UNC-Duke Postgame Quotes

North Carolina 79, Duke 70 • March 9, 2019
Postgame Quotes

North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
"We do apologize, but I like kids that tell people things that mean something to them, and I appreciate those three seniors [Cam Johnson, Luke Maye, Kenny Williams]. It was a big-time win. It was as ugly as it could be in the last six minutes, we made no field goals. Cam [Johnson] stepped to the line and made two big free throws. Garrison [Brooks] stepped up and had really struggled and made two big free throws. Coby [White] was a mess there for a while, he was hard for people to handle. I love coaching those seniors. Can you imagine how lucky I have been? They are something else."

On Kenny Williams coming up big in his last home game
"[Kenny Williams]'s our best perimeter defender, he's been that his entire career. He showed it again today and I was happy that some of his shots went,.I think that was maybe the most threes he has made all year in one game, four-out-of-seven. He willed a couple of them in the hole. One time, when the guy is falling down beside him, he's standing there wide open and willed the ball in the hole."

On his feelings during the pre-game senior ceremony
"Before the game, during the ceremony, I just wanted everyone to clap like crazy so we can play the game. This is a hard day for me...I'm pretty emotional. This is a hard day for me because I want our seniors to go out the right way and to me, that means to win. This is a hard day, but it's pretty neat right now."

On the seniors scoring the first 12 points coming out of halftime
"I talked to them at halftime and we had not done what we had wanted to do. We hadn't played the way we wanted to play, but the good news was that we had twenty minutes to play better. We had to play with our brain and our heart both, and the toughness had to be there. Those three guys did step-up to say the least."

On Kenny Williams's and Nassir Little's performances in the first half
"Well Nassir [Little], I think he had eight of his nine (points) at halftime and that was big. Kenny [Williams], in his career he has been a better scorer than he has this year, but he has struggled from the three-point line this year and the ball hasn't gone in the basket. Anybody that scored eight points for us in the first half is big."

On whether or not his team has been underappreciated this season in the public's view
"Perhaps, but I really don't get into that. I really enjoy the kids when we talk about our own dreams and goals. I mean, I have a telephone and I can text somebody and if they text me I can read it. I don't read the internet. I still don't know if it's tweet or twit, and so I don't read all the junk. Basically, the bottom line for us is to have great kids and win and I think we've done that."

On the players reading public response
"I haven't brought it up so if they have it as individual motivation, that's okay. I tell us what we tell everybody, we got to do it out on the court and that's we try to focus on – being the best team that we can be. I mean, three seniors like that, all three of those guys are fantastic students and just good people. There have been times when I have played the underappreciated card or no respect card, but I don't think I have said anything like that all year."

On having players that stay until senior year
"Well what caused it is I couldn't get any of those recruits that Duke and Kentucky got. Again, I'm fairly confident – you give me really good kids who will play really hard and we're going to win some games that maybe we shouldn't. Kenny [Williams] and Luke [Maye], neither one of those guys were in the top 100 but Luke sits in my office and says, 'You are never going to have anybody that works as hard as I'm going to work.' As a coach, if you don't love that… There's nothing wrong with what Duke and Kentucky have done. I have nothing against that. Like I say, I tried to recruit those kids myself, but whoever shows up in a North Carolina practice jersey, we're going to try to coach the dickens out of them and they're such hard working kids because we do look at character maybe more than anybody else and I like that."

On regular season success translating to postseason success
"As a student at North Carolina, I learned more about basketball than I ever had. As a high school coach for five years I still listened to what Coach [Dean] Smith said and I was fortunate enough to be with him for ten years and I do really believe what he was saying that it is harder to accomplish something over a two- or three-month period than it is over three or four days. The ACC now – I was in the ACC when there were only seven teams. Now there's fifteen teams so I'm proud of that. We set goals and that's the first goal we set. We hope we have some other goals and fortunately we have reached some of them three other times, but that is the first goal we set because it is sustaining something. I think it's harder to sustain something than it is to have a great year then all of a sudden bad. I'm proud of that, there's no question, but Coach Smith taught me a heck of a lot of them are good."

On beating Duke versus other wins
"Believe it or not, the satisfaction that I feel right now is not in beating Duke. The satisfaction I feel is seniors winning on their last home game and the fact that is gives us co-champions in the league and then beating Duke is third – and it really is. That may not be what everybody likes to hear, but it's the truth. The higher level you go and the tougher the win is. You've got to beat some teams and programs that are really great, and their program is fantastic. And let's be honest, whether it's an asterisk or not because frankly I don't care. They didn't have Zion [Williamson] again today and then [Marques] Bolden got hurt as well, and we understand that it. That made the game much different than it might have been. If it had been a higher-level game on their end, I think my guys might have played a higher level as well and I like that."

