University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Wake Forest Quotes
January 21, 2016 | Men's Basketball
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
“We won. I'm as happy as I can possibly be. It wasn't very pretty. Wake struggled, and so did we. We shoot 26 percent in the second half. Everybody shows up to my weekly press conference and talks about what a great shooting team we are; remember don't ask me that question any more. Brice [Johnson], 27 [points] and 11 [rebounds], 11 out of 12 from the free throw line. Defensively, we created some turnovers early, and that gave us a little confidence, and we had a 10 or 12 point lead. One of the few times I looked up at the scoreboard, I think we had a 25 or 24 [point lead], at one point we tuned it over three of the next four possessions. We didn't practice very well this week, and from a coaching viewpoint, I'm glad we didn't play well. Maybe we'll learn something and practice better before we play at Virginia Tech on Sunday. Tomorrow is off, so we've got to come back Friday and Saturday and have great practices and get a heck of a lot better. Brad Frederick just gave me a stat: they had 17 field goals in the second half, and 14 of them were lay-ups. I'm tired of those guys on TV talking about how good North Carolina is but their defense is not very good. I'd like to get a plane and fly around the nation and say you're exactly right, but I'm tired of listening to it. Other than that guys, I'm glad it's not Christmas Eve.”
On indications of a bad practice
“Anybody that's ever breathed and walked could have watched us in practice this week because we did nothing good. Someway, somehow, we've got to get better habits in practice, better efforts in practice. Monday at practice, I got mad at them at the end, and we decided to see if any of us could qualify for the track team, didn't make me feel any better either. It's pretty easy when you watch us practice this week, how bad we were in practice.”
On how to get Marcus Paige shooting better
“I don't know. I guess they pay me a lot of money to say, 'I don't know,' but I've never had a player I've had more confidence in in my entire life than Marcus Paige. The ball's not going in the basket right now, but he is doing some other things. I don't know what he had: one for eight [shooting], zero for five [from three], two assists, four steals, he was active defensively, but got in some foul trouble, made some silly fouls, too. Didn't play very well, but I'm telling you the truth. I've never had a player in 28 years as a head coach that I've got more confidence in than I do Marcus.”
On if he is satisfied winning comfortably despite poor shooting
“No. It may be for them, but satisfaction is not a part of my language right now. Nowhere close. Mick Jagger, satisfaction, that's not Roy Williams as a coach.”
Wake Forest Head Coach Danny Manning
Opening Statement
“Tonight I thought Carolina came out and played a very good first half, and we didn't do much to deter that. We have to do a much better job of guarding. We have to do a much better job of finishing off plays with rebounds, and I thought in the second half, we did some better things, but at that point it was too far in the ballgame. I think when you're making a run back at a team and they get fouled 27 times to your eight that's kind of a hard hurdle to get over, so we have to do a better job of guarding.”
On the effect of turnovers
“Well it doesn't help. I mean they got 19 points off of our turnovers I believe, so we have to do a much better job taking care of the basketball. Then we have to rebound the ball better. They got 18 second chance opportunities.”
UNC's ability to get the ball inside
“I thought they got the ball inside. We have to do a better job of playing interior defense, and that is playing defense before your man catches the ball. Far too many times tonight, we were a step behind.”
Comparing their effort to the Syracuse game
“I thought it was better in the second half. I thought our effort was a little bit better in the second half. They scored nine field goals in the second half, and we have to have that type of mentality in the first half as well.”
Bryant Crawford's performance
“I thought, once again, he's been playing great. He's a true freshman; we've been throwing him into the fire since day one. He's a competitor; he's fearless. He gets his 18 points and five assists. The one thing we do talk to him about is some of his turnovers, but he does make things happen for us. I think he's, for a true freshman, playing very well.”
The defensive combination in the second half
“In the second half I thought, like I said, we did some good things for certain stretches of the second half but not enough for the game. We've got to take some of that moxie that we had in the second half at times and show it in the first half.”
Foul trouble for John Collin
“He's another freshman, and we threw him into the fire. Production-wise I think he is very, very good. When you go out and play against teams in our league you have to be locked in, and you can't take the cheap, petty ones. A lot of it just has to do with him being a freshman.”
On 3-point percentages
“Well we're not making shots, and that's what we need. The guys that we need to make shots, right now, are in a funk from the 3-point line. We're shooting pretty decent shots; we've just got to knock them down.”
North Carolina Player Quotes
Theo Pinson, G
On his recent success
“All I got to say is 'Thank you Jesus.' I was going through a stretch where I just couldn't get anything going. I honestly was just happy we were winning games. I just want to do what I could when I got in there and stuff wasn't falling but I had to do other things to make plays. I am glad I did tonight. I had a bucket tonight, my shoulders dropped and I was like 'Thank you Lord.' It was a great feeling. Now just to keep it going and stay consistent.”
On his confidence
“I have had the confidence it's just sometimes my shot goes in and sometimes it doesn't. That's just how it is some games but what I want to do is help my team win and if I have to do that, I have to do that. At the end of the day, it's a team effort.”
On the team's defensive effort
“We did alright, we could have done a lot better in the second half. We allowed them to get layups. They had 13 layups in the second half. We can't let that happen in other games, with a better opponent. The same time we did do well in the first half, getting them frustrated. We are a work in progress and we could do better on the defensive end.”
On the team's depth
“We had the depth last year. Its great to have it, we just have to use it. We have to use it to produce instead of just letting guys have rest and minutes on the bench. We also need those guys to help and be productive.”
On playing a less than ideal game and still coming out with a big win
“It really shows our depth. Brice was the only one in double digits and we still scored in the 80's. Of course, Coach [Williams] mentioned we only shot 27%, so that's just something we have to work on. 27% is not our goal.
On Marcus' slump, and how he's been practicing
“I see him every time going through the same things he was doing at the beginning of the year, and even last year when he was shooting well. It's just one of those times – even Justin – when they go through a bad shooting phase. They always say good shooters have trouble sometimes, but it's going to fall sooner or later.”
On whether he's worried about Marcus' slump – will he come out of it?
“Oh yeah. That's the thing – we see him in practice and stuff and he makes some shots, and then he'll stay in the gym after. I know he's doing the same things he used to do so sooner or later it's going to go in.
Did you feel like there was a lid on the rim during the second half?
“Uh, yeah. I could say the same for Justin a bit, his floater is always his go-to and one time tonight I passed it and thought it was just going to go in so I ran off down the court, and it just bounced out right in front of me.”
On being able to switch out post players – Hicks, Johnson, Meeks, etc.
“It's just a matter of knowing what Brice and Kennedy can do, and I think my role is going out there and trying to be aggressive as well. I just try to help the team out with whatever they need. Today everybody wasn't doing their best, but Brice stepped up. That's what we need from at least one person every game.”
On Coach Williams being happy with a win, but not satisfied with the game
“Of course we had two not very good practices this week, but the expectations of us are there. He's going to let us know if he's not happy. That's just something as players we need to fix. To shoot 27% and give up fourteen layups in the second half – that's the type of stuff that's unacceptable.”
