University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Louisville Postgame Quotes
March 30, 2008 | Men's Basketball
March 30, 2008
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Head Coach Roy Williams Quotes
They're ready to go to San Antonio. It was a great, great game. It was a little heart patter there a few times. But the big fella here (Tyler Hansbrough) made a couple big shots and we finally got some stops down the stretch. We couldn't feel better right now. They came out. We couldn't get a stop. We tried to go zone, we'd get a stop, and they would get the rebound and get right back in it. But these guys behind me did great. Tyler was unbelievable tonight. He was all over our offense in the second half. He just kept making plays. They tied the game, he made a basket, they cut it to two, he made a basket.
On Tyler's shot from the left side when up by five...
The reason he made that shot is because he's made it hundreds of times already. Its like that
television commercial, that young man shoots extra shots before every practice, every off day.
He's made that shot hundreds of times.
On the team's focus ...
Well, they are focused young men. They have some dreams and hopes. I've said many times
this year, we don't deal in other people's expectations. They don't have anything invested in it
like these kids do. When the score did get tied, Tyler came down and got a lay up. He showed a
lot of poised because he faked and guys were flying around and he ended up laying the ball up.
And then we go down and get a stop. And he comes down and we score again. We go down
and they miss and we come down, I think we are up four. We pass it around; it gets knocks out
of bounds. It was our ball out of bounds underneath, Louisville was playing man to man, and I
called a set play for Ty to get the shot in the corner. And Ty stepped up and knocked in a three.
So it was something the kids were able to step up and make plays. They are focused. They are
tough kids. We still don't guard people as well as I would like for us to guard by any means.
Louisville shots 50 percent for the game. But we did get some stops down the stretch. But they
had some turnovers and stuff that helped us too.
On Tyler Hansbrough ...
The young man is the most driven, the most focused youngster I've ever seen in my life to try to
be the best player he can be and to help his team win. Twice during a late timeout he yelled
`Come on, let's finish this off' and another time he said, `Come on guys, let's go.' He's not the rah
rah individual, but when he says something like that, they listen to him. But to me, 28 points and
13 rebounds and being willing to take those shots. But he does. But that's Tyler Hansbrough.
And that's Tyler Hansbrough at practice every day. That's Tyler Hansbrough on the off days. It's
what he is. I've said, that when that young man takes the Carolina blue uniform off and doesn't
put it on I'm going to go sit on top of the Smith Center or whatever and just sit there for an hour
and realize how lucky I am to have coached that youngster.
On Kansas in the Tournament ...
I have the greatest love for a place that I gave my heart, my body and my soul for 15 years. I
know that when I was at Kansas and we played North Carolina in the Final Four in '91 and '93 I
said I hated it, but if I was ever going to play North Carolina and Coach Smith I wanted it to be at
the Final Four. I will never play the University of Kansas in a regular season game. It will have to
be some type of tournament - whether it's NCAA or a holiday tournament. But nobody in the
world could have more love or tried to give more to that place than I did for 15 years. And they
gave me a chance. They gave me a chance when I was not exactly a household name; I was
barely a name in my own house. I have no idea what my emotions will be, I'm just ecstatic for
this club right now to be going to San Antonio and to enjoy what's going on and enjoy their
accomplishments.
North Carolina Player Quotes
Sophomore Guard Ty Lawson
On winning...
It feels good to get the weight lifted off us from last year. We had that tough loss to Georgetown
and it fueled us throughout the whole year. So it feels good to get this win and head on to San
Antonio next weekend.
On executing against the Louisville zone...
It was tough. They are a good defenders and were trying a lot of stuff to try to take the ball out of
my hands so I just threw over the top or tried to get around them like I normally do.
Junior Forward Tyler Hansbrough
On not being denied trip to Final Four/avenging last year's loss to Georgetown...
It was in the back of our minds. One thing about tonight there was a point where they went on
that run and I think the difference this year is that we handled the run better and stayed poised
and came back and got some point s and just kept fighting back until we eventually had the run.
On emotion of going to the Final Four...
My feelings right now are great. Definitely. It takes all those past experiences away but also at the
same time I feel like we want to accomplish more. Marcus said to me while walking in here that
we have done something big but we think we can do something bigger.
On hitting shots down the stretch...
To be honest I thought they were both going in when they left. I was confident. In that situation
the clock was winding down so I knew it was a good shot and I was confident. We work on it
everyday in practice with the bigs and it's just something that carried over into the game today.
Junior Guard Marcus Ginyard
On emotions of the win and increasing defensive pressure late in second half...
It feels good right now and I'm going to piggyback on what Tyler had to say. Tyler said to me
while walking to this pres s conference that we won a tournament in a tournament so we know
this is not our last step and we're very excited to get to this point and we'll continue to have the
same attitude that we have more work to do. This team has shown that when we need to dig
deeper , when we need to play better, when we need to play harder, and when we need to play
smarter we do. I think that just shows how good this team really is because when we get into
sticky situations we always get ourselves out.
On Tyler's two shots late in the game...
I'm just going to say the same thing Coach (Roy) Williams says. He's (Tyler) made that shot each
and every day hundreds and hundreds and thousands of times . He shoots that shot every day
before practice. Every off day he's in there shooting those shots and everybody on this team feels
confident when Tyler goes up to shoot those shots. Everybody's confident in him. He's confident
in it and we know he can make it.
