'This is our game': How a 3-minute drill prepared UNC men's basketball for Clemson

CLEMSON, S.C. – Every UNC practice ends the same way: a three-minute game designed to simulate crunch-time situations.

“That last five minutes, the under-four media timeout, we talk about ‘This is our game,’” graduate guard Paxson Wojcik said. “‘Three-minute game. We win [these] three minutes, we win the game.’”

On Saturday afternoon that drill paid off in a big way as head coach Hubert Davis’ eighth-ranked Tar Heels held No. 16 Clemson scoreless for the final five minutes and pulled away for a 65-55 win in Littlejohn Coliseum. UNC ended the game on a 7-0 run, while Clemson missed its last six shots. 

Another catalyst for those final five minutes? The energy and leadership on display in the UNC huddle during the under-four timeout.

“I’m in the huddle, and there is very little that I’m saying,” Hubert Davis said. “I’m just listening to them. It’s exactly what I have wanted.”

He went on to name Cormac Ryan, Harrison Ingram, RJ Davis, Armando Bacot, Seth Trimble and Zayden High as vocal contributors.

But what exactly is said in the huddle? 

“It’s really a back-and-forth conversation, and it’s all positive and all things that we can do better and things we’re doing well,” senior guard RJ Davis said. “I think the communication between ourselves and the coaching staff has been great. Everyone is chiming in. Everyone is being that leader in their own way.”

Wojcik said all 14 Tar Heels were locked in and encouraging their teammates the entire afternoon. Ingram offered a few examples.

“‘Armando, good pass.’”

“‘RJ, good screen. You got me a layup.”’

“‘Cormac, good screen. You got Seth a wide-open layup.’”

Bacot asserted it was a point of emphasis for the Tar Heels to stay engaged and avoid mistakes, especially against Clemson’s high-powered offense in a road environment.

“Communicating and talking, it becomes infectious,” Bacot said. “I think it helped us all throughout the game.”

The Tar Heels were voicing their own opinions to their coach, going as far as to point out a play Clemson was struggling to stop. During that specific action, the Tigers weren’t switching on screens, and Hubert Davis’ players told him that in the huddle. 

It was working every time. The players spoke up, and UNC continued to run that same action to pull away from the Tigers.

Having multiple voices in the huddle, a player-led team as Wojcik described it, is something new for North Carolina this season. RJ Davis credited the change to the personalities and experience in the locker room.

But beyond conversations during timeouts, practice seems to have made the Tar Heels better. After losing tight games to Villanova and Kentucky and struggling with late-game execution, UNC showed major improvement in that area against Oklahoma, Pitt and now, Clemson.

RJ Davis said the team recreates various late-game moments with practice drills like the three-minute game. He said those drills translate both mentally and physically in close games down the stretch.

“I think it prepares us for these moments,” he said. “We’re able to face the adversity and close out games really well on both ends of the floor.”

Put it all together: preparation and leadership translated to toughness.

Wojcik offered a simple assessment after Saturday’s game.

“I feel like the tougher team came out with the win.”

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com