University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Carolina 72, Boston College 60
February 1, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Postgame Press Conference
North Carolina 72, Boston College 60 • February 1, 2015
UNC Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Opening Statement
“It was a hard-fought game. Erik [Johnson]'s done a great job. They really play well as a team controlling the tempo, and they're just great shooters and all. But this is the kind of team that can really frustrate you, especially with their style and their shooting abilities, and they just do such a good job of reading, their back-door cuts, their screens, coming in behind, penetration and everything. I thought the last four or five minutes we did a pretty good job defensively and didn't give them a lot of kick-outs. But these two [Stephanie Mavunga and N'Dea Bryant] played really well, and Allisha [Gray]'s there in the back. She had 15 rebounds and 15 points, almost broke her record with foul shots. And Stephanie had a lot of rebounds, too, and points. We tried to get it inside the second half, and we weren't shooting from the three that well, but we did what we needed to do. It was a hard-fought game, and we're just glad. We've been off all week. We've taken actually three days off to rest because we were so banged up and beat up. I thought at first the first half, I thought we didn't quite have our edge, tempo, intensity and all that, probably because we had taken some days off to rest, but I thought the second half, especially the last 10 or 12 minutes, we got all that back. But I'm just proud of the job that they did, and we're looking forward to playing at Syracuse on Thursday.”
On playing inside
“That's what we said at the second half. I told them, I said “Get it inside. Get it inside.” We're going to go inside with the ball. Now if it goes in, then kick it out and you can take a three. Or if it's in transition and you're wide open. But I wanted to get the ball inside. We have this one play after an out-of-bounds play, we threw it in and we ran a set play for Stephanie, and it was just perfect when she rolled in there and got the ball right in front of the rim. I think that really put us over and gave us the lead, we were up by four or five at the time, and really gave us a boost whenever we did that. But we're getting better. N'Dea and Danielle are still adjusting and working on filling that spot where Xylina [McDaniel] was, and they're doing a really good job, and they're just getting better and better, and they will continue to do that.”
Stephanie Mavunga, F on setting her up for success
“Well, I'm just here so I don't get fined. For me, it just opens it up a little bit more because we have really good shooters on the outside, so that really kind of helps in my game. I think that my teammates do a really good job of realizing that. They ran the given play for me, and we try to get the ball in a lot. That just really builds my confidence up knowing my teammates and my coaches believe in me. I just try to perform as well as they think I can. I think that they just really do a good job of getting me the ball or setting up the play for me and knowing what my strengths are and knowing where I can score at. I think they do a really good job of setting me up for the right time.”
N'Dea Bryant, F on her confidence
“I'm a lot more comfortable. My teammates definitely make me feel like I should be out there and that I can play with anybody, so just my teammates keeping me levelheaded and just letting me know that I can play with anybody and keep my confidence up. Even with myself, just going out there and not thinking about the other team and just playing hard. I feel like when you play hard at this level, that's all that matters.”
