University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-BC Postgame Quotes
January 7, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2012
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North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams Opening Statement:
"Needless to say we're happy to be 1-0 in the league. It's an exciting time for everybody to start conference play. I was really impressed with [Boston College Coach] Steve [Donahue's] club. They had five freshmen in the starting lineup coming in, and I don't think they ever got really shaken. We tried hard to take them out of things they wanted to do, and I don't know that we did a really good job of it. They turned it over 20 times and I like to think that our defense had something to do with it, but I'm not sure. I really think he's going to have a really good club; it's hard to do it with five freshmen in this league, but he's building a program and not just coaching for today. For our club, you look down there and see Harrison [Barnes] Tyler [Zeller] and John [Henson] all shooting 50% which is something that we need. I really got ticked off there because it got down to 9 or 10 [points], but it wasn't because it got to 9 or 10 [points] but because we decided not to help down in the post. Kendall [Marshall] then goes and helps down in the post, and his guy goes and makes a three. We say go over the screen and Harrison [Barnes] goes under the screen, and his guy makes a three. Next time he goes below the screen Zeller steps out and helps, and they throw it to Zeller's man and his guy makes a layup. You can't make those kinds of mistakes. I told them it was very reasonable that I was upset and they need to play better. We were good at times during today's game; we did some good things. We shared the ball. One time we ran a set play for Zeller on the right block and they did a nice job covering, and we swung it round the horn to John [Henson] on the left block and he threw it back across diagonally to Harrison [Barnes] and he made a three. We ran the break, and we made good decisions on the break. One time it didn't look like we could dribble after we made a steal on the other end. For us there were moments when I thought we really did some good things and Boston College did some good things as well. It's good to have 25, 20 and 14 [points] from your frontline--they're supposed to be good and I like for them to play that way."
On Boston College Second Half Run: "I would agree that [the issues was our] concentration. I jumped them pretty hard. In league play, you've got to be able to play the whole game for 40 minutes. Give them credit too. In the first half they were 3-12 from three and second half 6-15. We'd like a better rebound margin than 42-31 when we have a size advantage and experience advantage."
On defense: "With the perimeter defense, Harrison [Barnes] had four steals, Dexter [Strickland] had three--we were active. We've got to get the other guys involved as well. We've got to get five guys moving as one. Five guys moving as one is important."
On bench: "Our bench has really been great for us this year with giving us big jolts when they come in there. Our three guys that give that to us all the time were 4-17. It's good to get by with a game like that. They had pretty good shots, but 4-17 for three guys known for scoring off the bench has got to be better."
Coach Steve Donahue opening statement:
"For the most part, I was very proud of our home team. There are a lot of tests within the game, especially with this group, trying to teach them about college basketball and in particular the ACC. In the second half, it looked like Carolina was just going to shove us out the door. I felt these guys showed a lot of character and toughness. I think we were down by nine, and we were not shooting the ball particularly well; we're not making foul shots, so I think it speaks a lot about the character in these young kids."
On Carolina maintaining the lead:
"I thought we let our guard down. We just kind of forgot whom we were playing. We lost a little sense of simple things, like putting solid ball pressure and rotating, we just didn't do that well. But you've got to give Carolina credit. They are a lot better basketball team than they were last year. In particular, the three kids who decided to stay around. I think they are playing with a lot more purpose. All three frontline guys have gotten substantially better in my opinion and I think that is more of the product that you saw at that point."
Ryan Anderson on Carolina players
"I think just they are poised, with them all playing together for now two years, most of them as starters. I think they are just poised in everything they do. Their execution was precise on every play."
UNC Player Quotes
Dexter Strickland:
On team shooting:
"We feel comfortable. Everybody, including myself, has experience, so we know the intensity of the game and how it's going to be. We know what we have to do to get the job done, and I think we executed well."
On his team role -
"I try to just do whatever. Whatever I have to do to get the job done and get the win, I'm going to do it."
Harrison Barnes:
On team's progression:
"I think a lot of it is experience. Just knowing when to drive and when to shoot, just things like come with experience. Knowing you can't drive in and expect to dunk it every time like high school. I think it's progressively gotten better as the competition has gotten better. A team like BC is rotating fast, and are right there charges and on help-side defense. They're not going to beat themselves, so I think there's definitely stuff you can do to get better."
Tyler Zeller:
On being undefeated in the ACC:
"It's a great start. There are some people that are 0-1 now. It's a start, but we've got to get better.
John Henson:
On the nine-point lead:
"It was somewhere we've been before, so experience is good. We didn't panic too much and pushed it out to a twenty-point lead eventually, and that's what we need to do."
On having a lead: "I think that sometimes when we get a big lead we let up defensively and just want to run out and score. I think we just need to play `D' a little harder, and especially when we're up by a lot to push it a little harder."
Kendall Marshall:
On Harrison Barnes:
"He's playing well. He played last game well also. I think he was 10 for 15 today. If we can get that type of efficiency out of him, day in and day out, he's going to be tough to stop."
On BC's Defense:
"If I got frustrated every time another team's game plan was to stop me from passing, I'd probably have a lot of gray hair right now. That's what teams are going to do. That's part of scouting. They're going to take away what you do well, and it's just a matter of making the necessary adjustments and still not getting away from what we do well."
