University of North Carolina Athletics
February 12, 2016 | Women's Basketball
NORTH CAROLINA POSTGAME QUOTES
North Carolina 71, Virginia Tech 67 Ÿ February 11, 2016
North Carolina Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Opening Statement
“I'm proud of these guys and the other ones in the locker room. Virginia Tech is a very good team. They had the number five defense in the country, and the first half we shot 50 percent on them, so I thought that was pretty good because they're a really good team. They've got some big wins earlier in the year. I was telling the girls they beat Tennessee by 20 at Tennessee, so they're pretty good. They've had some big wins. They've got some excellent players and some excellent shooters. They're a great perimeter shooting team. But these guys just continue to get better and better. Some of you all have seen us play since November, and we're light years away from where we were in November. That's because they've worked hard. They've had great attitudes, and they're just fun to be around. They make it exciting, that's for sure. Foul shooting was big. We were 20 for 22 from the foul line, and that was major. Good balance with our scoring. We out rebounded them, which was big. Again, it was fun to win, and now we've got to get ready for Florida State. These guys did a great job.”
On adjusting to a six man rotation
“We really have cut way back on practice time. It's more mental. Tomorrow, we'll do a mental practice for Florida State. We'll shoot and do a mental practice for Florida State. That's all. And then Saturday we travel, and then Sunday we play. We're trying to keep their legs, and it's working. We were getting tired. You've only got so much energy, so we're saving it all for the games and that's what they're doing. And it's working.”
On playing through momentum swings
“We were not playing on offense, and we have to adjust by locking down more on defense. I think that's what we tried to make our focus, locking down the two shooters.”
Jamie Cherry, G
On closing out the game
“I think we did a great job of jumping out in the beginning as we haven't been doing in our past couple of games that we've been losing. We actually tied the third quarter, and that was our coach's biggest deal was to win the third quarter. Even though they outscored us in the fourth, we still hung tough, and we stayed poised down the stretch as we did at Boston College and we did tonight. Erika Johnson and [Hillary] Summers hit some big time free throws, especially Johnson being a 39 percent free throw shooter. That was big for her. I think it was a great confidence builder.”
On adjusting to the press
“Our mentality is to just try to get it down the court, make smart decisions, and not get rattled by the traps. I think that's what we kind of did towards the end. We got a little rattled. At the end, where we finally called plays to get the ball in easier, I think we handled it well. We got the ball to the people who we needed to get it to.”
