University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes
January 14, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2006
Roy Williams
UNC Head Coach
Opening statement:
"Happy as we may have been in Blacksburg the other night, we're
disappointed right now. It was a total breakdown of what we like to
think we practice every day. We didn't guard people off the bounce.
We didn't rebound the basketball, didn't keep them off the offensive
boards, didn't stop them from penetrating the ball to the basket.
When we did get open shots, we didn't make them. Very, very
disappointing afternoon.
"Congratulations to Miami, I thought they held their poise. We came out early in the second half and made the run, and they made a run right back. We contributed to that with three turnovers out of four possessions. That's not the way we want to play, but I thought Hite, Diaz and Anthony (Harris), I thought all three of those guys were sensational. They made shots - but they always make shots. It's nothing unusual. We didn't make some shots that I thought we had. It was just a bad day. I'm not going to buy this stuff about "it's a young team." We've played 12 games before today, this was the thirteenth game; we shouldn't have those kinds of breakdowns. We shouldn't be that way mentally. It's just a bad afternoon: bad coaching, bad playing, bad shooting, bad rebounding, bad defending. Again, congratulations to Frank and his staff. I like his club. I think those three guys on the perimeter are about athletic and powerful as you can be from the perimeter. They can shoot, they can all dribble it, they aren't one-dimensional. They are able to do so many different things it makes it difficult to defend them, and we didn't do a good job with that. It's not a good afternoon."
On the rebounding problems:
"I think it was everything. I don't think we boxed out. I don't think
we had five guys rebounding on the defensive board. We've preached
that all year long. We've been one of the best rebounding teams in
the league, if not the best rebounding margin team, I think, in the
league. Today we didn't have five guys going after the basketball."
On getting away from Hansbrough after his strong beginning to the second half:
"We turned it over. We tried to throw it to him, but we turned it
over. It was hard passes, and then they started crowding him a little
bit, too. He did have a good run, and we didn't get the basketball to
him enough. But you have to move. I'm over there screaming my head
off one time, it happened to be Reyshawn at that time, "Move! Move!
Move!" We made four passes and he's still standing in the same spot,
and that's not to pick on Reyshawn. It's easier to defend a guy when
the other four guys are standing there stationary where they can run
in there and make it difficult. But we did try to get it to him ¬- if
you go back and look at the turnovers during crunch time, we had three
straight turnovers trying to get him the basketball."
Frank Haith
Miami Head Coach
Opening Statement:
"I thought our guys held excellent poise down the stretch. We played
with a tremendous amount of composure. We knew Carolina was going to
make some runs particularly there in the second half they came out and
I?m just so proud of how our kids handled that. I thought Robert
[Hite] made a huge shot right off of one of the threes that [Carolina]
made. We executed and that was good to see. We handled the pressure;
we didn?t have any live ball turnovers which I think was the key to the
game."
On the post play:
"Our big guys don?t get a lot of credit for a lot of things they do,
but they are so important to our success. Rebounding is one of them
and setting good screens is another. Gary [Hamilton] and Anthony
[King] just played great defense. Tyler [Hansbrough] had 25 points but
for the most part I thought our guys did a pretty good job in the paint
and we did a pretty good job only limiting them to one shot. They are
one of the better rebounding teams in the league. We held them to only
11 offensive rebounds."
On the team's 21 offensive rebounds:
"It's just something we do. I think our big guys in terms of
understanding their role and what we want them to do, and they accept
their role. They know that is a big part of our offense to them
getting offensive rebounds and getting second shots."
On the team's improving defensive play:
"We're getting pretty good play out of everybody. I thought today we
did a good job changing defenses. We didn't want Carolina to get into
a rhythm. We played a lot of zone but we played some man. We switched
defenses as much as we could. Our guys really took that and are doing
a good job with that. It's something we stress because we scored 81
points today but I don't know if we are going to score 81 points every
night. So it's a big part of what we do to defend."