On finding Tyler for the big shots down the stretch...
Tyler's a big time player, obviously. So you've got to find way to get a player like that the ball to
give him the opportunity to hit the big time shots. It just says even more about Tyler that he's
always ready and when the opportunity presents itself he's there and has the guts to knock the
shots down.
Sophomore Forward Deon Thompson
On tonight's game...
We have been in some tough games this year, we like to attack and take control from the
beginning.
Sophomore Guard Wayne Ellington
How they answered when they were down...
We kept fighting throughout the game, we had to go in and make some stops. We also wanted to
go in and get some loose balls. We did a good job with keeping our composure when we were
down.
Junior Guard Danny Green
On Cutting the Nets & going to the Final Four...
I feel like I am dreaming, someone will have to pinch me to wake me up. This is what this team
has been working for all season.
On Tyler Hansbrough...
Tyler always comes up huge for us. He is a hard worker and it shows when we get on the court.
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino Quotes
On the match-up...
We congratulate North Carolina on making it to the Final Four. It's a much deserved victory. I'm
real proud of our guys. They played their hearts out. They had a few turnovers down the stretch
that really shot us in the foot. Some guys were giving everything they had, giving their hearts and
souls, trying to get a victory. Tyler Hansbrough made two shots that we prayed they were going to
take. It just shows what an All-American he is to make those shots.
On the play of UNC...
Turnover hurt us down the stretch. They made some real difficult shots. I don't think the transition
game was a factor for them. They made all their free throws and we turned it over at crucial
times. But we did some good thing offensively tonight, we shot a really good percentage. They
were a little bit better than us, but our guys hung tough in a tough environment
On the play of Tyler Hansbrough...
He is a heck of a basketball player. It was the first time I've seen him up close. Some pro team is
really lucky. I haven't seen a guy play every possession. I've coached against Michael (Jordan) in
his prime, (Charles) Barkely in his prime, Kareem (Abdul-Jabar) when he left, Magic (Johnson),
and all the great ones. I've been fortunate enough to watch and observe all those guys. Certainly,
he doesn't have all those skills of those superstars. But, just like shooting, rebounding, playing
defense, passing are skills, working hard is an acquired skill. Every NBA coach would love to
have a player not only that works hard but has a lot of talent. The shots he made were
unbelievable because they were under duress and he had very little time to get it off. He came up
big and you got to give credit to a great basketball player.
Louisville Player Quotes
Junior Forward Terrence Williams
On seeing Hansbrough first hand...
I've never seen a player like that. He deserves everything he gets.
Senior Center David Padgett
On the play of Tyler Hansbrough...
He deserves all the success he gets. Like coach said, I've never played against someone that
hard. Big time players make big time plays and he made two big time plays at the end.
On what went wrong and when...
They hit some big shots when it counted. You have to give them credit. You have to give people
credit when they make big plays and that's what they did.
On UNC's play tonight...
They are one of the best offensive teams in the country. They played well tonight and did a good
job rebounding the basketball. It's tough when you dig yourself a hole like that. I thought our guys
did a good job trying to get back into it. They were the better basketball team.
Senior Forward Juan Palacios
On the game overall...
They played extremely hard and we made a lot of turnovers at the beginning of the game. That's
what made the difference in the first half of the game. We had 20 minutes to give it our all. If you
play as hard as you can, you're going to be happy with yourself.
On his feelings after the game...
A little bit disappointed. Even though we had a great season, we had a lot of talent and we had a
goal in mind when the season started and that was to make it to the Final Four. They deserve it.
They were the No. 1 team in the country for most of the year and they played great.
On Tyler Hansbrough...
He had a great game. He made some crucial shots at the end of the game. They were
unbelievable. We played great defense and he still made the shots.
On North Carolina's defense...
We were trying to get the back doors, and they were pressuring the ball really well. The second
half we kind of got used to it and were able to make some shots.
On the accomplishments of the team this season...
The beginning of the year we had our ups and downs and I don't think people thought we could
make it this far with all the problems that we had, all the injuries. It's an accomplishment to make
it to the Elite Eight.
On what Coach Pitino said after the game...
We couldn't hang our heads. They could have beat us by 25 or 30 points like they've been doing
to other teams, but we came back and it was a tough game. We've got to be proud of ourselves
that we were able to come back and give them a game.
Sophomore Guard Edgar Sosa
On how he feels about next year...
I feel confident. If everybody returns and we've got some great freshmen coming in, I won't be
surprised if we make another run like this. We have great freshmen coming in and we have great
returning players.
On North Carolina pulling ahead after Louisville tied the game...
We tied id up at 59 and we had two crucial turnovers. (Tyler) Hansbrough hit two incredible shots.
He was getting to the line, offensive rebounding. If we could have just done the little things it
might have been a different outcome, but the clock is at zero, they ended up winning the game
and it's too late to say "what if" and "if we could have."
On the energy required to come from behind...
It was a hard fight. We had to come back from 12 down to the No. 1 team in the country. They're
a great team. Sometimes we slipped up and let them get easy runs and sometimes we didn't kill
the glass. That's just the morale of the story. They out-rebounded us. When it comes down to
playing one of the most talented teams in the country, you've got to limit their shots and get to the
glass and that's something that we just didn't do tonight.
