UNC-Tulane Quotes

Tulane Head Coach Mike Dunleavy, Sr.

Opening statement
"First, let me say congratulations to North Carolina. Obviously, they are NCAA champions and today they played like a team that has that pedigree. I was really disappointed in the way our team played today. I thought that we were further along and that we've made more progress. We aspire to play the way that this team played today. We want to push the ball, push the tempo. We want to get quick scores and get scores in the paint. We want to be in attack mode most of the game. Against other opponents this year, we have done that. This game today, we didn't do it. First of all, giving up 60 points in the paint, that's just a terrible number. But for ourselves, later in the game I saw some of what I was looking for, but big parts of the game and early on I thought we collapsed defenses and went for plays ourselves. We didn't make plays for others and they just beat us up. The first thing you have to know is that you see the differential in size. They're North Carolina, they're going to get those kind of players. And the only way you beat those kind of players is to make them have to work and make the right plays. I was disappointed in the fact that in today's game we did not make the right plays. Times when we got into the paint and we drew big guys to us instead of dropping the ball off, we tried to finish and tried to put numbers on the board and that's not the way we're supposed to play. We've had four or five games at least this year with 20 assists in games or more where we've really done a great job at sharing the basketball. So a disappointment for me but it has to be a learning tool for us."

On how North Carolina compares to the competition the team will see in conference play:
"I don't think they're going to be any better than this, I can tell you that. Great size, obviously at the four and five spot they have terrific size. And they're big at the three as well. The guards shoot the three-point shot extremely well so they stretch the floor that way. I would say, not that you could tell from today's game but from the outside looking in, I would say North Carolina's weakness right now is that their big guys are young. But, in 20 games from now come talk to me. They're probably going to get a whole lot better game by game with the experience they're getting. So they have a great base to do some good things."

On how tough Luke Maye is to defend and whether or not he's surprised at his game:
"I didn't see him on an every-day basis last year, but I would say the clear difference between him this year and last year is confidence. It's experience and confidence. He's a good shooter. His ability right now to step out and make three-point shots… he's not the greatest athlete, he's not a bad athlete, but he's not a great athlete as far as some of the guys you may play. But the three-point shot makes him a lot quicker. Now guys have to close out to him in a different way, even though he could shoot the ball last year, but now it's volume, now it's numbers. He's getting a bit of a reputation. He's averaging 20 and 10. Those are pretty gaudy numbers. So, your close-outs and then he has the ability to take you off the dribble. He has a low post game. And he struggled a little bit at the free-throw line, but he gets to the free-throw line. He's got all of those ways to score, and plus he's a team guy. He can pass the ball and make plays as well."

On if North Carolina is different than a year ago:
"I thought they were pretty solid across the board. They did a good job of coming with penetration. And the other thing that we didn't do a good job of which they did, particularly in that first half, was their point guards and wings came over and took charges. So, they were controlling the paint in two ways. They either went for blocked shots or they took charges. That's the way you have to be to have a really good defensive team. And first off, they have a lot of size so they can play straight up. It's not like they're going to have a disadvantage in many cases. We went at them some in the low post. We felt there were times when we had some match-ups that we tried to exploit and we had some success at it, but not enough. Like I said, we didn't do a good enough job at making the plays that was going to make their defense have to stretch out. They were able to pack it in pretty good against us early."

North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams

Opening Statement:
"I thought, defensively, the first half was maybe our best defensive half of the year. I thought we were more active. I think the one thing we still have to do is guard the ball better so we don't have to help and give guys open threes and if the guy is a three-point shooter we have to get up closer to him and make that a problem for him and make him put the ball on the floor, but we got some good moments from a lot of guys. Guys that came off the bench and particularly the freshman class. I think Huff [Brandon Huffman] gave us some good things when he was in there. Sterling [Manley] did, Garrison [Brooks] did, Andrew [Platek] did, Jalek [Felton] did late. Shooting 66 percent of the game, holding them to 37 percent and 45 to 26 on backboards is good. I didn't like the fact we had eight turnovers in the first half, so we had five in the second. That was better. It's been a tough stretch right here, they get a day off tomorrow. They haven't had many of those recently with all the travel and everything else. Felt good. We knew that we had to try and do a good job on [Melvin] Frasier, number 35, and Cameron [Reynolds], number 5, and we didn't hold Melvin's [Frasier] percentage down or Cameron's [Reynolds] really either, but they're gifted offensively. They are gonna get better and better. They were 6-1 coming in here, so for us I think we got our guys attention when we were talking about playing better defense."

