University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Virginia Tech Quotes
January 19, 2015 | Men's Basketball
UNC Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
“I thought that was a weird game. The stoppages, the wrong shooters, all that kind of stuff. It took forever to play the game, but you've got to congratulate Virginia Tech. They controlled the tempo and style of the game, everything. You can just look at the rebound numbers. We've got to be pleased with the rebounding. We've got to get a heck of a lot better on the defensive end. We knew they were going to shoot a lot of three's. They shot 29, but we shot 16. Thirteen in the first half. If you look at the stat sheet in the first half, we shot 13 three's but zero free throws. That's not the way a North Carolina team is supposed to play. That's the bottom line.
"Justin Jackson, I thought, was more active. He had his hand on a lot of balls that I think he could've come up with. I think he was more active. J.P. [Tokoto] and Marcus [Paige] both turned it over way, way too much today just like the rest of our team did. Seventeen turnover is not something good. Again, congratulate Virginia Tech's defense. They played in frenzy, and put us in position to make turnovers. We obliged and made some turnovers. Bottom line is we've got to win. Sometimes we've got to win some ugly [games] to have a really good year. That was an ugly win, but I think Buzz [Williams] and his club were a man down without a kid that's a leading scorer in ACC play. That's a big time loss for them. Again, you've got to congratulate them for what they did during the course of the game.”
On Justin Jackson being more active in game play
“Well I've told him he's got to be more aggressive. No, it's not just taking shots or looking for your shot. It's getting some rebounds, too. In the first half, I was disappointed in the 13 three's and zero free throws. I'm sure it has happened, but I can't remember a team that they went a whole half without shooting a free throw.”
On controlling the tempo
“Well it is a challenge. They're good players too. I want to play, but we're not playing nearly as fast as I want them to play. I think we're playing very average pace, and I'd like us to play faster for sure. But it is a challenge because the other team is very well coached. They have good guards. I was just looking for Devin's line. He was 0-3 but he really controlled the whole tempo of the game. It's frustrating at times, but I like for it to be 130-110 us.”
On defending Virginia Tech
“At times we were okay defensively. I don't think we were great, but at times we were okay. I decided not to say much to the team because you don't want to say something to your shooters so I get to look at the tape first. You know they shoot 35 percent and you like that. They're 34 percent from three and they've been shooting over 40. I think for us, we're trying to get better each and every game. Trying to learn something. We had an opportunity to learn some things today. There's no question. They pressed it, and we turned it over three times in four possessions. Joel [James] throws it out on the inbounds play. Marcus [Paige] turns it over. J.P. [Tokoto] turns it over. All those things, I remember those as opposed to good defense right now.”
Virginia Tech Head Coach Buzz Williams
On the shooting performance of his team
“I didn't think we took a lot of bad shots, but I don't like being [one of] those coaches that say we just missed open shots. I think that's weak. I think that are really good. I think their pressure bothered us when they were blitzing Devin [Wilson] and blitzing the first pass, but I do think that we took shots that we want to take. I didn't think that we took ill-advised, ill-timed shots. I thought we controlled the time of possession, which you have to do against a team as fast and as good as they are. It's just really hard when you get beat as hard on the glass as hard as we do, but I thought that we were trying really, really hard.”
On his team's effort
“Guys were playing more minutes that they typically do, but having said that I love the fight that they played with. I thought we played in the right way mentally, emotionally. I thought we gave our absolute best physically. I think we brought it to an 11 point game, Jalen [Hudson] kind of had a soft pass that turned into a layup, then we come down the next possession and Adam [Smith] takes five dribbles in the same spot and shoots a turn-around 15-footer, miss, dunk on the other end. I had to call time-out. I thought up until that point, other than those two possessions, when you get a chance maybe to cut it to single digits it puts a little pressure on them.”
On his team's fight
“When you feel like, after a game, you've been in a fight, I think then you've probably given your best. I thought that loose balls, and in the fray I thought we were first to the floor a lot. I thought we were fighting. I respect that. Look at that crew we rolled out there with. I thought we need to rebound a little better, but I respect how hard they fought.”
On what his team's defense did to make it tough for North Carolina
“I don't know that we did anything that made it tough, but I think that when you play a team that is as fast as they are you're offense has to help your defense. So the thing that I have been telling our guys is football, time of possession, we need to have the ball longer than they do. They are going to play fast whether we have the ball a long time or not and so how can we have longer time of possession, which will allow them less field goal attempts. I would say, but I know that they are getting more than 59 field goal attempts and we upped our free throw numbers there at the end when we were fouling on purpose, but our offense helped our defense probably as much as our defense.”
UNC Player Quotes
Justin Jackson, Fr., F
On his level of confidence
“I'm feeling more and more comfortable out there, which with that comes confidence. To see the ball go through the net a couple times today, definitely helped a lot. I'm feeling more and more comfortable. That just comes with time, so I'm ready.”
On being more assertive on his own or from coaches' prompts
“It's kind of a mix. I need to score to help the team, I need to be more aggressive to help the team, whatever that means. That's kind of me figuring out where I need to go, plus, encouragement from the team and coaches to go out there and play aggressive.”
On deferring to the upperclassmen
“I think there were definitely times like that. I think there were times, we have Marcus Paige, which is obviously a great player. Everybody knows who Marcus is. So at times, I could see myself just trying to run around and get the ball to him, touch screens for him. And there were times when I should have been aggressive and stuff like that. So it's just kind of trying to figure things out and I think I'm starting to get there.”
Brice Johnson, Jr., F
On practice tomorrow night and how he played tonight
“We did some good things, and we did some bad things. I understand why [Coach is] calling it. We had 17 turnovers. We shouldn't be doing that, that's one thing we're emphasizing all year. That's just one thing that's been bugging us. We just have to be ready for it, and it's not his fault. We shouldn't have been turning the ball over as much as we did.”
On tonight's play
“It was kind of a sloppy game for us. We can't keep playing like that because there are better teams, and there are good teams in the ACC. We're going to have bigger and better games than this one, and we can't play that way.”
On controlling the tempo of the game
“We just have to impose our will on them, not allow them to be able to control the tempo of the game. Just be able to get out, and run the way we need to do. We shouldn't' have anybody else dictate the way we play, we have to dictate that ourselves."
Isaiah Hicks, So., F
On the win
“I mean, a win is a win, no matter how you how you get it. I would say it was good, sloppy but good.“
On an extra practice tomorrow
“You know, he [Coach Williams] emphasized so much on not turning the ball over. That's something that we did a lot of tonight.”
On the energy level
“I know that it seemed like we were dead out there. Nothing against VT, but it seemed like it took us a while to get into it. That's what really pisses the coaches off. I know this is what we struggled with last year, coming out with energy, playing from the beginning. That's something that we have to do every game, no matter what.”
On it being difficult to find that energy
“No, we are basketball players. That's the reason we are here for. To compete. If you don't compete every night, then what are you doing here? That's something that we have to deal with.”
