University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC 79, Virginia 69
January 11, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2007
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North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement:
"It was the kind of game that the kids talked about themselves - as I heard them talking when we got in the locker room - I talk all the time, sometimes you just have to grind it out. It's not a pretty game. It's not a game where its everybody flying up and down the court making pretty passes and pirouettes. Sometimes its just get down and grind it out. I think that's what it was tonight and that's what the kids were saying when they got in the locker room. I think Virginia's a really good basketball team. They have had some huge wins this year - Arizona, Gonzaga, who beat us - so we knew it was going to be a very difficult game."
"We didn't shoot the ball particularly well but give their defense the credit when we're 19 of 39 in the paint and we didn't shoot the ball really, really well all year long. Our big guys - Brandan's (Wright) 66, 67, Tyler's 54, 55, whatever - but they didn't get the ball to go in the basket. Marcus missed two dead lay-ups himself. For us, we do need to shoot the ball well to be as good a team as we want to be. To be able to shoot 38 percent and still win the game - we felt good about it - it boils down to the backboards was the whole key. The backboards should be in our favor - we're bigger and probably have more bodies than they do."
"With Singletary and Reynolds they really put some pressure on you defensively cause they handle the ball so well and they are so gifted about getting into the lane and getting their own shot - gifted about getting in the lane and getting other people shots - that was difficult for us. Early in the second half, three straight possessions Reyshawn got all the way into the lane and got lay-ups for everybody. We were standing around a little bit at that point. Feel good about the win - there's no question about that. Don't like our free-throw percentage, don't like that we missed some shots we should make but, again, give Virginia credit because they guard you. No question about that. David said in the press after their trip to Puerto Rico, or wherever, was that they came back and focused on the defensive end. I didn't see any of those games so when I've seen them they have played well on the defensive end of the floor. Tonight every shot that we shot, I felt like they were getting a hand up and challenging that. That's what we want to do on the defensive end ourselves."
On the second half play:
"I think we got it out to ten or twelve a couple of times. One time they make two straight threes and take it back to four or five...I think Marcus (Ginyard) gave us a life, I think Deon Thompson gave us a lift... I said all year long our bench is going to be important to us and if you look down there we have 8 off the bench, 7 off the bench, 4 off the bench, 5 off the bench, and I would guess that it's more than what their team had."
Virginia Head Coach Dave Leitao
Opening statement:
"We got beat today for a number of reasons, but the first reason is obviously, and I said before the game, this is as well-balanced a team as we're probably going to face all year long or maybe even in the next few years. They successfully play 12, 13 guys, rotate them. I thought they kept coming at us with defensive energy that cost us. We talked a lot about transition defense and I thought we did a decent enough job at that. We can't give up as many points off the offensive backboards- we gave them 21 and then off turnovers. The game ended with us giving them 40 of their 79 off turnovers and offensive rebounds. Any chance you have at being successful is taken away when any one of those stats is as large as both of those were. So they took away any chance we had of winning."
On giving up the lead in the second half:
"Turned the ball over. Before that happened, we got some backdoors we were trying to get.
We scored off them. As a result, what that does to teams, it softens them up so they
won't protect against it. They took two steps out and dared you to keep doing it, and we
didn't keep doing it. We just started putting our head down and going it resulted in a
quicker shot than we needed or the consecutive turnovers. They turn turnovers into points
as well as anybody you're ever going to see."
Player Quotes
On Quentin's influence:
"Since he came back, he's been coming with a lot of energy, a lot of positive play for this team. Since he and Bobby have been back, we've improved as a team. We shouldn't be tired on the perimeter and that just helps us out. It helps wears other point guards out."
On a grinding game:
"They did a great job slowing the ball down. There aren't a lot of teams in the country who can try to run with us because we're very explosive and we can do a lot of things with lots of great players. They did a great job slowing the game down, the guards played well, and we just ground it out...Those games are tough some times, but we're a team that can do a lot of different things, we can grind it out too. "
On a grinding game:
"It's tough. We didn't a get a flow going in the first half, which is why we didn't score a lot of points. We'd get up a couple points, then they;d get up and take a big lead. When they get a big lead it's tough for us to come back because we can't get in our flow, which is the basis for our game.
On being a second half team:
"During the break, Coach is a little fired up and says a couple of things. He yells at first and then tells us what we need to do to make it better. We need to get out of that being a second-half team because when we play someone good and get down first half, it's going to be tough. Coach just talks to us about what we need to do better.
"We do what we normally do, what we're capable of. We were just playing ball. Marcus was on the glass, offensive boards, getting a lot of put-backs and that helped us out a lot. I think the offensive rebounds kept us in the game in the first half and in the second half they gave us an advantage because we started to play better in the second half as a team."
