UNC vs. Gardner-Webb Quotes

North Carolina 77, Gardner-Webb 61 ∙ November 15, 2019
Postgame Quotes
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams

On Armando Bacot
"His line – six-for-nine (shooting), 11 rebounds, 12 points. I thought he should have had a hundred. You cannot completely turn the ball over five or six times -- or lose it and sometimes you get it back... He is a big dude; he is going to be a really good player. We got to have more attention to detail. We work all the time not bringing the ball low and dribbling it. He has three turnovers, and I thought he had 33. Yet he goes up and makes one of those blocks that nobody else on our team could make. I do like the six-for-nine. I think he could do a lot more."

On Armando Bacot's contributions to the team at his best
"He can score inside at times. I think he can defend the rim better than what we have had the last couple of years. I think he is going to be able to do that and give us some efficiency as an inside scorer."

On Armando Bacot not getting to the free throw line
"I do not know. They stripped him before he got to go up. Everyone on the team shot 200 free throws from Wednesday to Friday. Fifteen guys shot over 80% and three guys shot below 80%. So, we feel like we make a bunch of them, but tonight only one that made a bunch of them Garrison [Brooks] and Cole [Anthony]."

On whether or not he is seeing progress in the team's recent scoring
"Yes some...50% in the second half...But we are shooting the worst percentage of any team I have ever coached. You think about it, we are 1-10 at the half and we had pretty good open looks from three. We just didn't make any of them. We just have to make more shots. I do like the thought that Christian [Keeling] made a couple of jump shots. Cole [Anthony] made a couple of jump shots. Andrew [Platek] made a jump shot in the second half. So, I thought it was better then. I think we can be a good shooting team. But so far we haven't been."

North Carolina Players
Armando Bacot ∙ F ∙ Fr.
On how many times Coach Williams told him to stop bringing the ball down
"He told me. That was just the main thing. I just can't bring it down. They just kept taking them. That was a little freshman mistake. In the second half, I did it once and I was like alright, I'm just not bringing it down. I kept it high and just finished it."

On how he thinks he played tonight
"I think I played solid. I still think I could have played a lot better. I left a lot of points on the table. I could have gotten a lot more rebounds. I definitely could have blocked a lot more shots. I could have played way better."

On whether he agrees with [Christian] Keeling saying Armando can get 20-20 any night he wants
"I do. I feel like I can put up those type of numbers if I'm at my best and playing my hardest. That wasn't my best."

Cole Anthony ∙ G ∙ Fr.
On how he thinks the team is coming along offensively
"Offensively, it's been a slow process, but it's a long season. Obviously we have a long way to go, but I'm confident in this group of guys. I think everyone loves being around each other, so I think we're going to be fine offensively."

On how he thought Armando Bacot played
"He set the tone tonight. He showed everyone how good he is and how good he can be. I expect him to bring that every night from now on."

On why his passing wasn't as sharp tonight
"I guess I let me missing a few shots get inside my head. It's just something that I individually have to work on. I just have to be mentally stronger. We'll fix it."

Christian Keeling ∙ G ∙ Gr.
On Roy Williams being displeased with the team's performance/not playing well
"Gardner-Webb played tough. They were a scrappy team. We didn't play our best offense, even though our defense was good. I think he knew we could play better. I think as a team we have to play better in order to beat the better teams. I think he overall wasn't pleased with the offense or the defense."

On playing slow and not having much energy
"I think the offense wasn't clicking in the first half, so we had to build off of our defense. We let our defense be our engine, and we had to feed off of each other, and stuff like that to stay motivated throughout the whole game."

On starting to feel more comfortable with the team
"As the games go on, I think I'm getting better and better. I feel more relaxed. I feel more comfortable. It's hard to adapt in a short amount of time, but I think each and every game I'm getting better and better. You can see I looked more comfortable tonight."

Leaky Black ∙ G ∙ So.
On the team's identity coming together
"Slowly but surely. These last few games, I felt like our defense wasn't there, but tonight, we honestly balled more on defense. We obviously had a couple open three-pointers, but just barely tipping our fingers and stuff like that. That's an easy fix. At the end of the day, it's about getting our chemistry down."

On the advice he gave to Christian Keeling
"Every game after every shot he missed, he would be like, 'Dang, bro.' And I'd be like, 'Bro, relax, you have a lot of ball to play.' It's a confidence thing at this level. That's all I talk about. Watch a guy like Coby [White]. All he had was confidence and you see him breaking records left and right. I was like, 'CK, I feel like you can shoot the ball just as good as Coby.' I just keep feeding him confidence."

On finding a balance between attacking and distributing
"I just try to make the right play at the end of the day. I've played point guard my whole life. I was always a pass first point guard. So this is kind of new, trying to get downhill, trying to stay aggressive, that kind of thing. I feel like it'll come. I just have to be patient."

Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Christian Keeling

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