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University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes
February 10, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2008
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Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement:
"Like I said earlier this week, I hate Sunday night games, but this feels pretty good right now. That was an unbelievable game. I don't know what happened to us early, they hit us right between the eyes and we backed off a little bit too much. We got so timid and tentative with everything. We had six dead lay-ups in the first half. We didn't do a good job of stopping their dribble penetration and just couldn't get anything going. I was hoping to get it to seven or eight at the half, we weren't able to do that and it was still eleven. We came out and played better early and got it to six, and then all of a sudden it's back to thirteen. I told our guys, if you just keep playing. We can't do anything about the stuff that's behind us, but we can do something about each and every possession doing exactly what you're supposed to do. I know it sounds plain and simple and corny, but that is exactly what I was telling them to do. Danny made a couple of threes and all of sudden, the guys felt like they really did have a chance.
The crowd got into it and it was a sensational crowd for us today. We need that kind of support. We are struggling a little bit with injuries. For sure, Bobby and Ty, Marcus sprained his ankle in the first half. They taped it and put a brace on it, he was just really laboring out there. It is tough enough to go from the first point guard to second point guard to the third point guard, but all of sudden we lose the third point guard it gets a little difficult out there. If I live to be one hundred and six, I won't be any more proud of a group of kids than I am that bunch right there. They were amazing and again Danny made those threes and all of sudden they started believing a little bit more.
We started to get a few more things out of our defense and got some traps and turnovers. Then we got shots ourselves. Guys we had thirteen turnovers at half time and we finished with twenty. That means in the second half and the two five minute overtimes or the last thirty minutes of the game, we only had seven turnovers. We got a lot stronger with the basketball. Q just did a really good job for us. Tyler Hansbrough sprinting down the court knocking the ball lose and diving on the ball. I don't know how much longer I am going to coach him, but I'd like to coach that big sucker about thirteen more years. When he decides to leave and I don't want any questions about that cause I could frankly don't give a damn. When he leaves I am going to consider myself the luckiest guy in the world to have coached him."
On being down eleven with just under four minutes to go:
"I think that is when Danny made a couple of those threes. All of a sudden it is a five-point game and then you do really start believing. Then we were talking about one stop, we need one stop. It was discouraging when Wayne played great defense on Oglesby and he made that three. It was a double pump lean in three with Wayne in his face. You also have to be awfully proud of Quentin Thomas. The adversity the youngster has faced and then he steps to the free throw line and makes both free throws to tie the game up at ninety. I grabbed him yesterday at practice or today at shoot around; I told him I was really proud of him. He started getting a little healthier with his knee and he has had a stomach problem for about a week. Those are two big free throws that he stepped up and made as well. There are a lot of guys I am awfully proud of."
On Tyler Hansbrough's performance:
"Tyler Hansbrough guys - my favorite football player of all-time was Earl Campbell. They asked Bum Phillips if he was in a class by himself. He said he didn't know if he was in a class by himself, but it sure didn't take long to call the roll to get to him. That is Tyler Hansbrough. I know you really needed that."
On the comeback victory:
"I told them it reminded me of Duke, when we were down nine with three minutes to play in '05. This one may be even wilder. It was looking good and we were looking at a thirty-point butt kicking with about five or six minutes in to the game. Clemson just did beat a Virginia team, at Virginia, by thirty-one points. They are flying high and athletic as all get out. I think they are a big-time, big-time basketball team."
Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell
Opening Statement:
"Obviously a disappointing loss for us today where we led for much of the ballgame. I thought our ability to really put pressure on them out on the perimeter early in the ballgame was important. I thought their ability to put pressure on us out on the perimeter late in the ballgame was obviously important, along with it being just too much Hansbrough inside. I thought our defense really failed us there coming down the stretch. It was like all of sudden we were trying to outscore them, to hold on. As a result of that and our turnovers it put them in a position - by making practically every shot down the stretch - to catch up. Whatever shot they missed they seemed like they got on the offensive rebound and got. I thought we really didn't come to the ball and take care of it as they trapped. I thought that was a situation where we really could have taken advantage of them trapping and really attack. Other than Cliff [Hammonds] we got out of the attack mode and we seemed to be a step slow and tired. As a result of not coming to the ball, they picked a few off that turned into scores."
On the team's ability to bounce back:
"We'll have to see. I told the team that we certainly can't afford to take time to think about this too long. We have tomorrow off and then we have an important game coming up on Thursday. It's getting into the stretch of the season. It's just very important that we put this one behind us and take the positives from it over this four game stretch and play some really good basketball. You have to play basketball well for forty minutes to beat teams at this level. If we understand that and commit to doing that without backsliding then we will be fine. If we take a week or two to get over this, then we are in trouble. We can't do that and I don't expect we will."
On the pressure of breaking the road losing streak to Carolina:
"You never know, [it may have affected them] a little bit. Certainly sometimes when you feel pressure you slow down, so you never know. We played hard against Virginia, maybe that had something to do with it. Maybe the pressure of the situation had something to do with it. Maybe Carolina and their home crowd made them a step quicker. You never about those things and you just have to move forward. Then the next time you are in that situation, you hope you do a better job. In the meantime, we've got Georgia Tech coming up. We're in the midst of a tough conference race."
On the decision to press late in the ballgame:
"We decided to attack back and just put us in more of an attack mode because we were back on our heels. I just wanted us to not back up and to get in attack mode which is really our style."
Player Quotes
On the victory:
"It was extremely crazy. It's something that's great to be a part of tonight, is that victory. We fought hard. There were some tough times in the first half, and luckily we fought and came back and got the win."
On not giving up, willing the team forward:
"I think there was a period where some people were down, but I think some guys picked some people up, especially Quentin. He came in there, and he really got after us, and I think he picked up the whole team."
On Quentin's leadership:
"He stepped up bring for us tonight, especially those two free throws...[He was] just telling guys to step it up. We can't be playing like this, especially in the first half, and I think he lifted us all."
On "thinking bad thoughts":
"That whole first half, but we never gave up, and that's what's so special about this win for us. We're facing a lot of adversity without Ty already, and then we come out here and kind of lay an egg in the first half a little bit, and then we just keep on fighting and come back and get a win."
Did you guys talk about the streak against Clemson here?
"No, but I'm happy it's still going on. We didn't say anything about it before the game, or anything like that, but everybody knows about it, so we definitely didn't want to be the team that they break it on."
On coming back from a deficit:
"We know that we had plenty of time and we knew if we kept fighting we could be in it in the end. We kept out heads up, continued to fight and get stops, and execute on the offensive end of the floor."
On Danny Green's shot:
"It was huge. We got some traps, they threw the ball away, and we capitalized on it. Danny Green hit some really big-time shots to bring us back. He hit that and we got excited and we started believing in ourselves even more and it gave us more confidence."
On Tyler Hansbrough:
"Tyler's an animal. He was everywhere. That's why they call him `Psycho T.' He's so aggressive and he's after it all the time. He was huge for us tonight as well."
On what this win means to this team beyond the steak against Clemson:
"Not even the streak against Clemson. We didn't even think about it and Coach definitely didn't even talk about it throughout the week. It's just playing a great team like Clemson. When we were at Clemson they gave us a great game and we came out with a tight win over there; tonight another tight one. That just shows how great of a team Clemson and how great of a team we can be."
