University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Fairfield Quotes
November 16, 2015 | Men's Basketball
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
“Needless to say, the score doesn't tell the story of the game. I thought we had a lack of execution, a lack of effort and toughness out there early, and they had all of those things that we didn't have. We were fortunate. It was 11 and then he made that three to cut it to eight at half. That gave them a little bit of an emotional life, and it challenged our guys to come out and play better. It was a weird game. We couldn't catch the ball. We had a couple of times on turnovers where the ball would bounce right to us, and we would fumble it, step on it, those kinds of things. I think you don't do those things if you're into it more mentally. I think we needed to be into it a lot more mentally than we were. We struggled with Brice early. We had Brice and Justin and somebody else. We had three guys with two fouls. The last three or four minutes, I always try to get those guys out if I can get them down to the three minute mark, but Nate [Britt] came off the bench and really made some big shots for us. He had a career high of 17. I loved Theo [Pinson]'s eight assists and zero turnovers. We did a pretty good job on the backboard at times but gave them all the long rebounds. It seemed like every time we should do a good job defensively, the ball would bounce out a long rebound, and they would get that one, so we've got to do a better job there. You've got to win some when you don't play your best but give them credit. Marcus Gilbert was really good. He was hard for us to handle, and their zone gave us problems. We've got to do a better job with our big guys moving so we don' t have to rely just on the three point shot all the time. We've got to get Brice [Johnson], Kennedy [Meeks], Isaiah [Hicks], Joel [James], and Luke [Maye] to do a better job of moving inside. They did some things that hurt us, and hopefully it'll help us down the line.”
On the team taking three-pointers
“A couple of them were because the shot clock was winding down because our big guys were standing still. Me and Steve [Robinson] both said 'I wouldn't throw it in to you either because you're not moving.' We've got to get much better movement with our big guys and the guards need to do a better job of penetrating too. I think you can draw people and dish it off better. We made some weird turnovers trying to throw it inside too.”
On the team's effort
“It surprised me because it's the home opener. I think we were all so excited about the football win yesterday. Maybe we still had that glory in our heads instead of going out and playing. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to score as many as our football team scores.”
On playing against the zone
“I expect we'll see it a lot unless it's a team that's got a stubborn coach like me that just believes in man-to-man so much and believes in accountability. We'll see some of those guys. We're a much better shooting team than we were last year. The guys have got more confidence. I still think Justin Jackson is going to be a really good shooter for us. I haven't had him go in yet, but I think we'll see some zone. I haven't seen any Wofford tape to know what Mike [Young's] going to do. I coached Mike when he was at basketball camp in North Carolina one hundred years ago, so that's really something.”
On what created the space created for Marcus Gilbert
“I think we didn't do a very good job guarding the dribblers, so there's dribble penetration, and now we've got to help, and then he pitches out to him. One time, believe it or not, we went down there and didn't know who was guarding him; that's not very smart. He's the leading scorer, the best player and he's made 300 against us. You ought to find who he is. I think their little guard, Segura [Jerome], he really becomes a problem because he penetrates so deep, and he's still looking for shooters when he does that. Some guys that penetrate deep, they're also looking for either the drop off or their own shot, but when he was penetrating deeply he was looking for the shooters outside.”
On why Nate Britt has been so effective in the first two games
“Shooting the ball in the basket always makes everybody feel better, but I think he had a good assist-error ratio; it was 5-2. I think he's comfortable. He's confident. Confidence says a lot of things for you, and he's gone through some major changes, from left hand to right hand. Had some good things happen for him last year, but I think it's more just his work and time that he's put in.”
On if the problems in this game are a concern
“Not really. Teams at this time of the year that are really clicking are playing five or six guys; and we're playing nine or 10 guys. It doesn't bother me to have three guys with two fouls in the first half. I thought at the end of the game our depth was more important, because we ran better at the end of the game than early in the game. We're going to play nine or 10 guys, but when you change combinations so much like that human nature is you want more playing time; human nature is you want more shots. So until you get used to the role you're going to play, and the time you're going to get, you're always searching a little bit more. If you have five guys coming back that played all the minutes, and nobody else that's ready, then you can really be clicking a lot more early. I'm concerned about the way we played today, but I'm not worried about our team.”