On locking down on defense late
"I just kept screaming up endless 'Guard, guard, guard, guard.' I think that they tried to do that and – you'd have to ask Mike [Krzyzewski] about this – it looked to me like they rushed a couple of those shots, but we were fortunate that they missed them. I like to think our defense did a couple things to help us, but I kept telling them that the game is going to be won on the defensive end of the floor. I said that every timeout in the second half and their inability to close it from 75 to 70 was huge because the only thing we were doing was taking bad shots, taking good shots and missing them or going to the free throw line and fortunately we made some free throws."

On why Luke Maye's promise to work hard stands out
"Because, number one, he did it. Talk is cheap. I've had a lot of guys say, 'Man, I'm going to show you how hard I work and I work harder in one day than I've seen guys work in a week.' But Luke Maye, even last night, we were up here. At 9:36 I walked out of the building and Luke and Cam [Johnson] were down in the locker room waiting to go out and shoot some more last night. I like gym rats and he may be the biggest gym rat I've ever known."

Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement
"Well congratulations to North Carolina and Virginia… It's been a heck of a conference season. When Carolina's playing lights out basketball – we have been – we fought hard today. It was a hard-fought game today and I'm proud of my guys. It's been a while since the ACC – we have four teams that have 25 or more wins. I mean, that's crazy. It's been a hell of conference regular season. Now everyone's 0-on-0 and we go forward. Marques [Bolden], the initial diagnosis is an MCL sprain. I don't know the degree or the level, but it's not an ACL so that's good for that kid. We've just had some what I call in-combat injuries. They're not getting hurt in practice or sick or whatever, but they're playing hard and we've just had a lot of injuries. Hopefully, I think we'll get Zion back for Thursday. He worked out this morning again no contact, but Monday there will be and hopefully we'll get a couple good days of practice where he can play five-on-five and then see how that goes. But the way he looks right now, I think it's just a matter of getting in shape. Getting in game shape and going forward. Congratulations to [North Carolina's] seniors. Those are three unbelievable kids. Luke [Maye] has been one of the best players in the country and just a stalwart. What does he play, what position? He plays winner. He's just a winner. Obviously, Kenny Williams – great defender, shooter, great kid. And Cameron Johnson. They have great kids and Coby [White] had a hell of a game, especially in the second half, so it's an honor for us to play against them. I think they feel the same with us and that's why it's North Carolina, but congratulations to them [winning] and being co-champs in our conference."

On what teams can do to combat Coby White when he's on a next-level of play
"I mean they have other players who do that, too. We have some players who do that and that's what makes me and Roy [Williams] better coaches… What they've done with him is they've given him the freedom to do that. It's not just like he does it. Once he feels that he knows he has the support of his teammates and his coaching staff and that gives him even more confidence. Probably the most proud I was of our team was when he hit us with that and we're down by 15 and we put ourselves in a position where we had a chance. Down by five and RJ [Barrett] took the ball to the basket and you're hoping you get an and-one or a bucket or whatever and they blocked it. But I'm proud of the fact that our guys put us in that position. We had a chance. We had our chance there and we kept fighting. We'll be okay if we keep doing that."

On what makes Coby White a difficult match up
"He's big and he can shoot and he's good. He's talented. What else do you want to know? He's one of the best players in the league. He's going to be an NBA player. He's got all those things and he's got the support. What's cool [is] when a freshman gets supports from the seniors."

On whether he prefers senior day games when both Carolina and Duke have senior foundations
"Yeah. They're going to find out too, it's just the way of the world. Both programs attract high-level talent and we both do a good job of developing talent so the talent's going to go earlier. I liked when Nolan Smith and [Kyle] Singler and they have that type of team still right now. They have that blend of great old and really good, great young and it makes them a special group."

On Cam Reddish bouncing back from the Wake Forest game
"Just to be aggressive. It was a game that they allow in both ways. It's a very physical game and for him to take it to the hole that much – in some games he'll get rewarded a little bit more – but it's just a maturation process for him. I think it was very critical that he had it in this game because if he can keep that when Zion [Williamson] comes back, then we have three guys who can really score the ball and play off. When Cam [Reddish] was not playing [that] was when we had one and today we had two and then you've got a better chance to win. And that's just the way our team make-up is. When the three of those guys are together then they play off one another better. Then the other guys aren't asked to make as many plays. They might make a shot, get a rebound. It's more of a successful level for them."

On what Duke needs to do to get back to its potential regardless of Zion Williamson's return
"Just to be together. They've shown when they're together, they're very good. And we've been good – not real good – without Zion [Williamson]. The kids have fought, but it's inconsistent. It's not at the level that's needed to win a championship. It's at the level of being good and in order to win a championship, you have to be outstanding. So these guys will react quickly. It depends on Zion [and] his shape and I think it'll happen real quick."

On how different it is to hit a reset button with a young team for postseason
"Just the fact that we can hit a reset button. If Zion [Williamson]'s healthy and whatever, we'll have a chance."

On his team's poise
"We had good poise today. Just a tough, great environment. Great team. I didn't think we lost because we got flustered or nervous or anything like that. We stayed with them in rebounds. It was a really good game. It was a really good game and Coby [White]'s flurry kind of did that. Shame on him for doing that. He shouldn't have done that."

