.jpg) Davis in 2021 | |||||||||||||||
| North Carolina Tar Heels | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Head coach | ||||||||||||||
| League | Atlantic Coast Conference | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | (1970-05-17)May 17, 1970 (age 55) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 183 lb (83 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Lake Braddock Secondary (Burke, Virginia) | ||||||||||||||
| College | North Carolina (1988–1992) | ||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 1992: 1st round, 20th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Drafted by | New York Knicks | ||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1992–2004 | ||||||||||||||
| Position | Shooting guard /point guard | ||||||||||||||
| Number | 44, 24 | ||||||||||||||
| Coaching career | 2012–present | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
Playing | |||||||||||||||
| 1992–1996 | New York Knicks | ||||||||||||||
| 1996–1997 | Toronto Raptors | ||||||||||||||
| 1997–2001 | Dallas Mavericks | ||||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Washington Wizards | ||||||||||||||
| 2002–2004 | Detroit Pistons | ||||||||||||||
| 2004 | New Jersey Nets | ||||||||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||||||||
| 2012–2021 | North Carolina (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–present | North Carolina | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights | |||||||||||||||
As player:
As assistant coach: As head coach:
| |||||||||||||||
| Career NBA statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Points | 5,583 (8.2 ppg) | ||||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 1,045 (1.5 rpg) | ||||||||||||||
| Assists | 1,172 (1.7 apg) | ||||||||||||||
Stats at NBA.com  | |||||||||||||||
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |||||||||||||||
Medals
| |||||||||||||||
Hubert Ira Davis Jr. (born May 17, 1970) is an Americancollege basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of theNorth Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching career, Davis played for North Carolina from 1988 to 1992 and in theNational Basketball Association (NBA) for theNew York Knicks,Toronto Raptors,Dallas Mavericks,Washington Wizards,Detroit Pistons, andNew Jersey Nets from 1992 to 2004. He holds the franchise single-season and career three-point field goal shooting percentage records for both the Knicks and the Mavericks. He is the nephew ofWalter Davis, another former Tar Heel and NBA player.
Davis served as an assistant coach for the Tar Heels from 2012 until his elevation to head coach in 2021 following the retirement ofRoy Williams.[1]
Davis attendedLake Braddock Secondary School inBurke, Virginia, averaging 28.0 points per game his senior year. He went on to the University of North Carolina, where he holds the record for the highest career three-point percentage in school history. In his junior year, he helped lead the team to its first Final Four appearance since winning the national championship in 1982. Davis graduated in 1992 with a degree in Criminal Justice, after averaging 21.4 points per game in his senior season.[2]
TheNew York Knicks selected Davis with the 20th overall pick in the1992 NBA draft. He made the winning free throws afterHue Hollins called a disputed foul againstScottie Pippen in Game 5 of the1994 Eastern Conference semifinals against theChicago Bulls, giving the Knicks an 87–86 win (the Knicks went on to win the series in seven games).[3] Davis established the Knicks franchise records for single-season (.476, 1995–96)[4] and career (.449)[5][6] three-point shooting percentages.
Davis remained with New York for four years, and was traded to theToronto Raptors before the1996–97 season. After Toronto, Davis spent time with theDallas Mavericks,Washington Wizards,Detroit Pistons, andNew Jersey Nets. Davis established the Mavericks franchise records for single-season (.491, 1999–2000)[7] and career (.454)[8][9] three-point shooting percentages. Davis played his final NBA game in 2004, finishing with career averages of 8.2 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Davis's 44.09% NBA career three-point shot percentage ranks him second behindSteve Kerr (45.40%).[10]
Following his playing career, Davis began working forESPN as a college basketballanalyst in the 2007–2008 season. During his time at ESPN, he served as a studio analyst for the network'scoverage of college basketball and was a panelist onCollege Gameday. He left ESPN to return to Chapel Hill as an assistant coach following the 2011–2012 season.
