University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina vs. William & Mary :: Post-Game Quotes
December 22, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2010
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UNC Head Coach Roy Williams:
""Happy holidays to everyone. I told the kids to enjoy about three or four days with their families right now. It was an unusual start to the game. I didn't think we had the enthusiasm I thought we would have and we made the substitutions. And Kendall [Marshall], Reggie [Bullock], Leslie [McDonald], Justin Watts, and Justin Knox, those five guys, had better movement of the ball on the offensive end and a little more intensity on the defensive end. And I thought that was big for us: our ball movement. Instead of standing there dribbling in the same spot. In the second half [that group] didn't do as well. But I think that little stretch there in the first half Leslie made a couple of threes, or at least one three and one right inside the [three-point] line. And J-Watts made a three from the corner. I thought that was big for us.
"I felt like we were doing a much better job on the backboards than it looks like we did. On points off of the offensive boards [we had the advantage] 21-4. I think that, and we did get some turnovers in the second half, but we didn't really take advantage of those. But let's be honest about it, too, William and Mary [has] much better shooters than that. It's just tonight they didn't make any of them in the first half and in the second half they were all just making a bunch of them. But that second bunch [of substitutes] that came in I thought were big for us. You look at Kendal, and he missed some wide open layups, missed two open threes, but he's also eight assists and zero turnovers and you like that. Larry [Drew II] had six assists and three turnovers. We've been doing a better job with our turnovers recently and I think that was important for us tonight, too."
William & Mary Head Coach Tony Shaver's thoughts on the game:
"The game was decided in the first half. I thought two big factors we felt coming in here: defensive transition was our number one priority and we did a pretty poor job at it. They run it at you hard. We knew that and we didn't handle it very well. The second thing is we've got to shoot the ball better. You know, we were 0-12 in the first half from threes and I'd say probably 10 or 11 of those were great shots out of our offense and we just didn't make any of them, and we have to shoot the ball to be successful."
Sophomore guard Dexter Strickland
On the team's performance:
It is very important for us to attack. One of the emphases in practice and during the game is attacking and giving them a chance to make a mistake. I think everybody played well tonight. Larry Drew did a couple of good things. Harrison [Barnes] did a great job. Unfortunately, something is wrong with John [Henson's] thumb, but he did a great job when he was in. Everybody is just playing together and we got to keep it up and win more games.
On driving the ball to the basket:
The more shots you make the bigger the rim gets. If I'm driving all the time and my defender is anticipating the drive, you pull up for the shot. So driving all the time opens up the floor and so far, it's been good.
On scoring 50 points over the last three games:
I've just been putting in the work. I know that hard work will pay off and I'm just trying to help my team.
Sophomore guard Leslie McDonald
On coming off the bench:
As for me and my fellow teammates coming off the bench, we feel like we just need to bring it. More pressure and more enthusiasm. We feel like we need to get the first team in gear by applying a little pressure and bringing life to the team.
On allowing William & Mary to cut back door:
Our main focus was to get them to drive, so making them go backdoor was a plus for us. We would rather them go backdoor than shoot threes so we were putting a lot of pressure on them to try to make them go back door. But at the same time, we don't want them to go too far backdoor to get layups.
Freshman guard Reggie Bullock
On his development as a player:
"I'm pretty close. I've got to be consistent on knocking down threes and just rebounding the basketball. Just playing hard on defense and doing what Coach says. But I'm doing pretty good. There is a lot of stuff I can to do on the defensive end of the court but it's a learning process and I'm getting to learn."
On the week ahead:
"It was good to actually get the bad taste out of our mouth from Texas and coming out to play hard for the fans before we go home [for Winter break]. I know we've got a three or four day break before we go up to New York, but we've just got to be smart while we are home and think about the stuff we can improve on to take to New York to play against Rutgers in Madison Square [Garden]."
