University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Carolina 72, NC State 56
January 4, 2015 | Women's Basketball
North Carolina 72, North Carolina State 56
January 4, 2015 Postgame Quotes
North Carolina Head Coach Players
Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Opening Statement
“It's great to be back playing in the ACC. We've been looking forward to starting conference play. I thought we had a great crowd today and these kids played really well. In the locker room before the game, what I had prepared to say to them, I cut it really short and only used a little bit of it because I really talked to them about Stuart Scott and because the only player on the team that has not been introduced by him at Late Night [with Roy] is Jamie [Cherry] and Jamie is the only freshman. He wasn't there this year but all of the other years he has been there as the MC, so the kids all know him. And then when I got diagnosed, he was one of the first people to call me when I got diagnosed with Leukemia in October of 2013 and he has kept up with me all along and talked with me about exercise and everything. So I talked to them about what he said to me in, 'Hey you're a Carolina Girl and you're tough, and you can do this.' That was more of our pregame talk.”
On Adjusting to being without Xylina McDaniel
“We can give different looks in there and Danielle [Butts] is not as big as Xylina [McDaniel] but the kid can get up. In warm-ups she tried to dunk and she's done it before. But she gets up there and pulls that rim down. The kid is a tremendous athlete. We can give different looks there, with whether we want to go with another big or I really like playing with four guards too. You'll probably see us more play with four guards. I really love Allisha [Gray] out there. And we have four kids who can shoot threes, and drive, and kick, and rebound. We are still adjusting to Xylina not being out there. She is strong and defensively she is pretty tough out there. “
On having a career high in assists
“In high school I never really got assists. I'm pretty sure I averaged less than one assist [per game] in high school. So I was talking about assists the whole time after the game. I was really excited about that. I was really excited to get assists. It was something that I never had in my game, really. It's fun seeing your teammate celebrate and point, knowing someone is pointing at you, like when Brittany [Rountree] was pointing at me I was like, 'Yeah I passed that to her!.' I really love watching someone celebrate after I passed it to them. I really take pride in that…My freshman and sophomore year [of high school] I kind of got called 'the black hole' because if it came in, I'm going to be honest, it didn't come out. But towards my junior and senior year, I would pass it more but I didn't really get assists. I think I set people up in a bad way. I had five assists, I'm really excited. That is the thing I'm excited about most.”
NC State Head Coach Wes Moore
Opening Statement
“We knew today was going to be a big challenge. Obviously they are playing really well. [They're] very talented and very well coached. We just had a few runs and I think that's always the case when you're playing a good team. You have some runs and the start to the second half was a tough one. I'm very proud of our kids down the stretch the last 10-12 minutes where they competed. We're shorthanded now, so these kids are having to play a lot minutes. We got into some foul trouble, which made it even tougher. They competed and I'm proud of them in that respect. I thought we didn't back down and it's something we can build on. We're going home and we have a couple games at home and we just have to keep getting better, keep working, keep getting better and we're trying to redefine some roles [because of] some of the injuries we've had recently. I got to keep trying to figure that out. Again, I'm proud of these girls and I'm proud to go to battle with them and we'll keep going.”
On how the early foul trouble hurt the team
“Obviously it did. Especially on the perimeter. Right now that's where our injuries are. That's really making it difficult. We just have to work on it. Try to do a better job of defending with our feet and stay out of that foul trouble. They hurt us inside too. Some of our post players got in some of it. They're athletic, they're aggressive. You try to defend the best you can, so sometimes that's going to happen. Again we just have to continue to focus on it and try to avoid it in the future. And again, I liked the way we kept playing. We didn't back down, we didn't worry about it; we kept competing.”
On the poor shooting performance
“I think part of it – in the first half especially – I think it takes you a little while to get used to it. They're long and athletic and they're getting to you a little bit more quickly than some of the teams you've faced. It takes you awhile to adjust. You get a couple shots blocked and so you get a little rushed trying to get your shot a little quicker. So I think that affected us some. We settled down and did a better job in the last 10 minutes or so. As a coach I got to look and see what am I doing. Is there anything offensively to try and help them. That's the thing. You go back and look at this tape and as a coach you try to figure out what we can do differently here. We play them in two weeks – it's a quick turnaround. Hopefully we can learn something from it. Now the players [had] their first ACC game, they've seen that. Hopefully we'll be a little more prepared for it.”
On guarding Stephanie Mavunga
“We were hoping to double her some, but obviously we didn't get it done. That falls back on me. We probably need to work on it more in practice. At times we maybe didn't have the right person go in. We've got to communicate a little better and talk and make sure everyone on the court knows. You can't let her bury you. Even if you double her she's going to score over two people. We don't have a ton of size right now. Hopefully we can do a better job and make her give it up some. She had a great game and obviously she had a great game Friday night, so she's on a little bit of a roll. We've got to figure out some way to slow her down somehow next time out.”
On the passing of Stuart Scott
“We talked about it on the way over here – the coaches did. I'm sure the players have also. First of all it's so sad. I'm a big Sports Center fan, so I've seen his career from a distance for many years. What a talented sportscaster. He's been great. It's very sad to think 49 years old. Our heart goes out to him, his family, and his loved ones. I know he fought a long battle and a tough battle. Our thoughts are with all them."
