University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC vs. William & Mary: Quotes
January 2, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2005
UNC HEAD COACH Roy Williams QUOTES
Opening Statement
"I feel good about the win to say the least, and I thought at several stretches, about a 10 or 12-minute stretch in the first half our defense dominated the game. It was important for us to realize that this stretch right now is not what we're going to face down the line. This is an extremely important week for us with practices before this quite formidable task that we've got right in front of us: 15 conference games, UConn at UConn. I told the kids that I wanted to try to start to move towards being a much better basketball team today and to be really focused and to be really attentive on the defensive end of the floor, try to share the ball on the offensive end and just try to use this as a time to get a heck of a lot better. I was worried a little bit about Raymond. In fact I put him back in for a couple of minutes just to see if the hand was going to affect him. He didn't get whacked. He caught it and bent it back a little bit, so I guess what you would call hyper-extend it a little bit. They had taken off some of the pad today that he had had on recently, and he was looking forward to getting that off. As you can see, he didn't turn it over but once today, so I think that having that bigger pad on there hurts his ball handling, but it must help his shooting because he didn't shoot it nearly as well as he has been shooting it. I guess it's a mix pad. I thought at the first four minutes, the first TV timeout, we had taken all three's and Sean and Jawad, neither one had taken a shot, and we had such a size advantage that was not being very intelligent. So we talked about it at that point and then halfway through the first half I think we held them scoreless for about five and a half minutes. We got some turnovers and got a break going. I'm happy for us, and I was impressed with Tony's club and how they kept fighting and kept moving the ball very well and very effectively against us. It was hard for us. If we didn't turn over out of the initial trap, it was hard for us to catch up with them because they moved the ball so well. But again, I feel good about what we did. We had four guys in double figures and another guy with eight and nine, so we've got to keep doing that kind of thing as well."
On this week's practice
"We're going two-a-day tomorrow, then I'm giving them Tuesday off completely and then trying to work hard Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, have a shooting period in the morning and a regular practice in the afternoon. So we're going two-a-days all week except for Tuesday."
What's the main goal of those practices?
"Everything we have. We don't run it as well as we could. We don't defend as well as we could. The teams that we've played, we've been very fortunate. I thought at the start of our season our schedule was going to be really something because we're looking at Hawaii, we've got Iowa, Louisville, Texas, North Carolina - 4 ranked teams and we only had to play one of the other three. We've got Kentucky with a young team at home. We've got Indiana with a young team. So far our schedule hasn't been as difficult as it could be and I thought it was going to be. Lately we've been more gifted and more talented than the other teams, so our whole focus on practice is we've got to get a heck of a lot better. Anyone who thinks we're as good as we can be is not being very realistic and not realizing that we're just being more gifted and talented than any of the other teams we've been playing."
Is their zone what got your guys into shooting so many three's in the beginning of the game?
"It probably was, but I don't agree that just because somebody goes zone you have to keep shooting three's. I want what I want. I told them at timeout, 'Which coach do you think is happiest about your shot selection, me or Tony?' They went triangle-and-two, and we didn't handle that very well, but once we finally started moving the ball and realizing we needed to go inside first, you know we were four for 16 at half for threes and that's way too many. Second half, we were six for 10, and we were getting better shots and also getting it inside more, and that helps you shoot 65 percent like we did in the second half."
On moving the ball
"When we move it we are really pretty dog gone good, but sometimes a ball hits a hand and it stays in that hand or it starts dribbling and not moving. Three possessions in a row, one time Rashad's got it in a corner, he passes it out to Raymond who passes it right back to Rashad, he's open, he shoots, he makes it. The next time we swing it all the way around the horn twice, Jawad gets it and shoots it and makes it. The next time we swing it around and move it a couple of times, it comes to Raymond, Raymond's wide open. He misses that shot, but we just have to move the ball and move ourselves because you don't want the defense to be able to rest. I think the way that we can pass the ball and move it, when we do move the ball quickly and share it we can be good offensively. And I think we can be even better offensively than we are now, and defensively we can be a lot better."