Prior to the 2012–2013 season, UNC head coachRoy Williams hired Davis as an assistant.[11] Davis also served as head coach ofUNC's junior varsity basketball team, one of the only junior varsity teams remaining in college basketball. UNC's junior varsity program is a long-standing program tradition, and several former JV players have gone on to be walk-ons for the varsity team.
Davis was on the bench for the Tar Heels2017 NCAA Men's Basketball tournament run that concluded with a 71–65 win over Gonzaga in theNational Championship game.
Following the retirement of Williams, Davis was named the 19th head coach in program history, and became the firstAfrican-American to lead the program. The move was initially met with some criticism, as Davis had never been a head coach at any level. Despite this, Williams had been grooming him for a head coaching job much in the same way thatDean Smith had mentored Williams during Williams' time as a Tar Heel assistant coach from 1978 to 1988.
Davis recorded his first career win in his first game as head coach. The Tar Heels beatLoyola (MD) 83–67 at home in theDean Smith Center to open the season.[12] On February 21, 2022, Davis's Tar Heels defeatedLouisville to give the first-year head coach his 20th victory of the year. Davis became the fourth ACC head coach to win twenty games in his debut season in the past twenty-five years with the victory.[13] Previous Tar Heel coachesMatt Doherty (2000–01), andBill Guthridge (1997–98) are two of the other three coaches to reach the twenty-win mark in their debut seasons, winning 26 and 34 games respectively. Davis's Tar Heels capped off a 23–8 regular season with a 94–81 victory over Duke inMike Krzyzewski's final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Davis's Tar Heels went 1–1 in his firstACC tournament as head coach, and earned an Eastern regional 8th seed in the 2022NCAA tournament. After cruising to a 95–63 win over 9-seedMarquette in the first round, the Tar Heels upset the East's number one seed, theBaylor Bears, in the second round. The Tar Heels hung on and won the game 93–86 in overtime after losing a 25-point second-half lead.[14] The victory secured Davis's firstsweet sixteen berth as head coach and the school's 30th overall, the most by any program in Division I history. After a 73–66 victory over 4th seed UCLA Bruins in the Sweet Sixteen, Davis and his Tar Heels advanced to the Elite Eight where they defeated theSt. Peter's Peacocks 69–49 to earn a trip to the Final Four. In the national semifinal game, the Tar Heels matched up against arch rivals Duke for the first time in NCAA tournament history. The Tar Heels defeated the Blue Devils 81–77 in what wasCoach K's final game. However, in the national championship game, Davis' Tar Heels were defeated by theKansas Jayhawks, 72–69.
Due to the Tar Heels' success in his first year as head coach, Davis became one of the few college basketball figures to have gone to a Final Four as a player (1991), an assistant coach (2016 and 2017), and as a head coach (2022).
After leading the Tar Heels to a 17-3 conference record and winning the ACC regular season championship, Davis was named the 2024 ACC Coach of the Year.[15]
Davis and his wife Leslie have three children: Elijah, Bobbie Grace and Micah. As of the 2025–26 season, Elijah plays college basketball for his father at UNC. At the press conference announcing his hiring as the UNC basketball coach, when asked about being the first black UNC head coach, Davis caused public debate by stating he's proud to be African-American but also proud that his wife is white.[16] Davis is a devoutChristian.[17][18]
