University of North Carolina Athletics
Quotes Following Carolina's Win Over Miami
January 8, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2004
Recap| Box Score| Photo Gallery
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Willimas
"Needless to say it feels better than it did after the game in Lexington on
Saturday. That's one thing we talked about when we went into the locker
room.
We didn't play our best game by any means, but you've got to give Miami
credit.
They came in and really bothered us with their athleticism. That youngster
Hite
really played. He's a very, very gifted player. I'm pleased right now with
Jawad.
I thought he did a nice job on Darius. David did a nice job when he was in
there. You also have to understand that Darius (Rice) just had a bad night,
and
we can't take credit for all that. I do believe that we tried to focus on
making
every shot difficult for Darius. We meant to get over all the top screens
set for
him and I think we did that. I said, and you guys have heard me complain a
little bit about our defense, but I thought we were better defensively
tonight.
"So much attention has been paid to Rashad McCants. I took him out of the game against Kentucky, but it's been totally unfair to him because I took out four other guys with him and the only one they talked about is Rashad. In the second half I took out Rashad and Raymond, but nobody talked about that. I was very pleased with Rashad. His shot didn't go in as many times, and I told him he had a habit of missing his first one and it bothers him. I told him I thought he played very well considering he missed his first shot. I'd be surprised if this was not his best defensive game."
Question: What has Jackie gotten better at over the past few months?
Jackie Manuel more than anybody else on the team has bought into North
Carolina's team doing well. He's bought into trying to do all the little
things.
He's bought into playing with complete intensity when he's out there. He's
playing with a sense of urgency, and I think that sense of urgency has been
one
thing we've been lacking a lot of times, but it hasn't been lacking in
Jackie. He
tries to do everything he's asked to do."
Question: A lot has been written, a lot has been said, a lot has been talked
about that after the last game Old Roy sees what Matt Doherty went through
now that he has to deal with a troop of spoiled brats. What's your response
to
that?
"I know that you guys have standards you have to go by, whether it be print
media, TV media, radio, or whatever it is. But there's so much in today's
society
that people don't have to go by. I've used a phrase that I probably
shouldn't. I
said that any so-and-so on the streets of Raleigh can do a website and
chatroom and put it on the Internet and people think they're experts. And
that
part of it is damaging. I know what kind of kids we have. I know the
problems
we have, they know the problems we have. I can go in that locker room right
now and tell every kid that I love them. I don't have any problem with
saying that
whatsoever. My son and my daughter - I don't love anything in the world as
much as I do them. But you know what? I've gotten mad at them before
because of their behavior, because of something they did. If they continue
to do
that then it gets to be a habit, and I do get really, really upset at that.
ut to say
that I know what Coach Doherty went through and that we've got a bunch of
spoiled brats - don't use my terminology, use whatever he said - I think
that's
not right. I think what you have to do is to get teams to focus.
"Everyone one of you guys and girls in here, you know what? You're as selfish as you can possibly be. You want what you want. You know who's the most selfish player I've been around in my life? Michael Jordan. But he did everything he could for his team to win. If he scored 40, he wanted 50! He wanted to beat you. Every one of the players I've coached has been selfish to some extent. And the great players are the ones who fight that selfishness off IF it's hurting their team. And that's the challenge we've got with this team. I don't think we've been spoiled brats or whatever terminology you used, but we have been focusing upon our own individual self, and that's nothing unusual. One of the greatest players I ever coached at Kansas, Rex Walters, I've told him a million times, "You're the most selfish player I've ever coached," And I've got as much respect for him as anybody because by God he was tough. He wanted to beat your tail. We've just go to do a better job of fighting that off, but I don't think we've got a locker room full of bad kids. What happened to Matt - they're sorry about it, I'm sorry about it, I hate that it happened - but they got a bad rap on the press conference when they walked down the hall when somebody told them to come down the hall for a press conference, and Steve himself said that he should've given them more forewarning. Every one of you guys look sloppy half the time yourself. When someone tells you to come around and get in front of the camera in 10 minutes, you know you're not going to primp around, especially if you're at not home. But they got a bad rap, and they're still getting a little bit of that. We still have some problems. We're not Green Acres - what was that farm where everyone was so nice? Green Acres. We're not Green Acres, but we're not the Oakland Athletics of the old days either."
Miami Hurricanes Head Coach Perry Clark
Opening Statement
"I thought North Carolina, defensively, just did a really good job of forcing us out of things we wanted to do. Their double teams disrupted us. It's like we came here and we had, offensively, things we wanted to run, and with their double teams they physically manhandled us and took us out of what we wanted to run and then what it did, it kind of turned it into putting us in a position where we had to make some decisions and we just didn't make good decisions. We gave up 26 points off of transition baskets and I think we gave up 18 points off of turnovers. You can't do that, especially in this environment, against a good team, and I think that was the basketball game. What they did with their defense and what it did to us was really the major factor in the basketball game."
Coach Clark talks about Darius Rice's game.
"North Carolina just got after him. They came up and challenged him on
every
shot and he ended up with seven turnovers and he did not have a great night
for
us. We felt like he could have a great night and Robert Hite could have one
as
well. They just took "D" out of the things he wanted to do and he has won
an
awful lot of basketball games for us and tonight he just didn't have a
night. He
cut his hand yesterday and I don't know if that had an effect on him or not,
but I
think more so, it was Carolina and their presence. He will have to learn to
be
patience."
Coach Clarks talks about what North Carolina did offensively.
"I think our turnovers gave them break opportunities and they have a lot of
tremendous players. McCants and Williams can finish and they attack and I
think a couple of times when we got back, but we were not back and ready to
defend and just because we were back we thought they would pull on out but
they kept attacking. I thought we did a good job too attacking the basket
when
we had a break out but that was certainly the difference in the ballgame,
that if
not for the turnovers, and we had a chance to play against their set
defense, I
thought our chances would be better but they did what they needed to do to
not
let that happen."
NORTH CAROLINA PLAYER QUOTES
Jawad Williams on recent losses and how to bounce back
-"We know what we need to do and come out and be a better team. Today we made a commitment to becoming a better team but we still had many things we messed up on today"
Jawad Williams on where the team has come since Kentucky
-"We've made a big stride. Energy wise we came out and did it with our own
energy and we played a lot better defensively.
Jawad Williams on Jackie Manuel and his three-pointer
-"Jackie played great. He's got into Coach Williams' system and it's working out
for him. I loved his three-pointer. He made it . . . so what can Coach Williams
say?"
Rashad McCants on coming back from the loss to Kentucky
-"It's very important to bounce back. It's good as a spring board to get better as
a team and move on to the next game."
Rashad McCants on Georgia Tech
-"I've seen them a lot. I know they're real fast, athletic, they like to shoot the ball
a lot, and their a great defensive team. I think it'll be a great game. I think we
match up pretty well. I don't think they match up too well in the post with us. But
their guys are very good and very fast and I think it will be a real good game."
