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University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Rutgers Quotes
December 28, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2008
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UNC head coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
"In some ways it's an unusual game. I felt like that we weren't doing a very good job defensively and they were making every shot. Yet I don't usually watch the scoreboard, but every time I look up we were up 14, 16, 18; something like that. But, I think the game was backboards and the fact that we were able to turn them over. You guys have heard me say before that the toughest thing defensively is to keep the other team's field goal percentage down as you gamble. Our gambling, trapping, and pressure defense got them to turn over, but they made the open shots that we gave them and I'm just greedy enough to want to be able to do both of them. I think that is hard to do, but we've got to do a better job of that. Congratulations to Tyler; I told him at the time out and in the locker room. I thought Tyler was sensational--six assists and zero turnovers. Those are the kinds of things that we need him to do. We still haven't shot the ball very well in any game and I still think sometimes in practice we make every shot. So, we're going to have some nights we'll shoot it better and hopefully have some nights that we'll defend better and still do the job about getting them to turn it over and still do the job we did on the backboards tonight. But, it's a good win; we're pleased about that. I told Fred [Hill] he's got some young kids, but they've really upgraded the level of talent from what it was three years ago. I really think he's done a nice job with his club."
On his impressions of Mike Rosario
"Fantastic young man, fantastic player; we really liked him. He played for coach Hurley at St. Anthony's. I saw him practice several times. I didn't know if I'd have a chance to grab him at the end of the game, so when they took him out I yelled at him--it's a great game. He's really a good youngster. He's a load; a freshman averaging 16 a game and he comes in and gets 26 against us and some of them were fairly tough shots. But, I think their whole team really has the pieces to the puzzle in place."
On Marcus Ginyard in practice
"He's full live, but it's 40% of the practice. So, I think it's going to take him a while to get to the point where he can be doing the whole thing. And I'll tell you what, after Friday night's practice I was convinced I was not going to play him because he just looked like he was laboring too much, dragging his foot, and the whole bit. But, we practiced yesterday morning at eight and I brought him back at 7:30 last night, we did some free throw work, and he felt great last night. So, last night I thought I was going to play him."
Rutgers Head Coach Fred Hill
Opening Statement:
"We played a good team. The question coming in is are we getting better than the last time out. That was our focus. Everybody was talking about playing one, two, and three in the country. Our focus was getting better. We came down a day early and had great practices. I thought we came out and competed tonight. Our goal was to play at a certain tempo, but obviously they are great at making you play at their speed. We did a lot of good things, but came out short just not enough to get the game close down the stretch."
On playing UNC:
"In order to be the best you have to beat the best. This is no disrespect to the ACC, but we believe we play in the best conference top to bottom. Some people think I am crazy, but I wanted to play North Carolina. I talked to Coach Williams about the series. You have got to learn to throw your best shot out there. We took some of their punches and kept coming back. We want to be the best in our conference so games like these are good for us."
UNC Players Postgame Quotes - vs. Rutgers 12/28/08
Danny Green
On the challenge presented by Rutgers
"I think the last couple games, we didn't come out and play our best. Today we wanted to come out and give more energy because we don't have too many consecutive games where we turn the ball over, make simple mistakes and not pushing as much as we normally do. I think tonight we did a better job, especially offensively."
On field goal percentages after exams
"I don't think that is an excuse for us to say why we are not playing as good of defense or the field goal percentages being higher for our opponents. I think just during that little stretch that we had, we just weren't playing our best basketball and that is due to maybe the little break that we had over the exams of not playing...when it comes down to it, we have to execute and play defense. The last couple of games, we haven't done that and tonight I think we did a better job."
Ty Lawson
On Rutgers as a team
"They've gotten better as team. Mike Rosario is a good player, knocking down shots. They were a lot better than last year as far as I can remember...their system is good and they are going to be a team to watch out for in the future."
On traveling to Nevada with ACC play around the corner
"We got the season in two halves, with non-conference play and then ACC play. And we want to go undefeated in both. It's the last game and all of our focus is going to this one game."
Marcus Ginyard
On being back on the court
"It felt great. It was exciting to get back out on the court. I'm just trying to work my way back in it. Got a little tired out there, but hopefully that will come as I get more involved out there. I'm just really excited to be out there and get back on the court with my teammates."
On 12 consecutive double-digit wins, the first in Carolina history
"That's great that we can accomplish something like that. But when we look at the big picture, it's not something that we met at the beginning of the year about and it's not something that we thought that we wanted to do from the beginning. It's great that it happened, but we are looking for bigger and better things."
