University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Saint Louis Quotes
December 7, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2005
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Opening Statement
"It's a very fortunate win. I was very pleased with our play in the second half. I thought our passion and effort was so much better in the second half. This team has come to play every night. Even in the Illinois game I think they came to play. We didn't have that emotion in the first half of the game. They out-rebounded us by seven. We finally ended up out-rebounding them by two. Second half we did a much better job getting the ball where we wanted it, not shooting the shots they wanted us to shoot. I think the first half we shot quick outside shots. In the second half we got the ball to Tyler. I thought David was sensational rebounding wise second half. I thought Bobby did a really good job except for the silly lob pass and missing Tyler on the out-of-bounds play. And Wes did a good job making some good shots."
On his frustration about hurting his back
"It's probably the most frustrating night I ever had because I didn't think I was giving the club very much. They were very competitive and passionate about playing, and I don't think I gave them very much tonight. I had a very big dilemma deciding if I should stay in the lockerroom and let them play and let my assistant coaches because I have the best assistants in the world. It was hard. I had a serious spasm on Monday and didn't even think about it. It was ok-I did my workout Monday and Tuesday. This morning something happened. My back went out, and I've been laying down since 8:00 this morning.'
About Tyler's effort
"I think he did a really nice job in the second half. I told him he needs to move more and be more aggressive trying to fight for position because he is a really good offensive player and big time threat for us. He has to understand about working every possession, and I thought he did that in the second half and he was pretty impressive."
About me out worked in the second half
"I think we just didn't have the effort. They shot the ball really well. I'm not positive on this, but I think they were shooting 27% for the year from the three-point line. We either made them better shooters or they liked the lighting in the Smith Center. One of the two."
Saint Louis head coach Brad Soderberg
Opening Statement
"I just hate to lose games. That's the way our players play the games, the moral victory thing is out the window. I'm not into that. I thought our kids played very hard. The best proof of that is how they did on the defensive glass because Carolina, typically, does an excellent job on their offensive glass. We only gave 10 offensive rebounds, which is good. My message to the players after the game was that they have to understand that process today was right. They prepared well and they were ready. They weren't intimidated; they didn't back down. They didn't let the mystique of this building bother them and I thought they played good basketball. Sure, we made some mistakes and we missed some shots, but I thought we played good basketball. I don't want them to come away from here thinking that the loss means that this was a wasted trip. The process was right and if you keep doing the process right, eventually the wins are going to come. That's what I challenge them to do against Detroit on Saturday."
On the resiliency of the Billikens:
"They do a great job of just bouncing back and taking it one day at a time. I'm most concerned about Anthony [Drejaj] actually. He is as ferocious a competitor as I've coached. He didn't come down here to have a good game; he came down here to win the game. He feels real bad. I also feel bad for [Ian] Vouyoukas because he didn't show the player that he is today. Only being 3-for-8 from the field is not his typical day though he did a great job on the glass. A lot of the credit has to go to [Tyler] Hansbrough. He is one of the fine young players in America and he showed that tonight."
On the last five minutes of play:
"Well the one thing about Carolina that I've loved for a long time and respected is that they run the floor for 40 minutes. It doesn't make any difference what the score is or whatever. I thought we played really, really well in defensive transition for 35 minutes. It was those last five minutes that they got some leaners to go in because we were a little bit late getting there. We were a little careless with the ball and they got numbers going out. They can finish and they have athletes that will put the ball in the hole when they get around the goal. I feel lot better tonight than I did coming back from Milwaukee. I thought at Milwaukee we did more to lose the game than they did to win it. That wasn't necessarily the case tonight. I thought Carolina came out and made big shots, they really finished. They had a purpose offensively and that was going to Hansbrough continually in the second half. They out-executed us in the second half."
UNC Player Quotes
David Noel
On how surprised the team was that Saint Louis made it close:
"We weren't surprised. We definitely did try and come out and jump on them early, but they withstood everything we try to do. In turn, we withstood everything that they did to us, so it was definitely big for us to withstand the runs that they made because it could have got ugly out there, but we were able to hold our poise and our home crowd definitely helped us out a lot."
Bobby Frasor
On how Coach Williams was able to motivate tonight:
"The second half I think it did, just in halftime, usually he's on us- today, he couldn't because he's in such pain. It really motivated us when we kind of got in a slump there in the second half. He started moving around better and started getting on us. He really did motivate us just by being here- his presence at a game."
On if he felt like this was his best game yet:
"It was probably a quiet 12 [points] if anything. I was getting the ball to guys where they could score- throwing it to Tyler. Wes, I think had most of my assists today. Wes hit some big jumpers. Throwing it inside to Tyler is an assist waiting to happen."
Wes Miller
On what the team has to do before ACC season:
"Just keep improving. Keep improving every single day- practice, games, whatever, especially defensively. That's what does everything for this team. That's our spark and that's what gets us going. So, to improve defensively and keep sharing the ball and keep learning how to play with each other. We just got to get better everyday."