On why his team is able to respond when they fall behind
"These guys, they believe and they are good. We're not going to lose because we're afraid or we're going to back down or anything like that. If we lose, it's because the other team played better. Not that we didn't play well, and tonight they played better. We played well and in going forward, that's good. It was good for Jack [White] and Javin [DeLaurier] to play the minutes. One did have double figure rebounds, the other nine, and playing in this level game, doing that helps them. It helps them. It helps me, too."

North Carolina Players

Kenny Williams, Senior Guard
On drawing three of RJ Barrett's four fouls
"Three of them were charges; yeah, two in the first half, one in the second… I think that him getting the charge calls kind of took away some of his aggressiveness and kind of messed up his rhythm a little bit, so I think that was a big part of the game."

On having a big game on senior night
"I won't have any more games like that – that will be the one that I can remember, that will be my last one so for it to be in this situation, against the biggest rival, for the ACC Championship, I think that was one of the better performances I could've put up."

On Coby White's big stretch in the second half
"Yeah, Coby took over. When it came to hitting threes and hitting open teammates, he took over the game, and he kind of opened it up for us."

On confidence going into the ACC Tournament after this performance
"It'll boost my confidence a little bit but it was never really shaken, I just needed to see the ball go in and tonight it did for me."

Coby White, Freshman Guard
On senior night win
"It was fun. A lot of emotion. I could tell they were really emotional. I was emotional for them. Coming out in the first couple minutes of the game I felt like we all had higher energy, so we needed to settle down some. I hate it that they're leaving, but that's life. We have to continue to move along. They are three great seniors. Three great players, but they're even better off the court as individuals and men."

On changing his level of playing since the last game against Duke
"I think that's just the way it has gone. Obviously, I don't want to play as bad as I did there, but I think after that game I told myself I have to play better. Big time players show up in the big time moments. I didn't show up that day, so I just told myself I have to play better and continue to grind. I can't forget about that game because the feeling after the game wasn't too well. At the end of the day, all I care about is winning and we won that game so I moved past it. And we won tonight."

On this team being National Championship caliber
"For sure. We have a lot of stuff going good for us right now. We just have to continue our focus and get better every day in practice."

Luke Maye, Senior Forward
On how they finished their last game
"It feels great to go out the way we did. I feel like we played really well, especially the second half. I thought we played great defense. I thought Coby [White] played great; he shot the ball really well. Nassir [Little] played well, and I thought it was a great team led force."

On the pressure of senior night impacting the start of his game
"Definitely for me, I think just playing my last game in there … granted every game is just another game, but it definitely has more of an emphasis, especially for us. Coming out I thought we didn't make as many shots as we usually do. I missed some easy ones, but I thought we settled in the second half. I thought we did a great job defensively, which was huge for us at the end."

On walking out of his last game in the Dean Dome with a piece of net from an ACC win
"It's huge. Coach just mentioned we have won three out of four since I've been here. To have such an impact this year and to be one of the starters on this team is really cool and to show the young guys what success looks like, and how to push and achieve that moving forward."

On what he will miss the most about playing with these guys
"I think the biggest thing for me is the times that go unnoticed…the weight room times, times going to eat, going to movies, things like that. Spending time off the court I think is big for me. I think you learn a lot about somebody, and I think that's going to be huge. It hasn't really hit me yet since we hopefully have a month left, but it's been a great ride."

On what this program means to him
"It's meant the world to me … growing up and watching games. Like I said, both of my parents went here. I always dreamed I would play in here and give my speech. To have that fulfilled is just a dream come true. I can't thank my teammates and coaches enough for believing in me and for allowing us to go out the way we went tonight. We still have a lot left to prove, but this is a big milestone for me."

Cameron Johnson, Graduate Student Guard
On confidence after big win
"We are feeling good right now. We understand that right now it is win or go home. You cannot take anything for granted this time of year. We remember what happened last year in the NCAA Tournament. It is on us to change that and do our best."

The significance of Kenny William's four chargers on defense
"Huge! That is what he does. He makes those plays all the time, and he is a guy you really want on your team. It sucks playing against him. I can tell you that and know that first hand and seen it from this perspective. I love playing with him and having him as a teammate."

On being 4-1 against Duke in his Carolina Career
"It feels incredible. That is one of the first things I learned when I got here is that this rivalry is taken seriously. You think you know from the outside, but when you get in it, it levels up a notch."

Nassir Little, Freshman Forward
On momentum shift after halftime
"A hunger to win. Coaches were telling us that we were not doing enough, and we really listened to that and came out in the second half."

On getting sweep against Duke in first year
"It means a lot man. I am glad that I am able to be a part of it. I can't really talk, but it feels great. First year here and to play like we did at home in front of our amazing fans and being able to send the seniors out the right way means a lot to me."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cameron Johnson

Nassir Little

Luke Maye

Coby White

Kenny Williams

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