UNC-Clemson Quotes

North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
"That's ACC basketball. We shoot 65 percent in the second half but turn it over 10 times. They make 15 of their first 16 shots or something outrageous like that. They shoot 32 percent in the first half and 61 percent in the second half. It was a weird game. I told the guys, I started the season at 67 percent and I'm going to end the season at 97 percent. It's frustrating at times, but some of the turnovers were just outrageous. Kenny turns it over at the center line. You know how the other team steals the pass? Because his guy is guarded. Don't throw it to him. Then we have a back-court violation. We have all kinds of crazy stuff. Cam [Johnson] made some big shots for us. Joel [Berry] made some big shots for us. Luke [Maye] made a couple of hoops in the second half. I think, according to Steve [Kirschner], they got it to a one possession game three different times, but they never got the ball within a one possession game. They got it to a one possession game then we scored every one of those times. They shoot 61 percent, as I said, and we shoot 65 percent in the second half. I think both teams were trying to guard. It just didn't look like it on our bunch. Five guys in double figures, you like that. Needless to say, I am proud of Luke coming back out there and trying to play. I told him he didn't look very good, but if he played well I'd still love him. He did make two big baskets during the stretch down the run. We made nine of 10 [free throws] in one stretch. Nine of 10 in free throws, but just some silly turnovers. Brad's [Brownell] got a really good club. We know we play them again in 12 days. Elijah [Thomas] was tough for us to handle inside. In fact, we didn't do a very good job of handling him, but that's ACC basketball for you."

On winning a game against a team that made 16 straight shots
"No, I've only coached almost 1100, probably over 1100 if you count JV games and everything, and I've never seen anything like that. You hope it evens out. It didn't even out very well. They were 15-for-16 then ended up 19-for-31 so they missed some down the stretch so it somewhat evens out."

On forced turnovers
"I think they've had some turnovers themselves. I don't know how many we forced. You guys have been here. I complain everyday about what we're doing defensively. We've got to figure out a way to do it better. Either guard them better from the three-point line, guard them better inside, or get them to turn it over. Tonight, I'd say we were 0-for-3. We didn't guard them on the perimeter, we didn't guard them inside, and we didn't get them to turn it over."

On progress of the team
"This was another game because Donte [Grantham] can shoot it from outside. It's a tougher match up. It's harder for Luke [Maye] guarding Donte than it is for Luke guarding an inside guy. We thought staying small was okay. Rebounding 29-26. Offensive rebounds – that's pretty good – 10-0. We're a work in progress, or in process, or whatever you want to call that. I hope we're not a finished product right now. We've got to get better every day and that's what we're trying to do in practice. Yes, I'm frustrated about a lot of things, but it's a W."

Clemson Head Coach Brad Brownell
Opening Statement
"Give North Carolina a lot of credit. I thought they played well tonight. I thought they were really ready to play. Obviously the way they shoot the ball now, I think it is one of their better shooting teams and we were certainly worried about that. Cam Johnson I think has been a great addition. There's a lot guys to cover and because of that it is hard to cover them all. A little disappointed in the way our guys played tonight. I don't think we played very well. Just started of the game very poorly with turnovers, some careless ones and then couldn't make free throws, couldn't make a shot. I thought we were a little down and just kind of pouted a little bit based on our poor offense. Never really defend like a team that's a good team and they just made us pay all night."

On Cameron Johnson's hot shooting
"Matter of time, matter of time. He lit up a whole lot of teams last year at Pittsburgh. He's finding his way in a new program and getting used to playing with different players. He's a huge dimension for them, I think. He's another added shooter to go along with [Kenny] Williams and the rest of them. They have a good team. Luke [Maye] is a guy I recruited extremely hard and a huge fan of. Obviously Joel Berry is just a really good player. There's a lot of different guys to cover. [Theo] Pinson does a great job of just being the glue guy. Their pieces fit well and that's why they have a good team."

On reason for turnover trouble
"I mean there is certainly some of it that is North Carolina's defense but there is also some of it that's just carelessness and poor fundamentals and guys just not being mentally into where they should be. We got to coach them better on the fundamentals of stepping around and passing and catching with two hands. Just basic basketball."

On Elijah Thomas' foul trouble
"It did hurt. I thought Eli [Thomas] was our best player tonight. I thought he was clearly the one guy that was ready from start to finish. So it hurt a little bit. He was very focused, playing pretty well and it hurt a little but it wasn't the difference."

On hot shooting to start the second half
"I thought we just executed some things better, were a little more patient. Some of it is law of averages, we did miss some open shots in the first half. I'm not counting on making that percentage. But we just played better, settled well into the game. We got a few stops so now you're playing not against a set defense every time and I think that helps it also."

On first half shot selection
"I don't think we took a lot of bad shots. I thought we had some bad turnovers. We had a few times where we put our head down and tried a couple bad plays but that's going to happen every once in a while. We just didn't share it well enough and tried to do things too quickly. And the poor turnovers were frustrating."

