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UNC-Syracuse Quotes
March 1, 2016 | Men's Basketball
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
“I don't know that I could tell you much about the game. I don't know that I have ever felt as much stress over a regular season game as I did tonight. As soon as I got on the plane coming back from Virginia I started feeling that, because I just wanted Brice [Johnson], Marcus [Paige] and Joel [James] so much to win their last home game. That was maybe more important to me than any game I have ever been involved with…Syracuse's zone was really effective tonight. We may have been too emotional, who knows? I don't know the answer to that. If I did, we would have fixed it already. Some of the things we did – getting some big offensive rebounds at the end, I think Isaiah [Hicks] and Brice both made some big plays inside. But it was extremely important to me for those three guys to go out with a win… That team has been extremely important to me because of all of the stuff we have had to handle. It's been very difficult, but every day when I have gone out on the court, those guys have been there. Sometimes, very enthusiastically, wanted me to help them, and sometimes not quite as enthusiastically, but I've loved coaching that team. And those three seniors are very unique individuals… And so to me the day was about winning. I didn't care how. I didn't care if we shot the ball well. I didn't care if we'd rebounded it well. I just wanted to look up on the clock and see that we had more [points].”
On Joel James
“Joel has grown up not physically, but has grown up right in front of my eyes. He's been one of the most mature youngsters that I have ever known in my life. I would have adopted him the first day, and I would still adopt him. I just don't know if I have every coached anybody that's been more impressive than he has.”
“Brice, I've pushed, I've pushed, I've pushed, I've pushed, I've pushed, and he's done some amazing things this year offensively. It's on one hand the number of people I've ever coached in 28 years that's been able to do the things that Brice Johnson has done. The points and the rebounds, and I want him to give more defensively, and I want him to get more in all that kind of stuff, and I'm going to still do that. But he's been pretty doggone impressive with some of the things he has done.”
On Marcus Paige
“Marcus is a young man that has felt the weight of the world on his shoulders for four years, and he has had to do so much. Freshman year, people didn't think he was quite good enough, and I kept thinking, 'you guys just wait.' Then his sophomore year, he felt like he had to make every play. And last year he was hurt, and tried and tried every day. And then this year it hasn't been as smooth as he's wanted. But I've never coached a young man that I have admired more than I have admired Marcus Paige.”
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement
“I thought we played very well. We battled the whole game. I thought we knew there was going to be a disadvantage on the boards. I thought we battled them very well for a long time. At the end of the game, we were down 11. I thought these guys showed a tremendous amount of poise and just took it one play at a time and got it back and got it down to two. Then, the long rebound, Trevor [Cooney] was a little out too far, and he had to come back to get it. That was probably a key play. I mean that rebound – we get that long rebound, we get a chance to tie or possibly take the lead. I thought we battled. The poise was great. Really good team, played with a lot of momentum, got the lead and we just battled back, showed a lot of heart, and I'm really proud of the way we played in the second half after we got down that 11 points. First half, we made three or four bad turnovers that really cost us, but overall, we gave it a great effort tonight.”
On the last play by Michael [Gbinije]
“We had it set up for him to look for a three in transition. I think he felt he had to get all the way, which you know, we'll take a timeout, we'll foul. We'll have a chance to come, but you have to use your best judgment there I think, and he thought he could get to the basket.”
On Carolina's three-point shooting in the second half
“They took a few, but not as many. They took eight. You know they made a concerted effort to get it inside, and we did a good job of keeping it from inside, but when they shot it they got it back too many times. They ended up with 19 offensive rebounds, and I think they had seven or eight at half. They had a bunch of offensive rebound opportunities second half, and I thought that was probably the difference.”
On defense this game
“We did a better job. We were much better defensively. [Kennedy] Meeks really hurt us, two foul-line jump shots that he never even takes. That hurt us. Those two shots hurt us, and the two late offensive rebounds hurt us. A couple loose balls we could've got that they got and that hurt us. That's part of it.”
