University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Wake Forest Quotes
January 20, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2010
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North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement:
"Well, needless to say, it's very disappointing. You have to congratulate Wake Forest; in the second half, to make seven out of eight from the 3-point line. It's strange, we take the ball out of bounds, throw it in the corner and shoot a three on the out of bounds pass, which I say we should never do. We missed it, then they go down the very next possession, they throw it from out of bounds to the top of the key at the 3-point line, and they shot it and made it. It's something I don't believe in, but we did it anyway and it didn't go in, and they did it and it did go in.
"Just congratulate them. We're extremely disappointed, and we're extremely frustrated. It's something we haven't been through, something we're not enjoying going through. I didn't give them a long speech after the game. I told them, `We have no chance if we fold. We have no chance if we give in.' I'm not going to do that, we're going to practice at 3:30 tomorrow, and we're going to try to have a great practice. We're going to try to keep working every single day, and someway somehow, try to find a way to fight out of it. It was hard for us, there's no question. The freshmen are trying; we had five freshmen on the court a couple of times tonight. They haven't been through these wars yet. If I live long enough, maybe it will help us a couple years down the road, but I don't know if I can live through this.
"Let me say that Ish Smith is a young man who has worked so hard on his game for four years. He's really a gifted young man who is really playing well and did some nice things out there tonight. In the past he hasn't been the threat for them that he is right now, and he is the threat for them. You have to congratulate their freshmen, too. Those two kids, (Ari) Stewart and (C.J.) Harris, go 7-for-11 from the 3-point line themselves. We have to do a lot better job in a lot of areas. Our starting post players get nine rebounds, their starting post players get 21. We're 6-for-29 on the perimeter, and they're a lot better than that. Just congratulate, Dino (Gaudio) has really done a nice job with his team, and he's really done a nice job every year."
On the decision to sit forward Ed Davis out...
"He told me yesterday he felt like he was about 65 percent. I didn't think it was right to play him unless he could tell me he was 90 percent. So he went out and said he was having some little problems. I said, `Give me a percentage,' and he said, `About 80 to 85,' and I just didn't think it was right to play the kid at that. We got a six-day break here that hopefully will be really good for him. I was afraid that if I played him and he sprained it again, it would be one of those nagging things. In the second half, they killed us on the boards for three straight possessions and then started making threes every time. It would have probably helped to have him in there on some of them backboard plays. But still, it's a game of basketball, and North Carolina as a team played Wake Forest as a team."
Wake Forest Head Coach Dino Gaudio Opening Statement:
"I just think it was another hard fought ACC road game for us. I think our freshmen did a great job stepping up and shooting the basketball. When you have two freshmen shoot 7-11 from three that's pretty good. They did that before at Gonzaga and in a very tough environment, those two kids were our leading scorers. They're not phased by where we're playing on the road, whether it's at Gonzaga, Ari [Stewart] and C.J. [Harris] played really well at Cameron, and both of the kids played pretty well here. I think Ishmael [Smith] did a great job pushing the basketball and then when we didn't have anything, he got us into pretty good offense. Playing the minutes he played in the game we played the other night, he deserves a lot of credit as well. I think our defense was good for us again tonight, holding them to 36 and 23. You win in here against a [North Carolina] Coach [Roy] Williams team, it's a great win, and I'm proud of our kids."
On Ed Davis:
"Ed Davis is a terrific, terrific player. I think if anybody loses a young man like that from your team, you're going to miss him. I think that was a big loss for them."
On 57 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point line:
"It's the best this year by far. It might be the best in the history of Wake Forest with the way we shoot the ball."
