University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes
February 28, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2001
Brendan Haywood on the ACC title...
"It definitely feels good to have a share of the title, but my goal is to win the title outright, and we know our job isn't done. We can't relax, we have to go and get ready, be prepared to play Duke on Sunday. To share [the title] is almost like accomplishing half your goal. Our goal is to win the ACC regular season Championship, and to do that--to accomplish our full goal--we have to win on Sunday."
Haywood on the upcoming Duke game and Carlos Boozer's injury...
"I'm not sure what they are going to do. They might double me hard like N.C. State did tonight, they might play single coverage. They might play Battier a lot to foul. I saw them do that a lot against Maryland and that's the thing that concerns me the most because I don't want to chase him around the basket for the duration of the game. There's no telling what's going to happen. All I can do is go out there and play. It doesn't matter if Boozer is in or Boozer is out. This is Duke-Carolina. It's going to be 40 minutes of intense basketball. Whoever is the toughest man is going to win this game. It's going to be another great game--it always is."
Haywood on securing the #1 seed for the ACC Tournament...
"We definitely locked up the number one seed and that's big time because that helps us as far as winning the ACC Tournament and also helps us with NCAA seeding."
Haywood on tonight's game...
"I thought it was very sloppy at first. We weren't playing our best basketball, myself included. In the end, we just came out and showed why we're one of the better teams in the nation. We didn't let the turnovers bother us. We played through it, and our defense pulled it out for us."
Ronald Curry on tonight's game...
"We were not really looking. The opportunities were there, but the guys were pressuring up on me. When I was getting to the hole they were kind of pushing me to shoot instead of pass. They just took advantage of the opportunities. We just wanted to get aggressive. We feel like the last two games we really haven't been playing the defense where we were on our 18-game winning streak. We just want to get back to our old ways and thought if we trapped everything and brought it to an up-tempo game it could work in our favor."
Curry on this Sunday's game against Duke...
"It's another game where a lot is at stake. If we get in there and we win we can win the [ACC] title outright. That's the main goal. We wanted to come in and take care of business tonight and then we'll think about Duke tomorrow."
Curry on securing the #1 seed for the ACC Tournament...
"It's nice to know but we still have to come out and play hard. Now we really are playing for NCAA seeding, and that is going to be very important for the long run."
Julius Peppers on Carolina's defense...
"I think we played hard both halves--first and second half. I think we came up with a little bit more of the loose balls the second half. We were getting deflections the whole game but we weren't getting the loose balls in the first half."
Peppers on his and Joseph Forte's play in the second half...
"We were just playing patient, not taking bad shots, letting the game come to us. I think we did a great job with that, being patient and waiting for the game."
Peppers on the upcoming Duke game...
"There's going to be a lot of great energy for that game. The fans are going to be pumped, ready to go. We're going to be pumped. There's going to be a great atmosphere to play that game in. What better way to end the regular season with Duke and North Carolina battling for the championship?"
