By DAVE SKRETTA AP Basketball Writer
North Carolina coach Hubert Davis has been spending the past couple of weeks preaching about the importance of details.
The Tar Heels will certainly need to be detail-oriented this week.
Having already played one of the toughest schedules in the nation, North Carolina now gets unbeaten and seventh-ranked Florida in Charlotte in the Jumpman Invitational on Tuesday night, followed by a trip to Madison Square Garden on Saturday to face No. 18 UCLA, which is riding an eight-game winning streak.
All of this after losing to eighth-ranked Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse, No. 2 Auburn and No. 20 Michigan State in Maui and No. 6 Alabama at home, and earning what has turned out to be a marquee victory over No. 21 Dayton.
“There’s a job and responsibility out there. There is no more, ‘My bad, I’ll get it the next possession.’ Every possession counts,” said Davis, whose team has won back-to-back games against Georgia Tech and La Salle.
“Let’s be detailed in our approach. And I told them, ‘What is detailed in our approach?’ I said, ‘Tying ourselves to the small things, the disciplined details that allow us to be successful.’ Setting screens, executing, getting to our spots, printing the offense, boxing out, making contact first, diving on loose balls, getting to the free throw line, talking on defense. All those things.”
The message seemed to have sunk in. The Tar Heels led La Salle 42-25 at halftime on their way to a 93-67 blowout Saturday.
Now comes two more opportunities — along with a game against Campbell — to pick up a couple of high-impact wins before the Tar Heels dive into the ACC schedule in earnest with a game against Louisville on New Year’s Day.
“(Hubert Davis) has been saying, ‘Play free. Play free. Play you. Be you,” said Tar Heels guard Seth Trimble, their second-leading scorer, before adding: ” Guys (are) just realizing that, kind of pushing that stress and what other people are saying to the side.”
Gator bait
Florida climbed two spots to No. 7 this week following its rout of Arizona State, the highest ranking for the Gators since they were No. 6 in the 2019 preseason poll. And they entered this week as one of five unbeatens left in men’s Division I basketball — SEC rivals Tennessee and Oklahoma along with Drake and Utah State are the others.
It’s only the third 10-0 start in program history following a 10-0 start in 1951-52 and a 17-0 start in 2005-06.
Not only are the Gators unbeaten, though, they are largely untested: Their closest win was 87-74 over Florida State on Nov. 15, and their average margin of victory is 21.1. But they should get a challenge from North Carolina this week, then they face fourth-ranked Kentucky and the top-ranked Vols the first week of January, when SEC play starts heating up.
Three for the Musketeers
Xavier took crosstown rival and No. 19 Cincinnati to the wire in a 68-65 loss Saturday, and now the Musketeers have two more games against highly ranked teams to open Big East play this week. First up is two-time defending national champ UConn, which jumped seven spots to No. 11 in the AP Top 25 on Monday, then comes a visit from No. 9 Marquette on Saturday.
The Musketeers’ other losses have come against No. 24 Michigan and TCU.
Other games of note
It’s a relatively quiet week in the Top 25 with many schools conducting final exams. But there’s a primetime clash Wednesday night between No. 14 Oklahoma and the Wolverines, a juicy matchup Friday night when the Bearcats visit the Flyers, and a game Saturday between No. 21 Memphis and Mississippi State, which just fell out of the AP poll this week.
Ratings variations
The NET rankings released by the NCAA, along with those released by KenPom and Bart Torvik, had Auburn at No. 1 while AP voters put Tennessee in the top spot for the second straight week. NET and KenPom both had the Vols at No. 2 while Bart Torvik had Houston — despite its 6-3 record — second with Duke third and Tennessee coming in fourth.
The NET had Pittsburgh at No. 12, while the Panthers were unranked in the AP poll. KenPom was high on St. John’s at No. 16, another team unranked by AP, while Bart Torvik had Maryland at No. 17 and Texas Tech at No. 18.