Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes returns to his home state on Wednesday night as the 10th-ranked Vols prepare to battle No. 17 North Carolina in the inaugural ACC-SEC Challenge.
It’s Tennessee’s fourth matchup against the Tar Heels in Barnes’ nine years as head coach and his second against third-year North Carolina coach Hubert Davis. But Barnes and Davis’ relationship goes back 35 years.
In 1987, George Mason gave Barnes his first chance as head coach. And the young head coach’s first recruiting target? Hubert Davis.
“I have great respect for Hubert Davis. He was, when I became a head coach, he was the very first player I recruited,” Barnes shared Monday. “He grew up, literally, his high school was literally a quarter of a mile from George Mason. He would come over and shoot at George Mason. I can remember sitting on the front bricks out in front of the gym talking to him. And at the time he wasn’t being highly recruited and obviously he grew up wanting to go to North Carolina.”
Davis went to Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia. The trip from Lake Braddock to George Mason is a little longer than Barnes remembers— currently 5.1 miles. The eventual All-ACC guard was a high school junior when Barnes arrived at George Mason.
The now North Carolina coach went to play for the Tar Heels the same year that Barnes left George Mason to become Providence College’s coach.
But Barnes recruiting Davis to George Mason isn’t the only connection the two have.
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The Vols’ 69-year old coach played high school basketball against Davis’ uncle, Walter, in high school. Barnes is a Hickory, North Carolina native that went on to play college basketball at Lenoir-Rhyne.
“I did in high school play against his uncle Walter Davis,” Barnes said. “So he (Hubert) grew up a huge Carolina (fan) and he basically just said, hey, gimme a chance. And, he went there and made the most of it.”
Hubert Davis was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina before going to high school in Virginia and returning to North Carolina to play his college basketball.
“Just a great human being and a person I have great respect for,” Barnes said of Davis. “His whole staff. I mean, I’ve watched all those guys … grow up through the years.”
While Barnes is a North Carolina native, there’s been no love loss between the veteran coach and the Tar Heels. Earlier in his coaching career, Barnes publicly butted heads with legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith.
The then-Clemson basketball coach, Barnes and Smith had multiple yelling matches during games and more spats in the media before the then-ACC Commissioner stepped in.
The Tar Heel fans aren’t fond of Barnes and the boo birds will come out for Tennessee’s head coach on Wednesday night. Tipoff at the Dean E. Smith Center is at 7:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday night.
