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University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes
February 24, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2008
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North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening statement:
"We're very happy that we ended up on this side of the scoreboard. Wake Forest still has some good things going on. I think Dino has done a really good job with this club. Johnson, Teague, and MacFarland are the three guys that didn't play for them last year, two freshmen and a sophomore. They were a load to handle for us. They broke down our defense quite a bit and we've been getting a lot better defensively but they broke us down a lot more than we wanted to, to say the least. We work on the backboards and get some extra shots I think was important for us. I think every time we have a chance to throw the ball inside to Tyler we need to do that and get the ball inside more. Wayne's shooting from the 3-point line is good. Needless to say Danny and Alex did a good job coming off the bench and getting some minutes. I probably should have just held Deon out because he is trying in practice but he doesn't have the same energy level in the game that he had in practice yesterday so I don't know if I'll play him this Saturday or not because we've got to get healthy. No question about it. I've never been around where three or four of your top seven or eight guys are walking wounded or not playing at all and so we've got to get healthy. But Tyler and Wayne give us two guys who can really score and when you get contributions like that from Danny and Alex coming off the bench you have to feel good about that. Again, I go back to the rebounding was good for us. We were forcing because they missed from open shots in the second half for sure. They were six for thirteen at the half from the three-point line and the second half they were one for six, one for seven whatever it was."
On whether or not Danny Green is beginning to play 100% after being up and down with the flu for the past month:
"Oh I hope so, because earlier in the season I think he was much more consistent than he's been in the last 10 games. But when you get in league play, it's a lot tougher for everybody. I think one of the things when you're scouting Wake Forest and looking at their stats, they have some kids whose stats have gotten better when you get into conference play and that always shows me something about a young man's improvement and his toughness, too. Danny has struggled a little bit at times recently. At Clemson he was sensational and the other night at State he gets two lay-ups at the end or he would have had the goose egg. But today I thought he was a good force, in fact, the three that he made across from our bench in the second half sort of said that's the basketball game and we sort of meandered around after that."
On Wayne's 3-pointer right before the half being key for the win:
"Well it was but I never really get excited about those things. We've had at least two, maybe three teams, to make one at the end of the half against us this year and we've always been able to handle it. But we had turned it over three of our last four possessions dribbling the ball. I think we had it at eight or ten and made it and turned it into a six point game because of turnovers."
Wake Forest Head Coach Dino Gaudio
Opening Statement:
"I thought a big key to the game was them coming out of the blocks and our transition defense was not good. It is disappointing because that was the number one key to the game for us, getting back on defense. And I think it was maybe or six minutes, seven minutes until we adjusted to how hard they were pushing the ball. We spend a lot of time on conversion defense in practice, so that was disappointing early in the game. We adjusted a little bit and started to get back. I think a big play was right before the half when Ellington hit that three in the corner over there. Tough shot, give the young man credit, but we go down nine at half instead of six. I mean that was a big play to end the half. I thought we played hard and I thought our kids fought. It's a tough environment. The first thing I told them after the game was we have to play with a little bit more of emotional maturity on the road. We worry about this call a little bit and that call a little bit, we have the best officials in the whole country, just play. That is all you have to do and we will learn. I think Roy has a terrific team. When you prepare for these guys, there is so much to prepare for they have so many weapons. You have to get back on defense, they are the number one rebounding team in the league, Tyler is a handful inside, coming out of timeouts and free throws they are going to run and jump you. You have to do a lot of things well to beat them, but we didn't do obviously enough things well. Finally, if we would of made a little more free throws it would have stopped the bleeding a little bit. I think a couple times we were down twelve and cut it to ten, and we didn't make our free throws. I thought our kids played hard, we are 6-6 in the league with six to go. We can accomplish all of our goals if we just keep working hard."
On never getting a big run:
"We didn't, part of a big run is making free throws. We kept getting that shot where we were running a set, but we were killing ourselves getting a shot from the left corner in front of our bench. I think Harvey Hale had one that went in and out; it was a big three. We have to do a little bit better job of shooting the three on the road. We shoot 48%, but your not going to win when you give up 56% and 50%."
On Chas McFarland's foul trouble:
"He is a very good player for us and without him out there that is a big loss. I think right now we have some guys that are pretty good defenders, but not as efficient on the offensive end. David Weaver is a very good defensive player. Jamie Skeen is a pretty good offensive player, but when Chas does both pretty well and he's not in there it hurt us a bit."
On defending Tyler Hansbrough:
"First of all we wanted to limit his touches, which is difficult you have to fight him in the post. When he gets the ball he is a difficult cover and we really tried to dig down on him a little bit. We didn't want to leave Wayne, but we wanted to leave the other guy. We were going to try to go get him. He is quick, when he makes his moves he's not a kid who is going to get it and bounce. He's going to make a quick move, one bounce and you have to be close enough to where you could swipe that. Other teams double him, we showed a little bit of triangle and two. We tried to put L.D. Williams fronting him with our other two guys on the block and we tried to cover Ellington. We got a steal the first time we did it in the second half and I think Will Graves hit a three on us. Our zone was good in the first half, we had five straight stops. They got second chances on us when we did get stops. He is a terrific player and I just love the kid. High energy and his motor runs high. I hope he is the player of the year in the country, he deserves it."
UNC Player Quotes
On a balanced game:
"We shot the ball well, but we didn't take care of the ball like we wanted to. We turned over the ball a lot more than we needed to. We had more turnovers than assists, which is not good for us, but we were fortunate to get some shots, which kept us ahead. They started to miss some shots in the second half, but their guards did a good job penetrating and kicking out to their shooters. We just didn't play as good of defense as we like to and didn't take care of the ball as well, but of course we hit some shots and came out with a win."
On getting back into a groove:
"I think it's more of a mental thing to me than it is physical, but I'm not really worried about me right now; I'm worried about the team. We didn't play our best basketball tonight, but we didn't play bad. But before this we were seeing big strides within ourselves and we want to continue to keep getting better. So, I guess we have to get back to practice and start playing our defense and trying to find the ball because they were penetrating too easy."
On the game never seeming like a 16 point win:
"No, it didn't seem like that at all. Wake Forest is a great team. They missed a lot of shots that we thought they probably would have made. So, that was fortunate for us, but at the same time I feel that we did play well in certain areas of the game. Especially on the offensive end, we got a lot of shots that we wanted and closed."
On 20 turnovers:
"We definitely don't want a lot of turnovers. This is one of the games where I felt we got careless at some times with the ball. So, we just have to learn from it and next game, try to focus on getting the smart plays and taking care of the ball more."
On the effects of injuries on the team:
"There's nothing we can do about it. Some guys are hurt and some are going to have to step. We can't just sit back and say some guys are hurt and give up. That's where people are stepping up. I think "Q" [Quentin Thomas] is stepping up and also myself."
On the poise and patience of the team since the FSU game:
"Coach always stresses no matter who is not play or who is playing, this is North Carolina and we're going to do the things that we do and I think it's really carried over for us."
On free throw advantage down the stretch:
"It's good just because it's some easy baskets where no one is guarding you and it makes them conscious about foul trouble."