On fixing turnover problems
"Just keep talking about it. it is the one thing this year's team has not done as well as last year's team. Last year's team took care of the ball. We were one of the best teams in the country in low turnovers. Some of it is because we have so many guys that are aggressive. We do things too quickly, and some of it is just poor fundamentals and we got to coach that better."

On not quitting during the game
"I don't know if we are at that point yet where we need to be looking for all those kinds of things. You just go out and play. We've won enough games that we know we are a good team, but you have to play really well to beat a team like North Carolina in North Carolina and that's just the way it is. They are going to be ready to play us. And when they shoot it like that they are going to be hard for teams to beat. I just didn't think we were, at the outset, we didn't do anything to set a tone like we were a really good team coming in here to win. We just played the game and that's disappointing."

On team's ability to get big road wins
"Well we've been to some places. We went to Ohio State and won, and we obviously won in a quote-unquote neutral game in Florida. Boston College obviously isn't the hostile environment, but it's not going to be as easy as people think to go Boston College and win. Jimmy [Christian] is doing a great job with his team. We've won some road games, true road games. We just didn't play well enough tonight and some of that is because of North Carolina."

On Marcquise Reed's performance in the second half
"It was better, I thought he forced some things. He's got to make sure that he just gets into that rhythm. He's a guy who's confident. He's not going to lose his confidence based on a bad game or a bad half. So it doesn't surprise me. So it's good to see going forward."

North Carolina Postgame Player Quotes

Luke Maye, Junior Forward
On injury
"Kenny's elbow hit me in the first half. I was going for a rebound and bled a little bit, but I feel great. Just a little stitches – five stitches. Doug [Halverson], our trainer and physician, checked me for a concussion and I felt great. No headaches."

On shift in play during the second-half
"Yeah, I feel like I wanted to come out and just see how I felt and play and help my team. I felt bad, I came out, we were up by fifteen, and I look up and it's like five. I was like 'Man, Coach [Roy Williams] needs to take me back out.' But we kept fighting, kept making shots there at the end, and got some defensive stops that were big. Just a really good team win for us."

On Cameron Johnson's play
"It was huge. It was huge to have him come out and shoot it. We know what he does every day in practice. He shoots it great and just have total confidence in him to make plays. It was big for us tonight."

Kenny Williams, Junior Guard
On winning streak over Clemson
"The only thing that Coach really said to us was that it was going to end sometime, but let's just hold it off another year. That is the only thing he really said about it, and that is the only thing we really thought about. We didn't think about it too much and we didn't focus on it. We just wanted to come out here and play our best basketball."

On second half with Clemson close behind
"They got hot. A lot of it was open shots. Once they saw a couple go in, their confidence just went up. They started to make more. That was on us. We could have done a lot better job on the defensive end. We had a lapse there in the second half where we let them get back in the game. The guys on the court have to figure it out on the fly and lock-in and go when it starts happening."

On two clutch plays at end and knowing they can come back
"We know we can make those plays in the end when we need to. We have to get rid of that lapse. Once we can get rid of that lapse, I think we will be in good shape for the rest of the season."

On knowing how much they have to give and still have to give
"Honestly, I feel like we are all playing well. We are feeding off each other. We are just playing basketball. We have to figure out how to work with each other better. A lot of it that we did tonight I can remember that we didn't set a whole lot of screens off the ball. A lot of it was on-ball screens. We have to set screens on the ball and off the ball. It will give more movement and open it up more."

Joel Berry II, Senior Guard
On back and forth game by both sides
"It was crazy that we ending up finishing with a better percentage then they came out with. They were lighting it up. I mean they are a great offensive team. With [Marcquise] Reed, [Donte] Grantham and [Shelton] Mitchell and their big guys. They can score the ball. So we were trying to make it more uncomfortable for them in the first half. Then in the second half they made a couple of tough shots, but I think that they had a little bit more wide-open opportunities than in the first half."

On team performance
"Exactly, that is one thing about Luke [Maye], we are the top guys on the team. We never get to a point where we are trying to press for something. We just let it come to us. When someone else is hitting shots, everyone else is doing what they have to do to score. I mean that is what we want. We want a balanced attack. That is a good thing about our team that no one is trying to press to get there. If it happens it happens, and we do a great job of just sharing the ball and getting everybody involved."

On stretch of three pointers in second half answering to Clemson's comeback
"I was just shooting my shot, and not thinking about it. Catching it and just going up into my shot. I think in the first half I was a little hesitant shooting the ball, and just thinking about it. In the second half, I just let it go and they went in. I was a little frustrated at first but I was still trying to play my game and not press of anything and just let it come to me. Those shots came and went in."

Players Mentioned

Joel Berry II

Cameron Johnson

Luke Maye

Kenny Williams

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