VISITING COACH: TONY SHAVER
Opening thoughts:
"I'd say they are a pretty good basketball team, no doubt about that. I think they can have a special season. They score the ball exceptionally well and I really think if they will defend with consistency this year, they will have a great season. Sounds like an old alumnus I guess, more than an opponent coach. I was proud of our effort tonight. When you are trying to build a program as we are, one of the things you have to teach, unfortunately, is consistent effort. And I thought our kids played really hard tonight, maybe with the exception of the opening of the second half I was little disappointed in, but Hawley Smith and some of our new players really played hard."
On playing this certain defense:
"In 18 years of college coaching, I have probably played more zone this year than I have in 18 combined years. We don't want to be a zone team, right now I think to be competitive, we have to play some of that. I hope in a few years we will be able to play more man to man, but in answer to your question, we play in some zone as a team, but also regardless of that I'm going to play North Carolina, you better play in some zone."
On the score in the beginning and then a UNC comeback, what happened:
"We got a picture of the clock at that point when it said 28 for William and Mary, 25 for UNC and that's going to be on my wall. Quite honestly I'm not sure. I think their trap bothered us, we handled the trap well early, they didn't trap as many times early, but we had some turnovers and it led to easy transition baskets for them as opposed to having to work for the baskets. And when they did miss shots, I thought they were going to stretch, I thought they got some easy stick backs. They are massive on the boards for us."
On how important their lead was for 13 minutes:
"Really important to be honest with you, I really do. Our league is very good, we don't have a North Carolina in our league, but we don't back up a whole lot to be honest with you. We played Kentucky about a week or so ago, and really never in my opinion competed and were never really in that ball game. And so for us to get 14 or 15 minutes, whatever it was, where we maybe led for a few seconds, has to be good for our morale and the confidence of our basketball team. I wish we hadn't fallen of the edge like we did, I wish we could have stayed a little competitive for the next 20 minutes, but we did pretty dog-on good."
UNC PLAYER QUOTES
On the close game early on:
"We did a good job exploding out of the tight situation we were put in early on. It was a close game. They were hitting all of their shots. But, we kept our composure and exploded our way out."
On practice this week in preparation for a tough three game stretch:
"This is an important week, especially as far as focus and preparation for ACC play. I think the most important thing is to take it day by day and concentrate on details and getting better as a team."
On the difference between a game and practice:
"In practice everybody knows who can do what on the floor and when it's a game situation and its game time certain players just really sacrifice their abilities for the team and make the team better. You don't see in the game a lot of what you see in practice, which is a lot of guys just playing together and sharing the ball and things like that. Once we can carry that over we'll be unstoppable."
On the upcoming ACC play:
"We definitely won't be able to sleep on anybody in ACC play. Our next 15 or 16 games are really really tough. I think as far as focus and concentration we need to be at the top of our game."
What triggered such a big comeback from the deficit early on?
"Coach yelled at us and that usually works all the time. At halftime he told us we shot 16 threes. We were four for 16. That was a bummer in itself because we usually want to shoot above 50 percent in anything that we do. We just took it upon ourselves to move the ball a little quicker, get the ball inside, and when we shot a three make sure it was inside out."
On the mindset for today's game:
"Just get better. That was the main focus for this team. Just get better defensively, offensively, executing and things like that. So that was our biggest key and I think we did take a large step in getting that done."
On his continued flirtations with a double-double:
"I told the guys in Athletic Communications, Kirsch and Matt, they got to get a new stat keeper or something because I was fighting for my life trying to get ten rebounds. I thought I had it. But as long as we're playing well that's all I care about. I'd rather get a double-double in the ACC than have one tonight. I'll just keep trying to fight for my life to get one."
On his game-high 24 points:
"I got a lot of stuff on the break. Quentin, Ray, and David did a go job of finding me through their zone. This team is extremely unselfish. It shows with four or five times this year we've had different guys lead us in scoring and any given night you don't know who it's going to be. We'll just continue to be unselfish and I think if we do that we'll be a great team."
On his favorite shot down low:
"My favorite shot is an off-the-glass turnaround jumper. I work on it every day and its falling for me right now so I'm going to continue to use it."
On where the team needs to be:
"I think we're right were we need to be. This team can get so much better. We haven't really shot the ball like we needed to. Our defense hasn't been the greatest. But, we're a lot better than last year. We're nowhere near peaking and we don't want to be right now. We want to get through the ACC and peak and the right time, right before March. We just want to continue to get better every game."
