University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC 94, High Point 59
December 9, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 9, 2006
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Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement:
"It was a nice night. There were two things in the second half that I was really pleased with. In the first half we had 10 turnovers and 12 assists, in the second half it was 13 [assists] and four [turnovers] and that is the way we would like to play. We have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. We you look and see that you're shooting over 60 percent for the game that means you are passing it well and taking good shots. In the first half, 24 percent of the time we lost it, so we had to make sure we did a better job on that. It was, in some way, a difficult game with the team in exams. Some of the guys have been off. We have been practicing sort of controlled and sort of cut short, but this is what you have during exam period.
"I was pleased that Tyler goes 9-for-11 because everybody seemed to worry. I don't worry about Tyler, I can tell you. That is the least thing I am going to have to worry about. I was pleased that we were able to get the ball to him. Again, the 25 assists is something that I like to see, especially 25 assists on 35 baskets. It was a nice night. High Point did a good job early in the game controlling the tempo and at certain parts still controlled the tempo. I was disappointed in our defensive play but the only way we could speed them up was when we went to our scrambles. We did a little bit better job and at one timeout I told them that if we didn't get a stop we were going to run a 55. And I though about running it on the court tonight. They did a great job and stopped them that possession, that is why they were so happy around the 3:00 mark.
"Other than that, Arizona Reed is a really good player. He is very active and does some good things for them. Mike Jefferson, I think he did some good things for him as well. They have a nice ball club, but again there were a lot of things with exams going on that made it difficult for my team, but I think we focused pretty well and I am happy to come out of here with a win."
On the emotional aspect of the post-game ceremony:
"It was hard to watch the video. I made a point to never say one word to the team about 500 wins. They don't have their heads in the sand so they knew about it, but I never mentioned it to the team. I was surprised. I didn't know anything about the video. The only ceremony we had at Kansas was for the 400th win and Nick [Collison] and Kirk [Hinrich] and the team presented me with the game ball that night.
That was special to have Paul Pierce, Nick Collison, Rashad McCants, Marvin Williams and those guys up there on the video. That is a video I will have for a long time. And then with Bob Frederick here that was extremely important to me. If you sit back and think, Coach Smith and Buddy Baldwin were my mentors, there's no question. My mother was my hero. But Bob Frederick is the person that gave me a chance. Even though Coach Smith was pushing him as hard as he could possibly push, and Dick Harp was pushing about as hard as he could push, it was still Bob Frederick that had to make the decision. And it wasn't a decision about a sport that didn't have a lot of tradition and history and appreciation. He took a tremendous chance and gave me that opportunity. That is something that I always have been proud and thankful that he did give me that opportunity. That is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. I have been extremely lucky and that has been the biggest thing. I have been extremely lucky to have the kind of players that I have had and the character that they have had is extremely important to me. And I have a wife who has been extremely important and supportive in her way too."
On Tyler's outside shooting:
"It is one of the things that we talked about in our spring individual meetings to develop a little more of a facing jump shot because he is so difficult to guard inside. He hasn't had that many opportunities to shoot it this year, but he is really a good shooter. As times goes along I think he will shoot more of those and I think he will make them too. I think people are still running two and three guys at him, which is somewhat hard to understand because the other guys are so effective offensively as well. We just have to get Tyler to do a better job of passing out of the triple team and doing it a little more quickly."
On Bobby Frasor's absence from the lineup:
"Again it is not just a sore spot on his foot, he can't run. His tail is not really very comfortable for him right now. He hasn't done more than two possessions in a row in any of our practices this week. It is hard to play a guy in a game who hasn't participated in more than two possessions in a row in any practice. Until Thursday he did none.
Thursday was the first time he had any live action at all."
High Point Head Coach Bart Lundy
Opening Statement:
"I'm proud of my kids. They came in and they battled. They were physically overmatched. You can tell that by the rebound numbers. We just couldn't get consecutive stops and defensive rebounds, and had we been able to we maybe could have made this a little better game. I was proud of what they did on the offensive end. Carolina did a good job. We run a lot of sets and they took us out of those with their trapping and pressing, but we're proud of the 10-turnover number. We were able to handle the pressure and still get shots. We just couldn't get enough defensive stops to make it a better game."
On Carolina going low with the ball:
"Even with out starters in we're 6-5 against 6-11. We tried to double it and drop and it was successful sometimes. Obviously as the game went on they really wore us down and they were just dropping balls over their ears and over our outstretched hands and getting easy baskets.
Even when they were shooting jump shots we just weren't able to keep them off the glass."
On the deep bench of Carolina:
"They just kept running them in, and we were running in our three men playing against their post players. We were completely overmatched.
Even at the end I looked out there, and I subbed in my five guys, four of which are walk-ons, and he's still got two All-Americas on the floor even though he subbed all his guys in. Those are their players, and those are our players. That's just the way it is."
On Coach Roy Williams' accomplishment:
"Roy's accomplishment is nothing short of remarkable. Here and Kansas.
Kids play so hard for him. He's got talent, but it's something special when you are blending that talent and getting them to play night in night out as hard as they're playing. What he does is so sound. He's going to win. He's going to win a whole bunch more."
On Tyler Hansbrough:
"He's just so strong, and the thing that makes him special is that he keeps turning you until he gets and angle. We worked really hard on not giving him angles, but it's almost impossible not to give him an angle. He's got a unique style about him, and he gets you off the floor and he gets into your body. He just has a really unique game."
Player Quotes
"This is a team that takes advantages of situations like this, playing big time schools. They're not going to come in here and be scared if they're playing in the Smith Center. We understood from the beginnng that we have to take this team seriously. Something like that is just going to get everybody a little more intense."
On being a part of the 500th win:
"It's a big-time honor. It's a great milestone for Coach and everybody is happy for Coach and happy they could be a part of it. It's such a big-time thing for Coach Willams."
On if Coach Williams ever brought up the 500th win to the team:
"He didn't. Actually, after the Kentucky game, one of you guys was telling me that he was approaching that 500th win and when was I aware of it. I had just become aware of it when the question was asked last Saturday, so I had no idea either. That's just typical Coach Williams. He's focused on the next game, and that's just something that comes with it."
On if the hard foul fired the team up:
"No, I don't think it fired me up. I think I was already fired up by that point, but it was a hard foul and I bounced back from it. It didn't change my mindset at all, I just played the same."
On being efficient with the ball:
"You could say that. Because we have a whole new team, a lot of weapons. We have shooters, we have Brandan down low who can do a lot of things too. This year is different, but tonight they double-teamed me and I saw it coming and I kicked it back out and at times I was in good position to score."
On hitting outside shot:
"It's something we work on everyday in practice. I was open and I felt like I could shoot. That one three I pulled, I kind of hesitated at first and then just let it fly. If I miss it, I might come out of the game, if I make it, I'll probably stay in."
On being a new three point option with his high percentage:
"I wouldn't count on it."
Reyshawn Terry
"It's a very good feeling to help Coach reach his 500th win, and he's happy for the team, happy for himself. It's a great feeling for us also."