On trying to confuse Carolina with the defensive changes:
"We were hoping that would be the case. They've been playing so well,
I have to give Roy a lot of credit, he's done a great job with this
team. That's the way we've been playing the last couple of games and
it's something we want to stick with."
On the halftime discussion:
"I told them basically that Carolina was going to make a run and let's
stay together and stay focused. They are going to have a stretch but
we can't let them have two big runs back-to-back and we've got to make
plays. We knew Carolina would make a run and they came out and
executed. The first play of the second half we took away the lob and
they ended up getting it. We thought they would have a play somewhat
like that, but they ended up making the play. Then they had a run, they
got a three, but our guys like I said were very poised. We talked
about being able to withstand their run."
On guard play down the stretch:
"Those guys made some huge plays and the execution was outstanding.
They got some really good looks in terms of us being able to move the
ball and make good decisions. Anthony Harris' three was really huge.
We had a timeout and he had missed his last two or three in a row and I
told him 'you're going to make the next one.' He stepped up and I
think the three he made gave us the lead in the second half. Once he
made that three I don't think we gave up the lead. Those guys made big
plays. I give them all the credit."
UNC PLAYERS
On learning from this game:
"I don't know. We're going to watch the tape and try to assess what happened. But, you know, something's not right and we've got to get it fixed."
On the unforced turnovers:
"That's happened to us the last couple of games. We were fortunate at Virginia Tech that we turned the ball over that many times and still won. We weren't so fortunate today. We've got to take care of the ball. It's so important, especially now that we're in ACC play. Its something we've got to work on."
On playing against the zone:
"I give Miami a lot of credit. They were flying around out there and doing the things they need to do to win the game. You know, we didn't move like we should have against the zone and set screens. We had been working on that the last couple of days. So, it wasn't that we weren't prepared for it. We just didn't execute it right. We've got to be tougher than that mentally. We've got to recognize what's going on out there and be able to execute whether it's man, zone, half court trap, or whatever it is. We weren't able to do that tonight."
On what Miami did to change the momentum:
"I think that they hit some really big shots. A couple of those threes were really good shots. I think it's hard to come back from some of those."
On his physical condition at this point in the season:
"My body is pretty bruised up. But, I'm recovering every day and just getting ready for the next game. I'm just trying to take care of my body, eat right, and stretch."
On bouncing back:
"I think we're going to have to have some really hard practices and really get after it in practice. We just need to focus on the next step and win our next."
On the excuse that this is a young team:
"From day one we never used that excuse. The excuse that we're a bunch of freshman and that's why we make mistakes is unacceptable. We're basketball players. We should never play the way we played out there today. I mean, we've played like 11 or 12 games and they tell us we're not freshman anymore and we shouldn't play like that."
On the disappointment of the loss:
"It's huge. We're playing at home and you should be able to win on your home court. When we come out with this lack of effort, or we're not mentally prepared, or whatever happened out there, I just know it just shouldn't happen."
On Miami's guards:
"Offensively they definitely impressed me. They were three of the quickest guys I've seen. They made some tough shots. Diaz hit some big threes late in the shot clock. I'd say those are probably the three best guards we've faced this year."
On Miami's effort:
"They played a heck of a game. Diaz hit some tough shots down the stretch, as well as Hite. They did a great job of offensively rebounding the ball and that was big for them. They were able to get out to a lead and we just couldn't match it."
On the 17 turnovers:
"That's something that we're going to have to learn not to do. With such a young team it's kind of tough. But, at the same time, we're going to have to overcome that if we want to be good in this league."
On Miami's offensive rebounds:
"Their big guys just did a good job. We were so worried about helping our guards defend the shot and get around screens that they did a great job of having inside position. So, when the shots came off they had us buried on the back side."
On bouncing back:
"We just have to put it behind us. We just have to understand the bad things that happened this game and turn away from it and keep our heads high. We can't let this game hamper our whole season."
