University of North Carolina Athletics
Post-game Quotes
January 22, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2003
Coach Matt Doherty Quotes
"You have to give Maryland a lot of credit. They've got a fabulous team and an experienced team. I thought they held it together when we made our runs."
"I'm proud of our team for coming back. In the first half it could have been easy for our guys to hand our heads and I think we've seen this year that when we've gotten down, we've fought back. Whether it's Rutgers, at Virginia or here against Maryland. We just dug ourselves too big of a hole against a very good team and it was hard to overcome."
"I think we cut it to 10 (points) and we could have not fouled, I could have said, 'OK, let's keep it close,' but that's not my style or our style. We want to win the basketball game and put them at the foul line and try to go down and make some threes ourselves."
"We should have gotten fouled more. That's not the referees I'm talking about. We should have tried to get fouled more so we could have scored more points at the foul line."
"I just think we got a little stagnant in the first half with our offense. We held the ball too much, stood around and that got us into that hole."
On Maryland having experienced and young players ... "It's comforting as a player when you have experienced players around you in tough situations because you can lean on them on the floor. I remember when I was a senior, Kenny (Smith) was a freshman and we gave him a little guidance."
"Again, our kids kept battling and gave us chances. We made some plays and missed some shots. I knew we had to shoot the ball well tonight to win and we didn't. I was proud when we took care of the ball. I thought that if we had less than 15 turnovers we'd have a great chance to win the ball game, but we just didn't shoot it well enough and they shot 50 percent against us. We can't let people shoot 50 percent against us and we have to shoot a higher percentage ourselves."
On Maryland's size advantage ... "It's a tough matchup because of their size. When guys get tired, Tahj Holden is still 6-9 270 when people get tired. I think that's tough. That's hard. I think Damion (Grant) did a really good job, but he's playing on a bad ankle and he can't give us the minutes I'd like."
On recovering after tough losses with a young team ... "It's hard. I can sense that it's hard. As a young team this is the first time that they've been through these experiences. I think once we watch the tape and show them the clips, we'll have a better understanding why. I think that's the big thing when you have young players, you want to answer the question why. Why did we lose? Why did we dig a hole? When you're going through it during the course of a game it's hard to see it, but when you watch the tape you understand better. I think it is hard to understand why."
UNC Player Quotes
On Maryland's early lead..."We got in too big of a hole, and we couldn't get out of it. We struggled offensively at times when they made big shots. We're always going to keep playing hard, but they made big plays that countered us."
On rebounding from the loss..."It's disappointing, but we're going to learn from this and move on to Sunday. In the ACC, you can't dwell too long on a loss, but right now it hurts. But we'll come out tomorrow and practice and get ourselves ready for Sunday."
"They are talented and experienced, but we can't dig ourselves into a hole and try to come back in a big game like this. For a while we thought we had them down, but they came back strong and composed. They're well coached and they handled our runs well."
On playing with a size disadvantage..."We did all we can do. We just have to prepare and play with more heart and desire than the other team."
"Maryland's a great team. We got down big in the first half and it's hard to come back on a team like Maryland. We couldn't knock down the shots we needed, and we couldn't get the looks we needed on the inside. We didn't adjust offensively against their big men like we have in the past."
Gary Williams' Press Conference
"I thought we did a good job preparing for this game after our win Saturday. We knew how well Carolina played against Connecticut to win that game, so we thought this would be a very difficult game, and we were right. Carolina plays with a great deal of emotion. They're young guys, and they just won't quit. We had them down a couple of times where if we scored that might have been it, but they wouldn't let that happen, to their credit."
"Obviously, when you lose a player of May's ability, it certainly changes your team around. They've done a great job of adjusting, one of those mid-season adjustments, which are really hard to do."
"We were able to start out well, but then we had that lull in the first half where we let Carolina back. Then at the start of the second half, that was key. We were able to go inside and it got us going again. We did a pretty good job of playing with the lead after that."
"We've been a good team this year. In other words, our bench has really been valuable. Guys like John Gilchrist, Chris McCray and Jamar Smith have been big for us this year. Nik Caner-Medley played big for us Saturday but didn't play a lot tonight. It's been different guys. Our fifth senior is Calvin McCall. He's given us great minutes in big games. He has no fear, and he's been around for a while. You know the story, he played football. He's come out, and he's played more than I thought he would play this year. He's earned his way in there, and he makes big plays for us. He'll get that key rebound or whatever it takes to help us win games."
"It was a team effort. That's what we've been this year. I think the difference in our team this year is we don't know how we're going to be good each game. Somebody has to step up. Last year we were pretty consistent with the rotation so it's a little different this year. From a coach's standpoint, it's a lot of fun because it really challenges you to try and get that right combination out there at the right time. Sometimes you do it, and sometimes you don't, but makes you really appreciate the coaching part of things. It's a lot of fun."
On Carolina's Run ... "We're fortunate to have seniors, and that helps us, but in that situation I thought John Gilchrist did a great job of coming in and really executing the offense. That was the key during that stretch, and Jamar Smith got really active at the same time. It's hard to keep coming back. Carolina made a great run from 17 to 2, then we have to do it again, and that's when it get's really tough because it really takes a lot out of you."
