University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Clemson Quotes
February 18, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2012
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UNC Coach Roy Williams Quotes
Opening Statement:
"Our crowd this year has been sensational. There've been articles on attendance and college basketball being down and our crowd has been phenomenal all year. Ticket office people, marketing people, everybody should be congratulated on trying to look ahead and see potential problems. We had a nine game stretch at home, a lot without the students here and our attendance is up from last year. Again, I thank our crowd. They've been sensational for showing up and there is only one left. It's senior night in a couple of weeks, but the crowd has been sensational."
On consistency in defense:
"We have been getting better and better, defensively. There are a few things that have been fairly consistent for us. We made some more shots today and we needed them, to say the least. I think the point difference is not indicative of what kind of game it was, but we made some shots from the three-point line and we did some better things, offensively, after they cut it to six. I do believe that, defensively, and the work on the backboards is where this team has developed consistency. I hope I don't hate those words after Tuesday night's game but in this four, five and six game stretch I think it has been something."
On Harrison Barnes' shooting consistency:
"We have a couple of sets where we try to clear space for him and allow him to [shoot]. He does have an ability to put the ball on the floor and shoot the basketball like he does, I think you have good things like that happen."
On the team's intensity:
"Even earlier I thought we were trying. We had the intensity earlier we just weren't proficient at it. I think that our guys are just more in tuned with our defensive principles right now. Defense is not just effort, you've got to know what you're doing. It's something I am proud of and I think our guys are getting better."
Clemson coach Brad Brownell
Opening Statement:
"When you play Carolina and you make mistakes, they make you pay. I didn't think we played particularly well today. Certainly some of that is because of North Carolina. We had the game at 47-41 and I think we turned the ball over five out of six, or five out of seven possessions. That's the end of the game because they capitalized. We've got to play better down the stretch, and we didn't do it."
On North Carolina's defense:
"It's hard to score against them because of their size and length. You throw it inside, and you're facing a seven-footer. As a result, they can then guard you a little harder out on the perimeter and deny more things. I thought that was problematic for us early on. As the game wore on we did a little bit of a better job against it. Again, you've got great length at a lot of different positions and you've got guys that are more experienced."
UNC Player Quotes
Kendall Marshall:
"On successful passing:
"I've got to give full credit to my teammates. They did a great job of getting to the back of defender's heads and making it an easy passing lane. When you have players like John [Henson] sitting at the rim, you have no choice but to throw it to him. Justin Watts and Reggie [Bullock] did a great job of moving without the ball, and they made them easy passes for me to make."
On Harrison Barnes:
"I think Harrison's being the player that everybody tried to make him out to be a year and a half ago. He's becoming that player now. That's not to insult his game at all. Sometimes players just have to grow into that. I think he's done a great job of adjusting to the role. He is one of our main go-to guys."
Tyler Zeller:
On defense in the second half:
"The second half, I think we were phenomenal defensively. I think we were able to keep them out of the lane. First half we gave up a few layups, and so we made it much more difficult in the second half. We gave up a couple of open threes, but for the most part I think we did a great job."
John Henson:
On his defense:
"It's kind of habitual now, just because I've played so much in the system. Getting your hands on the ball, being in the right position, that's the type of things that the defense does. You build habits in practice and it's kind of a habit now, and we just have to keep getting better on defense...We've realized that defense can help us win games when we're not hitting shots, and that's something that we've taken heed of and we've starting playing defense a lot better."
On team rebounding:
"It was a group effort tonight, and that's what Coach always wanted us to do, to have group rebounding. Harrison and Reggie especially got on the boards early in the game, and that really gave us some extra shots."
Harrison Barnes:
On his assertiveness:
"I think we're getting better spacing. When we space out the court, it allows people to be able to work and operate. John (Henson) has done a better job of either posting up and demanding for the ball or clearing out and setting a screen for me. We're able to capitalize off that and make things happen."
On his second half:
"The shots were just falling. My teammates did a great job finding me. Kendall, with the shot clock winding down was able to find me, and I was able to capitalize."
On the team's first half:
"I think we had some good shots. Coach wasn't too happy with our defensive effort, we didn't have too much energy, we weren't exuding the enthusiasm that he wanted us to. We didn't go to the free throw line at all, in the first half. In the second half, we definitely tried to get more inside and get more contact instead of avoiding the contact."
