University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Northwestern 85, North Carolina 72
December 3, 2015 | Women's Basketball
NORTH CAROLINA POSTGAME QUOTES
Northwestern 85, North Carolina 72 December 2, 2015
North Carolina Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Opening Statement
“Northwestern, as you can see, is a very good team, especially shooting. They put a lot of points up. We started out the game, and I was like 'when are they going to miss a shot?' I was proud of the fact that we kept fighting. We didn't quit. We kept fighting. Basically in the second half, we beat them by 10 points, but we were down by 23 or something like that at halftime. We got it below 10, and we had the shot to cut it to seven. I thought that was going to go in. It took us awhile to adjust, but I thought the second half we played well. We're a work in progress. Jamie [Cherry] didn't have a good night. I don't blame it on her, but she's our point guard. If she gets rolling, then most of us are rolling. Xylina [McDaniel] had a good game, and (so did) N'Dea [Bryant]. We out rebounded them, which was good. It basically came down to shooting, and a lot of it was three-point shooting. They're an excellent team, especially offensive scoring and all. We had 11 or 12 turnovers in the first half and only two assists, but we flipped that in the second half. If we'd had the first half like we did the second half, we would've given them a better game and put ourselves in a position to win. We're learning, and we'll continue to get better and better. They're a very good team, a very seasoned team. They have excellent players, especially in scoring and offense. Now we've got exams. We don't play for 10 days or so. We have the next two days off, and then we'll have two or three practices. Then we play Appalachian State. I'll be out recruiting pretty much every day between now and then.”
On the team's improvement this season
“I think we've improved a whole lot since the first game. Of course, Xylina is back out there. We're learning to play together. The freshmen are adjusting. We've gotten better, and we'll continue.”
N'Dea Bryant, G
On what she could have done better defensively
“I should've stayed down more. The guards were beating us off the dribble, cutting the corners and stuff like that. I feel like if I would've played better in the first half, it would've been a better ball game.”
On her ability to drive to the basket
“I think in the beginning, we didn't realize how much we could drive on them. We finally realized in the second half that if we drive on them, we're going to either get the foul score or have someone to kick it to. As far as me being able to drive, I guess I used my body on them. We just realized that we could drive on them a little too late, and that's how we would've won the game.
On her post-injury status
“I'm definitely not 100% yet. I'm doing extra workouts every day, so I'm getting there. I was kind of tired today. I didn't play as many minutes as I did last game. A lot of that is that it's the end of the semester. That had to do with me feeling a little sluggish today. I was a little winded out there, but I'm going to get that extra workout in tomorrow.”
Northwestern Head Coach Joe McKeown
Opening Statement
“I thought we played a great game. I thought we ran out of gas a little bit in the last stretch, and Carolina – you knew they were going to make a run at some point. Other than that maybe three-minute stretch, I thought we did a really good job controlling the flow of the game. I thought we took really good shots for the most part, and I'm just really happy with the progress we're making right now. It's good for us to go on the road and play against North Carolina here. I think that's important, and it gives us a sense of what a road game in the Big 10 is going to be like too. I'm really proud of our team. That was our fourth game in, I think, six or seven days and on the road, so it'll be good for us to regroup a little bit. Maggie [Lyon], as a senior, is showing tremendous, kind of like, “I'm not going to let my team lose,” and when you have that it goes a long way.”
Holding the lead in the fourth period
“I think we had to control our offense a little bit more so than anything else, just making better shots. Maggie got to the foul line a little bit. I think we got a little sloppy with the ball, and they got out and ran. I thought that we did a little better job the last two minutes just slowing things down and making some stops on defense, which we hadn't been able to do. You know they're going to make a run. It's a great program and a great environment. We kept preaching play 40 minutes, four quarters, but it's also early December, so we'll be preaching that for a while.”
A big win
“I have great respect for Coach Hatchell. I've been a friend of hers for many, many years and what she's done not just at North Carolina but for women's basketball and how much she's helped change our sport in a positive way. When we looked at the match up we knew it was going to be tough, but it'll be fun. And you heard [Maggie Lyon] and [Nia Coffey] say they love playing in this event. I think it's great to be able to come here, but we knew it was going to be tough.”
On strategy of fast-paced play
“Our strategy was exactly what you said but the execution gives us something to work on. We got a little tired, and even though we played really well in spurts we've got to get more consistent. We had some people that came off the bench that did a good job tonight; we need some more of that because we are a good transition team, but you're going to have to filter it with being able to close people out, which we weren't able to do tonight.”
