University of North Carolina Athletics
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December 17, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2005
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UNC Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement:
"I thought that was a pretty good night for us really. Defensively I thought we were good except for getting the box outs. They had 22 offensive rebounds and we can't allow that to happen. They're a very scrappy basketball team -- plays with a lot of effort, a lot of intensity. I think we did some nice things on the defensive end of the floor. We had balanced scoring. It was good to have Q [Quentin Thomas] back out there to give Bobby [Frasor] a breather at times, but I really disliked our focus on the defensive end of the floor. We tried to do a much better job on Travis [Niesen], needless to say, than we did last year, and I think we did a much better job there...Overall I think it was a good effort for us, particularly since we'd been in exams all week. Bobby and Tyler even had an exam at 12 o'clock today. I feel pretty doggone good about it and the kids feel pretty good."
On the play of the freshmen:
"We've said all along it's a good freshman class. At times they're mature beyond their years and at times they're immature -- not even up to their years. I think that's what you have when you have freshmen. David's done such a good job leading them...I can't believe anyone can be happier with the freshman class than what I am for sure, but they've got to continue to get better and I think they will."
On the play of Tyler Hansbrough and the rest of the team:
"Again, I was pleased in the second half except one stretch we were one of six from the free throw line. I believe Tyler picked his spots. They played good defense. They keep you in front of them. They don't try to get out and pressure the lane so they take away a lot of high percentage shots for us. So for us to shoot 50 percent we must have been doing okay on the offensive end...Again, it's a good feeling."
Santa Clara Head Coach Dick Davey
Opening Statement:
"I think we're having trouble in an area of the game that's critical to have a chance to be successful and that's shooting the ball. Now, did North Carolina have something to do with it? Sure they did. But, I felt all year long that we're capable of shooting the basketball and we're just not doing that right now. Then, you go on the road and you play Mississippi State, you play Oregon, you play North Carolina and it doesn't make it real easy to win ball games when you're playing in a foreign territory. Hopefully we'll get a little more mature as team and get these guys back and start making baskets."
On the difference in this year's Carolina team:
"I surely thought last year's team had a good chance to win the national title when we played them last year. Even without Felton we knew they were good. I think people have a lot of misconceptions about this year's Carolina team. This team will win a lot of games and maybe even contend in the conference. I know everybody is talking about Duke and surely they are awfully good. But, these guys play hard. They're going to create a problem for other teams in the conference, even as a young team. They are pretty good young players."
On Travis Niesen:
"He was getting double-teamed a lot. That put a burden on him a little bit. But, if some of our other guys would start shooting the ball a little better, it would be easier on him. He was, in the second half, trying to feed out to people. You've just got to make some shots. But, he's a warrior."
On the importance of the transition game:
"I think it's very important for us to get back to our running game.
We don't like to play the style of tempo that we had to play tonight,
walking the ball up the court. We're more of an up and down team. We
can dictate the pace of the game, and we're a lot better when we do
that."
On the upcoming road trip to the west coast:
"Playing on the road always makes a team closer. Going all the way out
to the West Coast to play a great team in USC. We're going to get out
there a couple of days early; we're going to do some things and adjust
to the time change. We'll definitely be okay when we get out there
and hopefully we'll play a better game than we played tonight."
On how good this team can be:
"The sky is the limit for us, basically. We're a great team. We have
a lot of depth. A lot of young guys, a lot of old guys. It's a good
mixture of both, and when they're learning from us and learning from
their own experiences, then that's definitely something that will help
us in the tournament and things like that. It's definitely going to
help us in the long run."
On the pace of the game:
"We didn't get out and run tonight as much as we'd like to. We only
had like one or two fast break lay-ups. We run every day in practice,
and it's one of our main concerns every game. If we rebound, we can
run. Today we didn't box out well, we gave up a lot of offensive
rebounds. If we rebound and box out and get the outlet out to me and
have two or three men running up the floor, we can have a lot of easy
lay-ups."
On being done with his first college exams:
"It feels very nice. I had one at 12 today, so I was the last guy - me and Tyler were the last guys on the team taking an exam. It was nice
to get that out of the way and be able to go home and see my family.
First we've got to go get a win, and then I get to go home and see
some snow. It's not Christmas without snow to me."
On shutting down Travis Niesen:
"Oh yeah, it was huge. Dave did a great job on him. We saw on the
stats he'd taken like 60 percent of the team's shots, or something
ridiculous like that. So we knew when he touched it the ball was
going up. We really concentrated on stopping him going to his right
shoulder which he pretty much did every time and I think we got him
out of his game. He's a crafty player, he'll give you a little nudge
here and there. He's a good player."
On the fast break:
"It's definitely not where we want it to be right now. We're young and there's definitely time to make up for that. In the course of the
year, we're going to get better at that. We just have to execute, be
tough and execute."
On the team's defense:
"Every team Coach has had since I've been here has been pretty well off
defensively. We're still young, and it's early in the season, and we
definitely have some things to get better on."
On the loose ball with Niesen:
"I don't really remember. I remember the ball was on the ground and I
just tried to get the ball. I didn't really see what happened. I
don't know what happened, I was on the ground. I maybe thought
somebody fell on me."
On giving up 90 to 100 pounds to Bryant:
"Well, I tried using my strength one time, but I figured out that
didn't work, so I had to fall back on my quickness (laughing)."
On finishing his exams:
"It feels great, no more studying. I don't have to worry - a lot of
things I don't have to worry about anymore. It's a huge relief, a big
load off my chest. It feels great."
On this team's chemistry:
"It's great. Off the court, our chemistry is really good. On the
court, we weren't used to each other at first. But now I'd say our
chemistry on the court is getting just as good as we are off the
court. Our chemistry is really good. I really like how everybody on
the team, we treat each other like family."
