University of North Carolina Athletics
Doherty Reacts to Winthrop Win
November 10, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 10, 2000
The following were some of Matt Doherty's comments to the media after the Tar Heels held off Winthrop for a 66-61 season-opening win:
"It was a tough first game to play. You've got to give them a lot of credit. They're tough. I wouldn't want to play them again. It's a good game for us because you've got to play a team like this in the NCAA Tournament in the first round. In the first or second round you have to play a team that has undersized post players. That makes it tough for our big lineup."
On the point guard situation:
"I really wasn't sure (who would start at point guard), but obviously I was leaning toward Adam (Boone) throughout the last week or so. I rotated them in the first half. I tried to go five (minutes), five and five. And the last five I gave to Brian Morrison because I thought he did a very good job in the first half. In the second half I went Adam, then Brian, then Adam and back to Brian. We'll see how things develop. But I thought they both did some good things."
"I thought we played hard, but we didn't shoot the ball, obviously, well. We got the ball inside. Joe had some open looks. Joe was 1-7 in the first half. Hopefully, knock on wood, you won't see Joe do that again."
"I think our kids gave effort. That's all I can ask for is that we give effort. Sometimes the shots aren't going to go in. And tonight, I think it's the sign of a good team when we don't shoot the ball well but yet we still come away with a win."
"You'd like to win by a comfortable margin, but I think it was good for us. The crowd was good. I really appreciate the fans. I though they got loud when we needed them to get loud."
On coaching his first game at North Carolina:
I got a couple of nice phone calls, one from Coach (Roy) Williams. I got a voice mail message from him wishing me luck. And I got a phone call from Paul Pierce. I talked to Paul just before I went downstairs and he wished me luck, which I thought was neat because he was getting ready to play a game tonight. And then I got a neat note from Coach Smith that I read to the team just before going out on the floor. I got emotional as I read it, and fortunately, I held on to my emotions. But it meant a lot to me that he would take the time to write a nice note, and I shared it with the team."