Davis is cousins with currentBrooklyn Nets playerDrake Powell. Davis' aunt is Powell's grandmother.[19]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| * | Led the league |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992–93 | New York | 50 | 2 | 16.8 | .438 | .316 | .796 | 1.1 | 1.7 | .4 | .1 | 5.4 |
| 1993–94 | New York | 56 | 27 | 23.8 | .471 | .402 | .825 | 1.2 | 2.9 | .7 | .1 | 11.0 |
| 1994–95 | New York | 82* | 4 | 20.7 | .480 | .455 | .808 | 1.3 | 1.8 | .4 | .1 | 10.0 |
| 1995–96 | New York | 74 | 14 | 24.0 | .486 | .476 | .868 | 1.7 | 1.4 | .4 | .1 | 10.7 |
| 1996–97 | Toronto | 36 | 0 | 17.3 | .402 | .229 | .739 | 1.1 | .9 | .3 | .1 | 5.0 |
| 1997–98 | Dallas | 81 | 30 | 29.4 | .456 | .439 | .836 | 2.1 | 1.9 | .5 | .1 | 11.1 |
| 1998–99 | Dallas | 50* | 21 | 27.6 | .438 | .451 | .880 | 1.7 | 1.8 | .4 | .1 | 9.1 |
| 1999–2000 | Dallas | 79 | 15 | 23.0 | .468 | .491* | .870 | 1.7 | 1.8 | .3 | .0 | 7.4 |
| 2000–01 | Dallas | 51 | 7 | 24.7 | .443 | .436 | .854 | 2.1 | 1.2 | .6 | .0 | 7.3 |
| 2000–01 | Washington | 15 | 11 | 28.7 | .479 | .526 | .905 | 2.0 | 3.3 | .4 | .0 | 10.2 |
| 2001–02 | Washington | 51 | 17 | 24.2 | .448 | .452 | .762 | 1.5 | 2.1 | .5 | .1 | 7.2 |
| 2002–03 | Detroit | 43 | 1 | 7.6 | .392 | .333 | .833 | .8 | .7 | .1 | .0 | 1.8 |
| 2003–04 | Detroit | 3 | 0 | 7.7 | .000 | .000 | – | .0 | .3 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2003–04 | New Jersey | 14 | 0 | 3.9 | .111 | – | 1.000 | .6 | .2 | .1 | .0 | .3 |
| Career | 685 | 149 | 22.1 | .458 | .441 | .837 | 1.5 | 1.7 | .4 | .1 | 8.2 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | New York | 7 | 0 | 13.7 | .560 | .500 | .667 | .9 | .7 | .9 | .0 | 4.4 |
| 1994 | New York | 23 | 7 | 17.2 | .364 | .286 | .719 | .9 | 1.1 | .2 | .1 | 5.3 |
| 1995 | New York | 11 | 0 | 16.7 | .357 | .370 | 1.000 | .6 | .8 | .1 | .5 | 4.2 |
| 1996 | New York | 8 | 0 | 18.1 | .548 | .526 | .818 | 1.5 | .6 | .0 | .0 | 6.6 |
| Career | 49 | 7 | 16.8 | .409 | .373 | .750 | .9 | .9 | .2 | .2 | 5.1 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988–89 | North Carolina | 35 | 0 | 7.1 | .512 | .308 | .774 | .8 | .3 | .1 | .0 | 3.3 |
| 1989–90 | North Carolina | 34 | 6 | 21.3 | .446 | .396 | .797 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.0 | .2 | 9.6 |
| 1990–91 | North Carolina | 35 | 20 | 24.3 | .521 | .489 | .835 | 2.4 | 1.9 | .9 | .3 | 13.3 |
| 1991–92 | North Carolina | 33 | 30 | 33.2 | .508 | .429 | .828 | 2.3 | 1.6 | 1.3 | .2 | 21.4 |
| Career[20] | 137 | 56 | 21.3 | .498 | .435 | .819 | 1.8 | 1.3 | .8 | .2 | 11.8 | |
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina Tar Heels(Atlantic Coast Conference)(2021–present) | |||||||||
| 2021–22 | North Carolina | 29–10 | 15–5 | T–2nd | NCAA Division I Runner-up | ||||
| 2022–23 | North Carolina | 20–13 | 11–9 | 7th | DeclinedNIT invitation[21] | ||||
| 2023–24 | North Carolina | 29–8 | 17–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I Sweet 16 | ||||
| 2024–25 | North Carolina | 23–14 | 13–7 | T–4th | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| 2025–26 | North Carolina | 20–5 | 8–4 | ||||||
| North Carolina: | 121–50 (.708) | 64–28 (.696) | |||||||
| Total: | 121–50 (.708) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |