Hubert Davis praises rebounding from freshmen in first game
The North Carolina Tar Heels barely avoided a massive upset in their 2024-2025 college basketball opener, thanks to their top returners and some needed defense late.
RJ Davis showed why he is the country's best player, draining the tying jumper and, moments later, giving UNC the lead for good on one of his three 3-pointers. To no one's surprise, Davis led all scorers with 24 points.
One of North Carolina's key storylines entering the season was how much playing time their star freshmen: Drake Powell, Ian Jackson and James Brown, would get. Preseason predictions had Jackson in the starting lineup, with Powell playing plentiful minutes off the bench.
In Monday's victory against Elon, Powell and Jackson didn't have a massive impact on the scoresheet. They did, however, impress head coach Hubert Davis in their collegiate debut.
"I thought they did some really good things, both Ian and Drake," Hubert said in the postgame press conference. "You know, one of the things that they just keep getting better every practice and every game. One of the things that I think people lose sight of is just to transition from high school to this level is real. And so you can be a McDonald's All-American and still playing at this level, it takes time. I really love how they have bought in defensively. They do a good job, not particularly on the stat sheet, but they do a really good job of rebounding the basketball. And then on the offensive end, they can create, make shots, and so they're going to play a ton of minutes this year. We need them to step up and be big. And I'm so glad that they're here."
Both Powell and Jackson came off the bench, with Powell seeing 17 minutes of action and Jackson seeing just 12.
Powell scored five points (2-of-8 shooting), recorded two rebounds, dished out two assists, stole the ball once and blocked a shot. Jackson also scored five points (2-of-7), plus he recorded a singular rebound.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire : Hubert Davis praises rebounding from freshmen in first game
