UNC-Catawba Quotes

Nov. 12, 2005

"Well, I feel that this game definitely helped us. I liked Catawba's club, I like the way they ran the ball at us to make sure we ran back on the defensive end, it's always easier and more fun to run towards the offensive end, but I think we did a nice job of running back. After the first six or eight minutes of the game where they sort of hit us between the eyes a couple times without getting back, the second half I thought we were even a little bit more active defensively and we did a better job of moving on the offensive end of the floor, but you know, we were bigger and sometimes we were quicker as well. It was a glorified practice, I've said that, used that statement many, many times, but I do think it really helped us. I liked several things we did in the second half and I think that this kind of game can really help our team if we take the mistakes that we made and learn from them and don't just say, "Oh, well I didn't do a very good job covering that three on two break." It doesn't do any good unless you make some changes and I think that this club is a very bright team, I think one of our greatest characteristics is I think we will be a smart basketball team. So we had some mistakes tonight that we've got to learn from, if we do that, then we'll be able to use the good characteristic of being an intelligent player."

On Bobby Frasor and Quentin Thomas:
"'Q' I'm a little concerned about, his foot was bothering him, he did not practice yesterday and that's the reason I started Bobby [Frasor] today. I think it's just...they X-rayed it; nothing shows on the X-ray, so it's just a little sore. He got stepped on or kicked; I don't know which one it was on the top of the foot. It bothered him the first time he went in the game and so I took him out just to give him a little break. I said, "Are you saying you can't play the rest or you just need a little breather?" and he said he just needed a little breather. So don't read anything into that about Bobby starting because "Q" didn't practice yesterday, I don't know that I've ever started a guy that didn't practice the day before."

On what Catawba did in the first six to eight minutes of the game:
"Running. You know, we didn't do a very good job of getting back, it's eight to two and they've got six, six of their points have been lay-ups when I think one of them has been a half court, but with the other three in a break situation where we just didn't get back. They were doing some things, they were running some plays, you know, it's not cheating to run a play. We felt they were cheating because they were doing some things they had been doing in practice."

On what he has learned about the team in preseason:
"I do think that we are going to be an intelligent basketball team. I like the seven turnovers in the second half as opposed to the eleven in the first half. You know, again, we are not as deep as I would like us to be. We need guys to stay out of foul trouble so that you can't make silly fouls. But I think we are really going to be unselfish and I think we are really going to be an intelligent basketball team. And I think this team has a chance to be good defensively. And at times we do some really nice things defensively, but we've got to make sure we can do it over an extended period of time. You know, one time we got a 20-second, excuse me, 35-second shot clock violation and one other time they shot with one second left after they'd spread us, we were pretty patient the whole time and didn't foul. So I do, I believe we've got a chance to be a pretty good team defensively."

Catawba Head Coach Jim Baker

General thoughts:

"It was a great opportunity for us, and we thank Coach Williams for allowing us the chance to play this game. To come in here and do this, to come in here and get a chance to play the defending national champions - it's quite an honor. I thought we played pretty decent except for about four or five minutes at the start of the second half. I think we've got a pretty good basketball team, and they didn't back down for the most part, but there were just a few minutes in there where we stood around, and we let them take it to us. They elevated a little bit and we didn't."

On the biggest obstacle presented by the Tar Heels:
"Just the size. They are 20 pounds heavier than us inside. And we had a little bit of trouble with Noel there in the second half. They pounded that thing in there to him. But we competed, and we didn't shoot as good in the second half. I think it was like 50 percent in the first. They got a bunch of run-out dunks. You look at the turnovers, 21 to 18. I think it was pretty even there in the first half."

On building from this game:
"We open up Tuesday night on the road. We're picked to be pretty good, and we just got to go play. We'll learn from this, and it was a great experience for our guys."

Players Mentioned

Bobby Frasor

Quentin Thomas

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