Media Day Q&A: Cole Anthony

Tar Heel freshman point guard Cole Anthony spoke with reporters on Wednesday afternoon in the Smith Center as part of UNC's annual preseason media day.

Below are highlights of Anthony's comments.

On Carolina's lineage of point guards
"Coach Williams has the most Cousy Award winners here, so that's awesome to come into this program that has a great lineage of point guards, Raymond Felton, Ty Lawson, Kendall [Marshall], who is here all the time bugging me, Coby [White], who was here last year. There are a lot of expectations to live up to, but I'm ready."

On handling expectations
"I've been playing basketball for a good amount of time, so I'm not going to come in here and try to change anything I've done. I'm going to listen to all the coaches here, take in all the knowledge I can, and just try to apply that to the game."

On natural leadership
"I wouldn't say I was always the leader that I am. I probably started from freshman year, playing with PSA Cardinals on my AAU team. That's when I really started to develop to become a leader. I give a lot of credit to them, Munch [Terrance 'Munch' Williams], Dre [Andre Charles], MC [Mark Carter]. All the coaches at PSA, they really helped me become a leader."

On the gelling of team with younger and veteran leaders
"It's a balance. I'm not going to come in here and command a hundred things of everyone the first day I come in here. I'm going to learn from them just as much as they will try to hopefully learn from me."

On earning trust from Roy Williams as a point guard
"It's a process. I'm not coming in here expecting him to just give me the keys from day one. I'm going to try, no I'm not going to try, I'm going to work as hard as I can in practice every single day and hopefully he gives me that."

On what he brings to the table
"All-around player. I bring leadership. I'm going to be a really good teammate, not really good, I'm going to be a great teammate. I'm going to do everything I can for this team to win, whether that means sitting on the bench or being on the floor, whatever you need for me to do I'm going to be there to do that."

On J. Cole
"Yeah, we've played together before. He really loves the game, as you can see he's over here working out…he's good. He can definitely play. I've seen him working out a couple times before we met over the summer. He's a real cool dude, real down-to-earth."

On what it says about basketball in the state of North Carolina to have J. Cole here
"They've called North Carolina the Hoop State before, right? That's what it is."

On chemistry with Armando Bacot off the court translating onto the court
"Whenever you gel with someone off the court, it usually helps you think alike on the court. Because of how good our relationship is off the court, it really helps play on the court."

On expectations for himself this year
"Forget my individual goals, I'm here to win. That's my one goal. We're going to make it to a Final Four and see what we can do from there."

On how critical he will be to this season
"As critical as the team needs me to be. Whatever they need me to do, I'm here to do."

On what his dad has taught him about the game
"One thing he's always told me to do is just stay in the moment. If you always look into the future, moments that you have and time you spend with all your teammates here can pass you. I've talked to a bunch of former NBA players and people who came here before, just talking about how much of a brotherhood college is and how much you're going to stay in contact with all these dudes on the team. So make sure you stay in that moment and enjoy it."

On seeing J. Cole at the Smith Center on Wednesday
"It's awesome to see him down here. He's one of the greatest rappers of all time. To see his love for basketball is awesome. It shows how universal the sport of basketball is."

On experience playing against NBA players
"It was awesome. It was one of those experiences where I wasn't there to try to impose my will, I was there to learn. It was a great learning experience to be able to play with all those pros and I really enjoyed it."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Armando Bacot

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