On defense being the emphasis for today:
"I think so. I say I always write three things up on the board. First one today was defense. I said let's make it our best defensive game. We have always cut out clips from every game and shown them to them the next day and we have gone two games in a row, Michigan and Davidson, where we were gonna cut out clips and show them and there is not one single defensive possession in two games. That is the first time I can ever remember anything like that. So I challenged them today and yesterday and even today at pregame about let's do what we are supposed to do defensively."

On Luke Maye's improvement:
"His numbers are somewhat surprising if I looked at those things, but I don't really look at those things. He's done a marvelous job for us. I really thought he would be a good rebounder and I knew he could shoot the ball. Being able to put the ball on the floor and score around the basket is better than I really thought he was going to be. I don't try to put any limitations on a guy… It's not coaching. It's sweat. Luke Maye has been willing to put in the sweat at the amount and the level that very few players have done and it's really helped."

North Carolina Postgame Player Quotes

Joel Berry II, Senior Guard

On how the game went
"I think we did pretty well. We came out and jumped on them pretty fast and from there, we just kept getting better and better. We gave up quite a bit of threes today but I think we did a pretty good job on the defensive end and stepped up and took that challenge from Coach [Williams]."

On if Luke [Maye]'s playing surprises him
"I've said it plenty of times, I know what Luke [Maye] can do and he's done it over the summertime and honestly, I'm just tired of everybody thinking it's a surprise. He's a basketball player. He's a good player for us and he's going to continue to give us games like this. I don't necessarily think it's a surprise or it's anything out of the ordinary. He's doing what he's doing for our team and he's scoring the ball and that's what Luke does."

On how better the team is offensively when Theo [Pinson] attacks the basket
"That's what he does. He's a great playmaker and when he can get all the way to the rim and make a layup, that makes it even better but when he's being aggressive and being the Theo that we know he is, that just makes our team a lot better. The defense gets to shag in and it opens up the outside and then it helps him because when me, Luke [Maye] and Kenny [Williams] are out on the perimeter shooting the ball the way we are, we want him to be able to get to the basket and get a layup or create a play for us. With him doing what he did today, that's the Theo that we need each and every game."

Kenny Williams, Junior Guard

On how the game was fun
"Oh man, that was a fun game. We were pretty locked in from the beginning. Coach [Roy Williams] challenged us a little bit to play hard on the defensive end and I think that's what we came out with, a little more defensive intensity. It was a fun game."

On the key to the game
"I think we were just locked in on defense. I think I have said it before, but once you lock in on defense and you give everything you have on defense, that's when the shots will start falling. Theo [Pinson] kinda got us going on that with that first dunk. He kinda energized us a little bit and then we just took it from there

On the freshmen performances
"They looked really good today, Huff [Brandon Huffman] especially. He came in in the first half and gave us big minutes. He had dunks and just being in the right spot. They have all been pretty good. I think they are starting to get it, starting to understand how hard they have to play and I think that is showing on the court."

Luke Maye, Junior Guard

On reminders when looking at stats
"I think it is important to have a positive mindset and keep in perspective that every day is a blessing and we are going to play every game like it's our last and just do whatever we can to help our team win."

On his stat line
"It doesn't matter what I do. I just play and I want to win. That's the biggest thing Coach [Roy Williams] preaches every day. I mean Theo [Pinson] is our primary playmaker. He didn't have a great game shooting, but he is the first guy in the locker room, jumping up and down. My teammates just keep putting me in good situations and I am just going to keep trying to make good plays for my team."

Theo Pinson, Senior Forward

On challenges of maintaining energy during heavy week of traveling/playing
"Yeah, it's just toughness – having the right mind set. We saw what happened when we don't have the right mindset going into a game, so I'm glad the starting group came out and gave us a good boost early to show everybody that we're here to play."

On Luke Maye
"It's something we expect form Luke every game. He's always going to outwork his opponent every night, but it's just we've had so many great bigs before. Luke has been able to get so many minutes that it overshadowed him, but now it's his time and he's out there perf

Players Mentioned

Brandon Huffman

Luke Maye

Theo Pinson

Kenny Williams

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