One on One with Isaiah Hicks

Article by Turner Walston 

Chapel Hill, NC--After playing out of position a year ago, Isaiah Hicks is finally comfortable at power forward. Last weekend, he earned the coaches’ defensive award for the fourth time this season for his efforts against Kentucky.

TW: You seem to be a more confident player this season. Can you feel that on the court early in the season?

IH: Yeah, because it’s making me more assertive, more aggressive, just more of an impact on the team now. Just coming out and playing hard has its results.

TW: You were over-thinking last year. This time around, are you more confident in what you’re doing?

IH: Yeah. I learned a lot throughout the whole year: postseason practice, weightlifting, pickups . . . Now, I’m just applying everything I learned from that year and now it’s showing, getting the ball to the basket and just going up hard, just doing stuff that I probably would have struggled with last year because I would just get the ball and hesitate, or slow myself down, thinking too much.

TW: It seems like you are getting the ball in a better position to score, and you know better what to do. Last year, you might get the ball out at the three-point line and have almost too many options.

IH: That’s the easiest way to put it, basically. I would end up like a deer in the headlights. That’s how it would seem.

TW: Early in the year, you’re seeing a lot of time with the second unit. What are you asked to do as a group?

IH: We always talk about coming out with energy, something to help the starters. Everybody wants somebody to come out with energy and lift the team up when they need it, so everybody can feed off of it. Not just me, but Nate, Theo, Joel, anybody can bring and that’s something we try to do.

TW: You have played nine games, and it’s been more than two months since Late Night with Roy. Does it seem like it’s been that long?

IH: It seems like Late Night was a year ago. It feels like we just got to the Bahamas. Everything’s going slow, and I like that because last year it seemed like everything was coming super fast, and I didn’t know what to do. Now, it’s just slowed down, and I like that so much better. 

TW: Coach Williams loves the quote about how it’s amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit. Does that apply to this team?

IH: I think we are at our best when that applies to us. When nobody cares about credit, people will be out there getting rebounds and not worrying about anything. We’ll be working hard, not caring what the outcome is. That quote just says a lot about a team, period, not just us. If any team follows it, the sky’s the limit for that team, because everybody will be going all out for the team instead of themselves.

TW: Is this team on the track to peaking at the right time?

IH: As Coach always says, he wants the perfect game, every game. I would say we are on track right now because we still have the rebounding problem, and it’s something that us bigs, we’ve got to get right.

TW: You have a brutal early portion of the schedule, even before conference play begins. Do you like that, or would you prefer to take things easier?

IH: It’s always good to see where you are, to see what you’ve got to work on, because at the end of the day, when it comes tournament time, it’s down to one win, one loss. So, it’s always good to see where you’re at early, so you know you can build upon it.