University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes
January 8, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2005
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NORTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH Roy Williams
Opening Statement
"We're extremely happy with what went on, and I'm extremely impressed with my
team. At the same time, I was very disappointed with the 6 to 10 minutes in
the first half. It only cost us one clipboard, though, so I guess we can
afford that. After that, I thought we were really good. I was disappointed
with Rashad [McCants] and Melvin [Scott] early in the game, and I brought
Reshawn Terry in at that time and he gave us a lift and our defense got a lot
better. After that, I thought we played really well. I would like to save a
bunch of those points and use them later. At the same time, I realize [John]
Gilchrist was hurt and he's a big part of Maryland's basketball team.
"I thought we were able to keep the pressure on them by running up and down the court and using our depth and that was a big key and at the same time, on defense, we had energy early, but we didn't do a good job of controlling John [Gilchrist's] dribble and they ended up getting smoking shots...but when you look down [at our stats] and see seven guys in double figures, you love that. I've always felt that's the most difficult kind of team to play against...I got all over Rashad and Melvin and I love the way they came back and played. I got all over Sean for not passing the ball to an open teammate because one thing we're going to do is to be unselfish... I give Maryland credit for their defense and making us turn it over as much. But it's a pretty good day for us."
On the team's play in the last 30 minutes
"Reyshawn Terry gave us a big lift. But in this league, this is just one game,
one victory. The ACC is no picnic. You feel good about this....I'm going to feel
good about this one until midnight and then we start thinking about who we
play next."
On what ignited the team's huge run in the second half
"I think it was the clipboard [breaking] that ignited it more than
anything....but we just started playing the way we practice-sharing the ball,
moving quickly. I'm not dumb enough to think it was just our play-because I
don't think it was a good day for Maryland."
MARYLAND HEAD COACH GARY WILLIAMS
Opening Statement:
"Early in my career, I changed jobs a few times and you get
something like this and it happens once in a while and are situations to build
on. I didn't expect it today, but when the other team does everything better
than you did that's a possibility and that's what happened today. I thought
early in the game we made some shots that kept us in there. We had that lead
and then we missed some easier shots than the shots that we made to get that
lead. That really hurt, and Carolina got a lot of momentum before halftime.
Then we came out and didn't play well early and that was the game. You have
to move on quickly from something like this because you play Tuesday night at
Wake Forest. Hopefully, we'll play better. You have to be tough enough to get
up when it comes time to play Tuesday night."
Last year's team was able to fight back a lot of the times, were you disappointed that your team wasn't able to fight back today? "Sure. We were down at halftime here last year, but got it back down to three with about four minutes. I thought we could do the same thing here today. Teams are interesting because even if you have the same guys back, we have everyone back but Jamar Smith, the team doesn't necessarily have to be the same way. Guys are a year older and they get different interests and different things happen. We'll look at this and see how we can get better off of this game, but it was disappointing that we didn't come back."
Thoughts on Felton's game:
"Well Felton's good, he didn't have a great game
down here last year and I think he remembered that and he wanted to play well
which he did. He did a good job against us. He's really a good guard and one
of the best in the country. Obviously, he doesn't need me to say that for
him, he's proven that already."
You pulled the starters very early in the second half, were you trying to send
a message or were they just not playing well?
"Nobody was playing well, so I was just trying to find guys that could play
well. Gist is giving us some good minutes, and Bowers is improving. So, I
wanted to get those guys on the floor since the first five or six weren't
playing particularly well. It's one thing if the starters played well at the
beginning of the second half but they didn't do that so we just needed to get
fired up. I thought we played a little harder towards the end of the game. The
game was really over, but you are just looking to play hard at the end of the
game. But obviously, the starters are there for a reason. They are the guys
who have to walk into places like this and play well."
On telling his team to keep working on their defense:
"They shot 58 percent in the first half and 56 percent for the game. So, they are really a good shooting team. They have a lot of ways to go. You can't just shut one person down, but I do think that we can play better defense. So, I was just trying to get them to play a little harder defensively."
What do you do in the next few days to get ready for Wake Forest?