On Theo Pinson's play so far this season
“I think he needs to get a lot better, but I think he can possibly do that too. Not only did he miss a lot of last season, from the Wisconsin game until our second or third week of practice, he never played a full-court pick-up game. So you're talking about the end of March until November first, and that's just guessing. He never played one single pick-up game full-court or anything. He never played half-court until a couple of weeks before practice started. So he was out a long time, and trying to get his legs back underneath him. He's done a nice job working on his shot. He's got to do a lot of other things for us, and I think he's getting better every day.”
On if he expects teams to continue doubling Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks
“I think so. A lot of teams do that. Virginia's probably better at it than anybody else, and we split with them last year. The first time we didn't handle it well, and the second time we handled it pretty well. The guys know they are going to be doubled, so you need to make a quick move or throw it out. Then if you get good spacing, you've got a chance to get a good shot.
On the back-court rotation so far this season
“Theo [Pinson] got 30 minutes, Joel Berry got 29 [minutes], and Nate [Britt] got 27 [minutes]. It's just what it is. We've got to keep fresh people in there. When the other little fella gets back out there, then we'll still have the same kind of rotation, but he's going to get a lot of minutes.”
Fairfield Head Coach Sydney Johnson
On how they hung with North Carolina for 30 minutes
“I thought we competed and that was the best thing we did. It's a bigger spread than we would have wanted, and I want to believe that we came here to win. We knew that was going to be a huge challenge but why wouldn't you go for that? I was just really impressed with our competitiveness and I thought by far that was the best thing we did.”
On how their three-point shots kept them in range
“It's one of the great strengths of this team – the jump shooting. We have to make sure we make good passes, and even before that we have to defend and get the rebound to give ourselves the opportunity to get out in transition. When we do that, we really have a lot of confidence in our shooting ability from outside.”
On Marcus Gilbert's performance
“I'm already going to miss him. He's grown up so much, just in terms of being a player. He's accepted all the individual technical things we've asked him to do skill-wise, but he's also come out as a great leader. He's just an off-the-charts person but now he's a great leader on the court and that was kind of a missing piece and he's been really good with that so far.”
On Nate Britt's performance
“I've seen this kid play when he was younger – like in AAU and all that – and he's a really good player. I think he's just taking advantage of the opportunities Coach [Williams] is presenting him. I think that's what you've got to do. When something opens up, that's what you've got to do. He made a lot of open shots, he really hurt our zone; he stretched us out a bit, so credit to him. Beyond the transition and beyond the rebounding, I think he was player of the game because those threes really separated them from us.”
North Carolina Players
On being prepared
“We just have to be ready to come out and play against everyone. We came out a little slow in the first half and the first five minutes of the second half. Coach [Williams] wasn't worried about that, he just wanted us to play hard. That's all he wants and in the last 15 minutes you saw that we took the lead and brought it out a little bit because we gave a little effort, so that's all he was worried about.”
On rebounding
“They shot a lot of threes, and with threes, there are long rebounds. Their big guy was just out hustling us in the first half. In the second half we just tried to box him out and put in a little effort. That's what we did and that's why we were able to take the lead.”
Nate Britt, G
On guard play
“Point guards love playing with each other, and I think that's pretty obvious. Joel [Berry] and I like playing with each other and it's the same thing with Marcus [Paige]. If the three of us are out there together we enjoy playing with each other and there's a different type of chemistry that we have. I think we've shown that the last two games.”
On his shot
“Being in my third year I feel like I'm a lot more confident, two years under my belt, the game has slowed down a little bit more. With every year you understand the system a bit more and I think that's what is happening.”
On second-half improvement
“Our defense was a lot better which allowed us to get out on fast breaks, get more transition points, and with that it made them more tired. I think they might have played six or seven guys the whole game, we were rotating and running, and so that got them tired. After a while, more and more we got stops, and the easier it was to score.”
On team play
“If we all lock in, I think in the second half, Coach really challenged us, 'If we really love this game why aren't you playing like it.' I think if we played defense like we're supposed to, obviously on offense we have a ton of weapons so that's not a problem, if we play defense like we're supposed to and we finish it I think we'll be alright.”
