University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina vs. NC State :: Post-Game Quotes
March 10, 2012 | Men's Basketball
March 10, 2012
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No. 1 North Carolina 69, No. 5 NC State 67
North Carolina Tar Heels
HEAD COACH Roy Williams
"Right now we feel very fortunate to say the least. If you want to put lucky in there, you can say that as well. We didn't play nearly as well as we wanted to play and give North Carolina State credit for that. They made us play for it. They did a nice job and took some things away from us. They attacked us. They did a lot of things. We were a little thinner. I didn't do a very good job over there coaching or whatever. But Harrison (Barnes) made two big free throws. Kendall (Marshall) made a big basket there at the end and J (Justin) Watts probably made the biggest play of the game. We had new assignments at the timeout as to who was guarding who and had a mix up. (DeShawn) Painter was underneath the basket wide open and I'm screaming 'go get him' to one of our guys. J Watts, who was not his man, heard or saw me, I couldn't tell you which one, and sprinted down there and saved us because they were throwing it to Painter for a layup. Big play by him. We feel very fortunate like I said but we also feel very happy. There have been a couple of games this year, at Kentucky and Duke at home, where we lost on last second plays. Today, J Watts made a big one for us and we're lucky to get out."
On whether he anticipated a whistle at the moment of the game-winning shot
"I feel like in basketball in that situation, they're not going to call a ticky-tacky foul. We just wanted to get something going toward the rim. And thankfully enough, I was able to get it up on the backboard and it went in."
On the strategy in the final possession
"We wanted to put the ball in (Harrison Barnes)' hands. He does a tremendous job of taking and making those shots. Lorenzo Brown did a tremendous job on defense on that play. By the time I got it back, we didn't have time to get into another set, and I was able to make the shot."
On C.J. Leslie
"He's a difficult person to guard. He's not overly big as far as weight is concerned, but he's very versatile and he can move well. He's something who can be very dangerous."
On James Michael McAdoo's performance in the absence of John Henson
"James Michael is a fantastic player. It took a little getting used to in the beginning. Little things, mainly. Different situations where I knew John would normally be there. But we just had to make a few adjustments, and after that, james Michael did a fantastic job of filling in."
NC State Wolfpack
HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
Opening Statement:
"Well, obviously first, I'm proud of my team. I think that their effort was just amazing. And we are disappointed tremendously. We had to overcome a lot of foul trouble, we had to fight through a lot of different things in the game but our kids never quit. They battled with tremendous heart. We came up a little bit short. When I think of the game, I just think of how proud I am of our guys. We've come a long way and we have gotten a lot better. This is just a tough one to take."
On staff communication for CJ Leslie's fourth and fifth fouls:
"Miscommunication by our staff. That is our responsibility. The other bigs had four fouls as well so we were in a quandary either way. We were in a tough situation there."
On the foul situation affecting CJ Leslie's minutes:
"He was going to have a hard time playing the rest of game without one more foul anyway. There was a lot of time left and they were going inside on every trip so we were using smoke and mirrors a little bit to try and survive with all of our big guys."
LORENZO BROWN
On how the team reacted to losing C.J. Leslie to fouls
"We knew that we had to step it up the best way we could. We didn't have that defensive presence down there with C.J. and his blocked shots and athleticism. Richard (Howell) did a good job of stepping up down in the paint."
On the turnover during the exchange with Alex Johnson with 43 seconds left in the game
"He (Alex Johnson) told me that the guy was on my hip, but I really didn't feel anything, so he kind of paused, and I turned around to see if the guy was there. When I turned around, he passed me the ball. It just went out of my hands."