"You always prepare. You just have to say that this is just one game. If this becomes a pattern, then it's obviously a problem. Right now, you don't have time to do a lot of things."
UNC PLAYER QUOTES
"It was a great game. We knew Maryland's a good team. They were going to come in here ready to play. They did a great job in the beginning trying to run with us, but Coach just told us, 'Keep running. Eventually they'll break.' We don't think really any team in the country can run with us on a consistent basis, so every time down we want to get the ball out of the basket - if they scored or off a defensive rebound - just run and push the ball. And it worked out for us tonight."
On knowing when a team's will breaks:
"In the beginning or right at the end of the first half, there was one play where you could just see, they had five guys, they were on a fast break and they only had two guys cross half court, and we ran the other way twice in a row. It just seemed like they got tired, and we knew if we came down and put the hammer down in the beginning. I think that was the difference between this team and last year. Last year we were up 20 and they came back, and this year we knew let's put the hammer down and let's send a message, and that was a great game tonight."
On the performance at the beginning of the second half:
"In the halftime talk, Coach just talked about, 'Hey let's go out there and sometimes we come a little lackadaisical out of the locker room. Let's play with a lot of energy. Our defense is what's going to get us there.' We just did a great job of responding to what he asked. Maryland's a tough team, we had a real good ball game, and we had a good team tonight."
"As far as our own personal goals and our own team goals, we just wanted to play as well as we can and practice like we did."
On Reyshawn Terry's performance:
"Reyshawn did exactly what we all know he can do, coming in and playing and giving us great minutes. Once he can prove to Coach that he can do that on a consistent basis, he'll play more, and that'll just make our team stronger and more powerful."
On looking like he was proud of Terry:
"I know what kind of athlete he is. I know what kind of person he is. He's much similar to me - you know quite misunderstood and just bundles of ability. I just tell him to keep his composure and once your time comes, just show what you can do."
On when the team starts thinking about the Georgia Tech game:
"We're already thinking about Georgia Tech right now. The game's over. So once that horn sounds, we're thinking about the next game, thinking about practice, thinking about preparations. Champions aren't born. You have to prepare to be a champion, so that's what we're going to do day in and day out, just prepare and get better."
Earlier comment from Sean May said team has to play like it has a chip on its shoulder in conference play because of games it lost last year. On whether the team did that today:
"I think we just don't want to get down two or three points in the last two or three minutes. We gave a lot of games away last year, and I think we refuse to do that, and once we have guys down we're just going to try to keep them down."
On defense:
"We just wanted to stop [John] Gilchrest from penetrating because he broke us down at the beginning and got other guys open shots. He penetrated deep, kicked it out to [Nik] Caner-Medley, he knocked down three. [Travis] Garrison knocked down three. We just wanted to stop him from penetrating and after that we felt like we feel like everyone else now."
On the competition for the first ACC game and the first ten minutes of the game:
"I thought so. I thought playing mediocre competition was kind of elapse for the first five minutes but then after that we got in to it and realized this was ACC time now, so we've got to turn it up."
On the team effort:
"Oh yeah definitely we had great help coming off the bench from Melvin. Reyshawn Terry had a great game this game, and a lot of other guys...Marvin and even some other bench players came off and played really good and helped us get this win.
What kind of statement does this win make?
"It makes a bold statement. It shows that we are not a team to be taken lightly, so I think us winning this game the way we did just shows that we are ready to play you know in the ACC season and everybody that comes in or has us on their schedule has to be ready to play us.
How do seniors feel about this win after losing so many big ones to Maryland in recent years? "It was all worth it. You go through all that for a reason and it made us stronger today. And you know, we are a powerhouse today."
Is this the biggest lift the bench has given?
"Oh absolutely. Like Reyshawn Terry he came off and he had about 11 points in 11 minutes. Everybody was ready to play and that's very exciting because even if our starters not playing well then we got guys coming off the bench giving us great energy."
Does a win like this set the tone for the rest of the ACC season?
"Yeah, absolutely. It gives us a little momentum going into the ACC to win against a team like Maryland, you know big like that, it's a great accomplishment. But at the same time we haven't really done much we just need to keep going and everybody being ready when their numbers called."
