University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina 90, Florida State 77
March 4, 2008 | Men's Basketball
March 4, 2008
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North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement:
"Well it was a fitting way for Q to go out. One humorous thing, the crowd started chanting we want Surry and I told them to be quiet I was the coach. Then they scored ten points in the last 47 seconds and that is usually the reason when I make the decision to put people in. It was a great night for Surry. Getting those two baskets early is something he will remember for the rest of his life. Quentin did a nice job, got three fouls that could not of been called, but they were called. Still to come back, he made some big hoops for us in the second half. To go through, as I said earlier, all that young man has gone through, it was a great night for him. It was a great night for our team to make sure he went out the right way. The second half offensively we were pretty doggone good. We shot 76% percent I think with about a minute to go. We had better spacing got the ball where we wanted it. Florida State came in, they won three in a row, they have been playing well and we couldn't do a good enough job to keep them off the free throw line. They got there a lot more than we wanted. Still 28 wins and 13 of them in the league, we feel good about where we are and we got a big game on Saturday."
On shooting so well for the field:
"I think Ty is still not comfortable enough to take the ball to the basket in a crowd of people. We said the other day it is probably going to take a while for him to get comfortable. We missed some open shots too, but I think your right. It was six or something, than Will Graves made a three on the opposite side and took it to nine. I called a set play for Ty when we were out of bounds underneath, he is a confident rascal, I said are you ready to make one and he said yeah. We call the play for him and he made the three right in front of me. It is important against a team who is trying to keep the ball away from Tyler and make jump shots. Still Tyler did not have a great night by any means, but 20 points and 9 rebounds it makes you feel pretty good."
On Lawson leaving the first half early:
"I think during the course of the game you can't feel sorry yourself and you can't do that. You just got to tell yourself I have Q with three fouls and Marcus at point guard. If we need to play zone we will play zone. We told the kids we might play some zone just to stay out of foul trouble. We never got to that point, even though at one time I started signaling that I didn't like the personnel we had in the lineup at that time. Generally, I am just thinking about the next play and trying to do the best, make sure we have the right personnel in. Hopefully, plan down the line what it is going to be in the next six minutes. Never think any of that woe is me stuff."
On the team's defense:
"Well we have gotten better and I tired to give them a confidence boost right before the game. I just wrote one word on the board, instead of three factors or suggestions, I just wrote our defense. The first half we held them to 39%, but we didn't make many shots but we still had a 12-point lead. I do believe we are getting better and better defensively, but we need to continue doing that."
Florida State Head Coach Leonard Hamilton
Opening Statement:
"Obviously, we allowed the game, well I'm not really sure we allowed, but the game got out of hand for us really at the beginning. We had several easy baskets that I thought were like fool's gold for us, when we went up 6 or 7 or 8 right there early in the game. We made some baskets, but the pace of the game, the tempo of the game was set at that point. I think that we allowed ourselves to gain control of the pace of the game. Right now, matching up against a team that is averaging 90 points is not really good for us with the depth that we have, and the pace of the game, even though it was manageable there for three-fourths of the first half, the tempo was such that it just took its toll on us.
We have been fairly successful when we keep the game at a pace of about 70 [points], but Carolina scrambled the game with their run-and-jumps and trapping our ball screens, and I didn't think we responded very well to it. That's the trick to them when they're executing their defensive philosophy, and they kind of took us out of our offensive rhythm, and we never seemed to regain our composure and that's a credit to them. Their offensive rebounding in the first half, I think they had 11; their perimeter people had about 8 or 9 of them. I think they scored a lot of points on put-backs. You don't have to give Carolina a whole lot because they're going to score a lot themselves. A lot of it was a result I think that we were just somewhat fatigued and got in foul trouble early and really, really had to expend so much energy digging ourselves out of a whole that at the end of the game we didn't have enough in the tank to make that one last comeback."
On the rhythm coming back with Ty:
"Definitely, you see guys getting more comfortable with him back and we're starting to play as a team again with him in the system. He's starting to find people, he's starting to penetrate and he's starting to trust his ankle more. I think he was a little scared the first game to jump on it. So, I think he's getting better, his ankle's getting better, he's able to explode a little bit more off it. He's still not 100 percent yet, but he'll be there when we need him."
On getting the shooting touch back:
"I think it's more of a mental thing; just getting confidence back. Touch is coming back a little bit. I still would like to get it back even more, maybe knock down some more shots, the ones that I need to knock down. But I hit a couple shots tonight, got us a nice little lead and we went on a little run. But I'm not really worried about my shooting so much right now. I'm just worried about coming off the bench and giving a spark for the team, whatever that is. Defense, blocking shots, rebounding and if it's knocking down shots then hopefully I'll be there to knock down some shots."
On Ty back in the lineup:
"I don't think it's as much of an adjustment for us. Maybe for him, getting in shape and things like that. But we've played with Ty and it's just one of those things where it just comes right back to you and we're all used to him. It's not a surprise with him I think."
On placing importance on winning an ACC regular season title:
"Well I think it's real important. Just basically that it helps you down the road and all along. Plus, it's on of our goals and it is important to us."
On soaking it all in:
"I did. I did a little bit in warm ups. I tried to stay focused, but I couldn't help it just because I've been through so much, good and bad. When I saw all those people with Q's and the signs with Q's, it just made me feel warm inside that I have people that supported me through all these four years."
On how it felt to have support:
"It's a blessing. There's a lot of people that play sports and they don't really have that support. Even a lot of good and great players that don't have support like that. That I have people behind me 100 percent, whether I play or not, that makes me feel good and that says a lot about my character. I've always tried to be a good person around here since I've been at Carolina and I think that's carried me a long way."
