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University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC 88, Nicholls State 78
December 20, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2007
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UNC vs. Nicholls State
Postgame Quotes
Coach Roy Williams:
On tonight's game and Nicholls State's perimeter shooting:
"They have got five Australians on their team that play international basketball--that's a penetrate and pitch kind of game. We knew they were going to shoot a lot of threes. We didn't get there, where we needed to get. We didn't control the dribble penetration then we get off to help and they pitch it back out. It wasn't a very good game for us. You don't have to be a nuclear physicist or a basketball coach to figure that out... another step in a long journey."
On whether the team was tired:
"They may be tired of me but they will be a hell of a lot more tired of me tomorrow."
On Tyler coming back after concussion:
"He was fine, I wasn't really that concerned about it. I think they did one extra test that they probably wouldn't do very often just to make sure. He came back and had a great score on that test, which I don't know what that means, but it made the doctors feel better. Last night, he said he slept great, eating great, feeling great so I was not worried about him."
On whether he wanted to pull Tyler after their last run--going up 20 points:
"I don't spend a lot of time looking at the score. I don't think I have to get him out and rest him. We had 12 days we rested there and then we came back and played Sunday and then again Wednesday. We held him out of everything Monday. I don't think he was tired. I don't have a plan like that, I just try to get my team playing the best that we can play."
On the game--what was wrong with team and performance of Nicholls State:
"I have no idea, if I had any idea we would not have played like that. Again, give them some credit. I've seen a lot of teams that don't make those shot being wide open, but they made them tonight. They've played in some tough places. I don't think we intimidated them. They played at Alabama, at Saint Mary's, at Cal, so give them some credit. But let's also so we didn't play very well."
On the satisfaction of these games:
"We shot more free throws than we've shot all season--we missed a bunch of free throws. We did two extra shooting periods and we missed a lot of jump shots. Offensively, I'm really not that concerned cause I think we did some nice things offensively--the ball just didn't go in the basket for us. Our defense, it was atrocious. It was bad, so hopefully during this time period with the extra practice time and the extra gym time, we can get a little bit better... a little bit more focused. Get a little more focused is the best way I can put it.
Nicholls State Coach J.P. Piper
On tonight's game and going forward in the season:
"I'm really proud of the men tonight. We said going into tonight's game that we didn't want to focus on the scoreboard, we wanted to focus on the process within the game, defending and running offense and we maintained that throughout the game. We are real encouraged by tonight's game. When we carry this over into the Southland Conference we will win some games. We're not going to win them all, but we're going to win some games, hopefully more than we lose and put ourselves in the conference tournament and take a big step forward in our program. I'm ecstatic about the toughness, the attitude toward competing, the willingness to never give up in the game and persevere through the times. They got a couple of steals, they got that dunk in transition and I thought here it goes, here it goes, the dam is about to burst open, but it never rattled them and just kept playing. Big steps for us tonight."
On what he said at halftime to his players:
"I told them that I thought they had played an outstanding first half. That we had some things within the game that we could not control not go our way. That is going to happen on the road, we can't focus on it. We're in the game, let's go compete, but know this: the fight is on now. They're going to come out cranked up, jacked up, and try to put you away and this is when the fight really matters. This is when you got to come out and show that you are really tough or that was just a front. And we won the second half, that is a huge sign for us. The game's not important. When we challenged them in the locker room with that statement, they came out and really put a solid second half performance on the floor. There are a lot of things we need to clean up. I have a ton of respect for this program, for Roy Williams and the teams he puts out there. For us to be able to come in here and be as competitive as we were, I'm just thrilled with our guys."
On being a Tar Heel fan and coaching in the Dean Dome:
"That's huge for me. I can't articulate how special this was for me."
UNC Player Quotes
On the outcome of the game:
"We had a bad couple days of practice; lack of focus, lack of intensity. Honestly, we were just out there tonight, we weren't focused, weren't executing, and we didn't have the desire. We felt like the game was just going to be won tonight just because we were out there. We did nothing tonight to win this game I feel like. I feel we almost got lucky; we did get lucky really."
On Nicholls State:
"We didn't defend and we allowed the ball to get into the paint, causing everybody to help and allowed them to kick out for open shots. We had bad closeouts, bad help, bad on-the-ball defense. It was just an overall bad, bad effort tonight."
On what Carolina needs to work on:
"We just need to work on guarding the ball defensively and offensively, getting what we want and basically executing. That's what it comes down to, executing."
On the overall feeling of the game:
"It definitely felt more like a loss more than a win. In the locker room, nobody was excited and we all realized that we weren't playing the way we were supposed to be playing. It wasn't a joyful type of win. It was a win that we know we should have won by more and done the thing we know we are capable of."
On the upcoming game on Saturday:
"We're going to come out strong Saturday, definitely. We're going to come out with a lot more intensity and defensive pressure and do the things we're supposed to do."
