on the court with guys like Jarin and Neo to pour into them and help them develop and get to practice and now we have a game on Friday night, our first exhibition game, that is my happy place, when you finally get a chance to do what you love and teach and develop and help pour into these guys."
The approach for the exhibition games
"Obviously you want to win every time you go out there, but more importantly, it’s going to be an opportunity for us to kind of see where we’re at. This is an early exhibition game when you consider we don’t have our season opener until November 2nd against Western Carolina.
So we’ll make sure we get guys a chance to play, different groupings of players, and really get a chance to see where we are. I’m sure our players are so tired of playing against just their teammates every single day, so finally a chance to play against, you know, Coach Eric Musselman, his team coming into town, will be a great kind of test to see where we’re at and what we need to work on."
On balancing the classic Carolina style of play and tradition with his own brand of tactical play
"I think I mentioned the day I was hired, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the tradition and history of UNC basketball going all the way back to a guy like Frank McGuire and Dean Smith.
And while honoring that and respecting that, at the end of the day I have to be true to myself. So we’re going to go out there and play a brand of basketball that I think is going to allow us to have success, and more importantly, sustained success.
Obviously I was a part of a small part of a championship team that we had in Denver in 2023, and we’re trying to kind of simulate the culture, style of play, starting with defense, rebounding, playing uptempo, and also most importantly, sharing the ball and being a team and being a team that plays for each other."
The intangibles that go into building a championship culture at North Carolina
"Well, I think it’s a good question because, you know, as we recruit players — when I first got the job was through the portal, and now obviously it’s recruiting high school kids, whatever it may be.
Talent is a given. If we want to be a team that can compete for a championship, talent is a given. But what’s also important is bringing in players that understand the importance of being selfless in everything they do, getting over yourself. That we can accomplish a hell of a lot more as a team than as a bunch of individuals.
So players that are connectors, players that are competitors — these two guys right here to my left are great examples of that. You know, Jarin obviously, returning player from the Chapel Hill area, and thrilled that he decided to stay when I got the job. One of three scholarship players that made that decision.
And then Neo was the first guy we got in the transfer portal. Kind of believed in the vision of what we were trying to build. When you watch Neo play, I think he’s an exceptional connector. He makes everyone around him better.
I think toughness, tenacity, leadership, all things that may not show up on a stat sheet, but I think go a long way in helping you win at the highest level and the toughest games."
Biggest surprises of the day-to-day operations
"The NIL, we have a GM. We have coaches that kind of have been around the college game that are really helpful with that.
But I think the biggest thing, to your point, is, the greatest challenge is just the day-to-day and how I never feel there’s enough hours in a day. There’s always something that you have to do.
I have a tremendous coaching staff around me. I have a support staff. Eric Hoots who is here with me. I call him my chief of staff, and every day we walk in, it’s not just preparing for practice, it’s what do we have to do on campus, who do we have to touch, who do we have to say hello to, because I am a small part of a much bigger engine.
In the NBA you’re part of one team. You come to UNC, you’re one of 28 teams. What I remind everybody, as you all know, the 27 other teams at Carolina are pretty damn good. We have great coaches at UNC. We have a tremendous athletic department at UNC.
For me, I’ve kind of thrown myself into that. Going out to Omaha to support the men’s baseball team. Going to a woman’s lacrosse game to support Jenny Levy. Going to a woman’s field hockey game to support Erin Matson and her girls.
It’s something that my wife and I have kind of appreciated and are enthusiastic about. But yes, there are some days where I have no idea where the day went. I don’t even know what day it is half the time."
How does Malone plan to separate his team from the rest of the competitive ACC?
"Obviously we’ve been so focused on us, and obviously, as you mentioned, there’s 18 teams in a conference. Tremendous coaches in the conference. To be a part of the best conference in the country is an honor.
For us as we get ready for our exhibition game on Friday night, it’s always going to start on the defensive end. I think when you ask Neo and Jarin, if you said, well, what do we work on the most, it’s probably defending at a high level because we want to be an uptempo team. We want to be a team that gets out and runs, but not at the expense of our defense.
If we can defend and we can rebound, that allows you to play that uptempo style that we want to play. I think the best teams, whether it’s college, NBA, wherever, if you defend at a high level and you rebound at a high level, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win a lot of games, and that’s been a huge point of emphasis for us from the summer workouts into the fall and now that practice has started."
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