University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Miami 76, North Carolina 61
January 17, 2016 | Women's Basketball
UNC vs. University of Miami
January 17, 2016
Press Conference
Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Opening Statement
Miami has a very good team. They've got shooters, and they're very athletic. I thought we did some good things first half. We had a few break downs. We didn't get back twice in transition. They got a couple buckets. I think that at halftime we were down six points. A big difference was that we were hanging with them because we were rebounding with them. We had actually missed some really easy shots at halftime. I thought we missed five or six shots around the basket that we should have made.
I told them at halftime, 'For the second half, if you'll rebound with them, transition defense and finish shots, then you'll win the game.' And really that's basically what it came down to because at halftime, we definitely had an advantage on the boards because at half time we had 24 rebounds and they had 17. Offensively, we had 10 and they had six. What ended up, they had 43 rebounds and we had 37. They had 17 offensive and we had 14.
They just really kicked us on the boards in the second half and I thought that was major. Then they got hot, made some outside shots and they were running in 10 or 11 kids. We played six, of course. The good things, I thought both these kids (N'Dea Bryant and Stephanie Watts) played there hearts out, did some nice things. Stephanie (Watts) continues, I think she's the best freshman in the county to be honest with you. Because the kid is in here all the time. As I come and go in the building, it doesn't matter about what time it is, she's in the gym shooting. She's just going to continue to get better and better because she's fearless and wants to learn and be great. And she will be great. In my eyes she's already. N'Dea (Bryant) continues to play really well. Ten rebounds, 12 points. N'Dea is doing a nice job for us in there, as well. We just got to be a little bit more consistent, do a better job on the boards. I thought we had some turnovers that we shouldn't have had. Some of that is communication and experience. But we're getting better. At times we look really good. We're getting better and we have some breakdowns and stuff. Miami is a very good team, so we just got to keep working. Get ready for Wake Forest on Thursday.
On missing Xylina McDaniel
“She's a big body. People get scared when coming in there with her because she will lay you out. And definitely just her leadership on the court, so that's just something we're going to have to work on as a team. Like I tried to talk more today than I probably have in the past, so I was just calling out defensive stuff, and just calling out what Coach Hatchell calls because she was definitely, if anything, the vocal leader on the court and like making sure we're in our spots. Now we just got to think more and speak louder because she's just a big presence period. But leadership and being a big body in there to rebound, and she was getting better at finishing shots lately. Xylina is a great player so she's always going to be missed, but we got to do what we got to do to get better and win without her. Definitely I'm hurt that this happened to her, but we just got to do what we got to do.”
On having to grow up quickly on this team
“Definitely. 100 percent. Freshman kind of dip their feet in the water, like learn from watching. I just have to take it a play at a time and learn from experience. So definitely just like had to dive right in right away.”