On Trevor Cooney's performance
“He hit a couple good looks and got to the basket a couple times. He missed a couple going to the basket, but that's good. That's what we want. He had 10 the first half, and he didn't have much opportunity really in the second half, but we need to get that kind of game out of him. He was active I thought. I think we did enough offensively, but we need to make a couple more. We're not going on the road and beating North Carolina making five for 20 from the three-point line. It's almost surprising to be in the game. We fought really hard and that was why we were able to stay in the game.”
On Malachi Richardson's performance
“I thought in the first half he was passive. I thought in the second half he made some drives that were close. Could have been contact, could've been a foul, but you've got to try to take it to the basket. I thought he was more aggressive in the second half. His size hurts us at forward, rebounding situation, but next year you won't have to worry about that.”
North Carolina Player Quotes
On the key to defeating the zone
“We were trying to get in the middle, but we just got the game the last time and we did kill them in the middle, so they were trying to not let us get in the middle. So it was kind of difficult, but we just wanted to try and penetrate their defense and just be able to get inside and not allow them to force three-point shots. We didn't shoot a great deal of three-pointers in the first half. We just tried to get in it.”
On the importance of this game moving forward
“We had a close game against them last time and they are a great team, and we knew that they were going try to come out and spoil our part and be able to end senior night in a bad way, but I mean we are a better team. We wanted to go out the right way, and I wasn't going let it happen. Can't let that happen. I have been a part of too many senior nights where we haven't won. I think the only two losses Coach Williams has had on senior night, we have been a part of them, and I wasn't trying to be part of the third. They played a great game, and they really came back down to the wire, but we prevailed and ended up doing the little things that made the game and helped us win.”
On winning on Senior Night
“It was a great feeling. I think we have only lost one game here all year, and tried to not let that happen but they got lucky. It really means a lot for us to be able to go out through our senior year and be able to say that we've only lost one game here. Just after all we've been through just to be able to say we won our senior year game.”
Marcus Paige, G
On how excited Roy Williams was for the senior night game
“He's really intense about Senior Night, always has been. It's their last chance to be in front of this crowd, to go out in the Dean Dome and hear 21,000 people yelling your name. So he's always been into Senior Night and I think he was a little extra because he really wanted this for us and he really wanted to let the underclassmen know that this was important.”
On the chance to be a #1 seed in the ACC Tournament
“It means a lot. We have to go out and do it. We're obviously going to have a big week of practice, and go in to [Cameron Indoor Stadium] with a lot of energy. There's no reason for us not to. The whole ACC regular season is on the line. There's tournament implications on the line as well. It'll be a fun game. Our group has never gone over there and one so we have a lot of motivation. And now it's even more meaningful because we have a chance to stay on top of the ACC.”
On what it means to win on Senior Night
“It means a lot. It's been a grind of four years for a lot of reasons – on the court and off. To go out on a win, and to run out of that tunnel one more time, with my parents here and everyone in attendance – it's a special feeling, and one I'll never forget. People asked me during the tough times in our program: 'Would you redo it, would you go somewhere else?' and I would say 'No, there's no chance.' This has made me such a better person, and I'm so thankful for this. It's been my dream, so to do it for four years and have a Senior Night and be able to thank our coaches formally was a dream come true. I'm glad we won.”
On Roy Williams saying this team might be his all-time favorite team
“I think it says a lot about the character of the people we have in that locker room. We're a fun group, we've probably caused him to age a lot over the past couple of years and given him a lot of frustration, but at the same time, we've come together and worked really hard. We've tried to be the best we can be. Whether that's the best team in the ACC, or just the best team we can be despite our record, you've got to tip your hat to us for that. I think we have a chance to do something special this year. We'll be able to add hardware to the fact that we're his favorite team.”
On being able to finish the close game at the end
“We made some plays that burned the clock a little bit and got some stops. I made it interesting with my only turnover of the night leading to a basket to cut it to three with 40 seconds left. That was unbelievable. I think we executed well and were tough down the stretch.”
