University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC 81, UVA 67
February 12, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2003
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Head Coach Matt Doherty
"I'm proud of our players. I'm proud of their effort. This was a big win - no question. I was really proud of the poise they showed when Virginia made that run that started in the first half and concluded when they tied it up."
"I thought Raymond (Felton) was sensational running the show especially in the second half. We had 20 assists and that shows good unselfish play."
On North Carolina's movement on offense ...
"I thought movement was great early and then late in the first half we got a little stagnant - holding the basketball, not moving and that's when they started to make their run. We had some bad turnovers and bad possessions. I thought early in the game we really did a really good job of moving the basketball, making the extra pass and finding the open man. Even some of the shots that we didn't make we had good possessions."
On starting Rashad McCants ...
"I just felt he's been working hard in practice. His defense was very good against Florida State and his defense was good the last two days of practice. I wanted to go to a smaller lineup to try to create a little havoc. I was afraid of their size so we tried to attack way down court so hopefully they wouldn't get the ball into the post. I also just hoped it would just jumpstart Rashad and I think it did."
On Byron Sanders defense ...
"Byron is one of our better defenders. He's been very consistent and it was hard for me to sit Byron down because he deserves to be rewarded for his defense. But, it was nice to come off the bench with him and I thought he did a really good job competing on the defensive end against some of the big bodies they had. Byron is a workhorse."
On playing a small lineup ...
That's the first time, obviously, that we've started that small of a lineup. We may have played a small lineup like that over the last few games. I think we did it against Duke and I think we did it against Florida State. We have five guys who can pass and shoot the ball and that puts a lot of pressure on the other team to come out and guard us. Defensively, we can get out in the passing lanes a little bit better and we had 10 steals, which is a pretty high number and we forced 21 turnovers."
On the team reacting to Virginia tying the game in the second half...
"They weren't tense. They were pretty calm. I think they knew what they had to do. I think they knew they needed to take better care of the basketball. I thought in the first half Billet and Smith really hurt us. They shot the ball extremely well. I thought we did a pretty good job in the second half. But, if you put emphasis in one area, then the other area gets exposed a little bit and (Travis) Watson went to work in the second half."
UNC Player Quotes
On the pressure defense...
"I think it bothered them a lot. We trapped them with our height and the back court, and it caused a lot of problems for them."
On the boards...
"We just used our quickness to our advantage. We had to run around those big bodies because if we didn't they'd get all those rebounds. We tried to get our hands on a lot of balls and cause a lot of problems."
On the start...
"We did a good job of moving the ball, getting each other open and making the extra pass."
On what the game shows to not let Virginia take the lead...
"I think it shows that we're maturing. I think probably a month ago we would have let the lead slip away but it shows that we're becoming a better team - keeping our poise and keeping our heads in the game. If they had taken the lead, we could have put our heads down. But we didn't want that to happen, so we kept them at arms distance away. I think we've got everybody clicking right now. Rashad's back to playing the way he's capable of playing. I think we can only get better from here on out."
On if this was a must win game...
"I think every game from here on out is a must win game. We have to go out and play hard every night and hope for the best."
On getting back in the game...
"It was exciting to get back into the feeling of being out there, getting out to a great start and blowing them out. I know that when I'm on the floor I can put my team in a position to win, and I did just that out there. Making passes, I had a lot of assists, getting the crowd involved - just doing the little things."
On his difference in tonight's game...
"I just played. I didn't really think about anything - my shot going down or anything in the past. I was just focusing on a new day."
On the small starting lineup...
"We got out, pressured them, made them turn the ball over a lot. We capitalized on the turnovers that they had and came out and blew them out. A month or so ago we weren't as experienced as we are now as far as learning from our losses, playing against teams we should beat and losing games we should win. We definitely learn from all the experiences in the past so we were able to come out and know that we had to shut off the run quickly and sustain our lead."
"We're starting to learn that if we play together then we're going to share the win. We need each and every person on this team to win. We want to win each and every game going into the stretch, closing up the season so we can make a big entrance into the tournament."
On how important the win was...
"They just came off a road win from Maryland and we just wanted to put an end to it and play great on our home floor."
