UNC-Pitt Quotes

North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams

Opening Statement
"I need to say that it feels better than the last three games. We didn't do what we wanted to early. We wanted to do a better job guarding the three. They made five out of their first seven threes. Kevin [Stallings] has his guys playing and competing. Going through an extremely difficult stretch when he was with me at Kansas, we lost eight in a row one time. Nobody believes that now, because you can see all the numbers and junk like that now. It is a tough time for those kids right now. I think they are trying and competing. That's going to help them out a great-deal later on. For us, we needed something to make us feel good about what we are doing. I think rebounding the ball was a big difference. We had 22 points on offensive-rebounds compared to their eight. In fact, two of their baskets were from loose-balls off the floor. They out-hustled us for it. They weren't just going to get the rebound. You like that. Total rebounds were 47-28. I like the 29 assists on 36 baskets. I like having six guys in double figures."

On playing Sterling Manley and Garrison Brooks together
"I was trying to get Luke [Maye] some rest. We did that in the earlier season. Somebody asked that in the press conference the other day. We've done that before where we have played both of them, and we will continue to do it. I like the fact that they both got 10, but they have to go to get more than four rebounds between the two of them."

On 50-50 balls and overall team hustle
"I'm glad you were sitting there watching that, because I don't think we were coming up with any of them. We had three great spurts where people are diving on the floor and doing that sort of thing. It was sensational. I like those kinds of plays. We did talk about defend, rebounding and efforts. Those were the three things we wanted to talk about for the game. Our guys around here, you lose a couple and they start to feel the pressure because they are such good kids. I think we were tight early, and we missed some shots and got more into the game. Lose yourself in the game by diving onto the floor, sprinting back, and all of sudden things get easier for you."

On Kenny Williams
"I congratulated him. I said hello to him. I hadn't seen Kenny Williams in a couple weeks. Congratulated him for showing up. I like the fact he made some baskets in the second half. He can't be a nicer kid. He himself is the only one who knows if he is feeling pressured or if he's just going through a tough stretch. Very small difference between the two, and it's how you handle it. I felt great about him making those baskets in the second half. I think he made two-threes early on in the second half."

On Cameron Johnson being pressured in the beginning
"May have been. He missed some good-looking shots. He's been shooting the ball well. One of those was a tough shot, but the rest of them were pretty open. I told him to pretend it's an early game because that is what it is. Perhaps he was, but you would have to ask him."

On Theo as official point guard
"Well when he had the collision and came off the court, I was feeling an upset stomach. I was going to leave. He is a play-maker. He is 1-7, and he is one of the most important players in the game. His only basket was an offensive-rebound dunk. 13 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 turnover. That's what we need him to do."

On team's sense of urgency
"They are only hearing it from us every 13 seconds. If they don't got it by now, we need to start speaking a different language."

Pittsburgh Head Coach Kevin Stallings

Opening Statement
"I haven't been disappointed too much lately with my team. I'm a little disappointed tonight, particularly on the defensive end. I didn't think we competed like we have to and know we need to. There were some possessions where we played really well defensively and they would get an offensive rebound and they would beat us and score against us anyways. They played well obviously and I didn't think we did so much, but certainly have to give them credit. It probably wasn't the most ideal time to catch them. We still walked away a little disappointed. Maybe I will feel a little differently when I see the film. I think we can play better than that."

On Cameron Johnson
"I don't like to comment on other people's players. Ask Roy about how he played. I couldn't tell you. I was worried about my guys."

On Carolina's small line-up
"I think the thing that has really impressed me about the whole deal is how you could understand last year why they were a great offensive rebounding team with Kennedy [Meeks] and all those big cats they had in there. They really shouldn't be a good offensive rebounding team this year and they are a great offensive rebounding team, so it's obviously coaching. Their transition game is always good. I think their two staples from an offensive standpoint [are] that they run and that they rebound. They run and rebound with this team, even though it is smaller than other teams and they still rebound very effectively. It's obviously – not because I didn't know this already – but it is how it's coached."

On the difficulty of the loss with Cameron [Johnson] playing on the opposing team
"The game got away from us at the end of the first half. There were a couple of loose balls that they got that turned into points from turnovers and things. From there, they came out. We tried to play zone at the start of the second half. We knew going into the game that Luke Maye was a bad match-up for us. We didn't have a great guy to defend him and so we tried to play the zone, and they came out and hit a couple shots against us to spread the lead out. We just weren't able to guard him. We didn't have an answer for them defensively and a lot of that was caused by the mismatch we had with Maye and of course how well he played."

North Carolina Players

Theo Pinson, Senior Guard
On getting out of three-game losing streak
"Yeah, we just needed it. We needed tonight. It was a little bit of pressing at the beginning, just like 'Come on, come on, let's get it going,' but once we relaxed we went out there and just played our style of basketball and did it very well tonight."

On early injury to shoulder
"I think my arm got caught in his and I tried to lift and the other shoulder got hurt. I was like, oh my gosh bro, you have terrible luck right now, but it's fine."

On second half run
"Yeah, just doing what we've been preaching since the Clemson game. No strong-side help. We cut that down and cut down some of the threes. That helped us out a lot."

On team's sense of urgency at this point in the season
"When we play hard and play together, we are a very dangerous team. That's something we lost a little bit in January so we just needed to pick that up and we did a good job of that."

Cameron Johnson, Graduate Guard
On extra emotion with playing Pitt
"I tried not to look at this game any different obviously you're going to feel some things when you play your former team. I spent three years there. I grew up in Pittsburgh. My dad played at Pitt. My mom went to nursing school there. My brother still is doing research for the university so obviously I have a pretty strong connection there. Just try to look at it as a whole other game. There is a little bit of extra emotion playing against your former team, but I just tried to come out and make it feel like any other game."

On only playing with one guy that played today while at Pitt
"That makes a difference. Knowing that I put on that jersey for a pretty long time and seeing that jersey across the way… There was only one, Jonathon Milligan. Helped recruit a couple of those guys on their visit so I know a couple of those guys, decently enough. I tried to treat it as a normal game. I have respect for them and just wanted to come out and get a win today."

On his big plays and the emotional significance
"I don't think in those moments that there was any significance of playing against Pitt. I think there was excitement for a couple of those plays. I know Garrison [Brooks] made a tremendous play diving on the floor and then passing it to me. It was almost like I was little confused, like 'Wow, I'm right under the hoop with no one around me.' The energy in the arena picked up a lot. I think that was the overwhelming emotion, the energy in the arena and Garrison making a tremendous play and building up a lead."

Luke Maye, Junior Forward
On his thoughts of tonight's game
"Had so many guys score so many points. That was big for us. Garrison [Brooks] and Sterling [Manley] really gave us great minutes off the bench. Shot free throws better. Shot it from three a lot better. It was a lot better performance. It is a lot better when the ball goes in the basket."

On losses
"We are going to be fine. We just got to keep and fighting and keep playing good on defense and everything will work out for us."

On tonight's performance
"It was a really good team effort for us. Give credit to a lot of guys for really stepping up and playing with confidence. It was a fun game and we got to keep it moving into next week."

Players Mentioned

Garrison Brooks

Cameron Johnson

Sterling Manley

Luke Maye

Theo Pinson

Kenny Williams

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