UNC-Georgia Tech Quotes

North Carolina 80, Georgia Tech 66 · January 20, 2018
Postgame Quotes
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams

Opening Statement
"Well it's a 'W' and we did some good things and some bad things. The good news is that it's a 'W' and we've got to be a little more dedicated to being a good defensive team. It's the second game in a row where they came out and made a bunch of shots early in the second half and our guys are feeling it, we'll sort of match it. I'm not that comfortable that way, I want to get some stops as well. I thought Theo [Pinson] was really something, 11 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. To me, in the first half, our problem was our turnovers and fouling too much but the turnovers were the biggest thing. In the second half, Shea [Rush] turned it over with 45 seconds to play, or whatever it was, but at that point, we only had three the entire second half and one of them was when Luke went brain-dead and tried to make a lob to Joel Berry cutting and Theo drove in there and didn't have any idea and went up and threw it in the rafters. That's three turnovers in the half that I can stand. Our guys didn't shoot the ball very well at all. We had some good looks but their defense is good. It's good. It's also unusual the guys are looking around trying to find where they've got to guard and where it's coming from. It's disruptive. Their defense is good and we didn't shoot the ball as well I wanted to shoot it so we'll give their defense the credit there. Rebounding was a big force, no question. 26-4 on second chance points is where we tried to make a lot of our stuff but I thought Sterling [Manley] there was a huge lift in the first half. Four for four on offensive rebounds for basket and another two passes, one from Jalek [Felton] and maybe the second was from Jalek also. Cam [Johnson] made some good baskets for us down the stretch. Hopefully, we'll shoot the ball better because I think we could possibly be as good of a shooting team I've ever had but we didn't show it today."

On giving up second-chance points
"Sometimes you play people that don't try to go to the boards and try to get back and stop your break. They're still concerned about a break even though we're not running it very well and that's part of it. But we're pushing our guys, as you've heard me say for 15 years, how important I think rebounding the ball is and we work on it every day and emphasize it every day. We're doing a decent job, knock on wood, of defensive rebounding. Except for two games all year, we're still not offensively rebounding like I would like to but it's a huge emphasis for us and usually you do pretty well with things you emphasize most."

On Jalek Felton's pull-up jumper and his development
"Well the shot was not a problem at all. What was the problem is that you go run and double-team a guy and your guy goes to the basket and they throw it to him and he lays it up and nobody else on your team knows what defense you're running. So that's where it started and the fact that why did I have him in there is because Joel Berry had three fouls and I wanted to give him a breather so he didn't get his fourth foul with eight minutes to go and that's what it was. It was shot from the corner and I wanted him to shoot it from the corner of the three and he tried to make it up and I told him you can't make up a play immediately. If you give up two you can't just get it back. This is a big league. I was frustrated because, seriously watch it on tape, he was running and leaves his guy and the guy, [Ben] Lammers, catches it and throws it to his guy and he lays it up. I've said many times I want them to play the defenses that I call and not the defenses that they call. But, then he goes down and I can't remember if the shot from the corner was before that or I think the shot in the lane was after the bad mistake defensively but we need Jalek to be a player. The end. I gave him two chances in the first half and he did fine. He's the one that made one of those passes into Sterling on the outer bounds. He was probably the only guy on our team, Theo possibly would have made that, but nobody else would have made that pass so it's just got to get better."

Players Mentioned

Jalek Felton

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