University of North Carolina Athletics
Kentucky 98, UNC 81
December 7, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2002
Post Game Quotes
Head Coach Matt Doherty:
"I'm disappointed with our defense second half - in the first four minutes we scored around 13 points, and only 20 in the second half. Field goal percentage for the defense was 60 percent. We've been bragging about our defense, there's been a lot of talk about our defense but we certainly didn't play defense in this game. As much foul trouble as we were in and they shot 52 percent against us in the first half, we were up by three. I thought we were in good shape, but we didn't come out with the energy in the second half that I'd hoped for. It's one of those questions: why? I don't know. It's a tough one. Is it the team, is it exams, who knows what it is. That was disappointing and we had to play catch up against a very good team.
"I thought it still was good the second half, but Fitch controlled the whole game. We did a great job on the offensive boards in the second half, but as evidence of lack of energy: we only had three in the second half. We had 14 offensive rebounds, we wanted to get 18 - we had 11 at the half. We had too many turnovers in the first half. We ended up with only 15 (second half wasn't bad). We shot good percentages - but our defense was nonexistent."
On what Kentucky exploited:
"I think it was defensive energy - obviously they probably made more of a conscious effort to go inside and without foul trouble... maybe we weren't as aggressive. Still, they have a couple things that we don't have. Things that Illinois did to hurt us, things that they did. They have talented big guys that can score. We're still getting the ball too close to the basket."
On effect of Raymond Felton going out of the game:
"I think John did a good job when he came in. I thought Melvin, he got beaten once or twice by Fitch, and then it was just defensive breakdowns. We started the show on ball screens and guys forgot. Fitch turned the corner and got a layup. We didn't help on penetration - just basic fundamental breakdowns. You can't accept that. Yes, we're a young team, but we've got to play 40 minutes against teams like Kentucky. We've got to play 40 minutes - I don't care who we're playing. We didn't."
On how to coach when coming off long break, two losses:
"Work, work, work. We're not going to practice tomorrow. They'll have some shooting session Monday and Tuesday and then we'll practice Wednesday."
Player Quotes
"I think we contested all of their three pointers, they just made shots."
"They just came at us second half. They shot the ball pretty well. We were just out shot the second half. Once we learn how to put to halves together then we are going to come back."
"We're young and we're trying to get it together but it's tough. Two losses in a row is just tough on a young team. The most important thing is that we've just got to stick together-the coaching staff and the players-despite how young we are."
Damian Grant
On his health: "I was always 100 percent. I was never even 90 percent. I just passed out one day in practice due to dehydration, and they just wanted to make sure that everything was okay."
"It was very frustrating for me. I just want to walk out there and play."
"It happened a few weeks before the Penn State game. They had a number of tests that they wanted to do to make sure that I was okay, which is why it took so long for me to get back in the game."
