UNC-Miami Postgame Quotes

North Carolina 94, Miami 71 • January 25, 2020
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Roy Williams

Opening Statement
"Our locker room was a lot more fun today than it has been. I think we did some things that were really good, but at the same time, I know where Jimmy [Larrañaga] is. We've had two games this year where we didn't have our point guard, we didn't realize until the day before the game, and that is really hard. Especially as good as Chris [Lykes] is, I think that's a tremendously big blow for them. I hope we would have played really well if he had been in the game, but I know this, I don't want to evaluate Jimmy's team, but I think they're a lot better team when they have him, their point guard, their leading scorer, so I feel bad for Jimmy at that time. But I feel better for our guys, to say the least. The first thing I thought about at halftime, I looked at [the scoreboard] then and at the end of the game was 32 assists on 40 baskets, and I think we did share the ball better today, and if you share the ball better usually you get better shots. We shot a much better percentage than we had in quite a while. It felt good to have some things going our way, and going in the basket…I was happy for B-Rob to get back out there, needless to say, we needed shooting ability and his leadership and he even got an offensive rebound for a basket too. It was a good day for us. Armando, 19 and 12, 7 assists. I think 5 guys had at least 4 assists, so some good things happened to us today. And again, I feel badly for Jimmy and his club and what they're going through today."

On 32 assists on 40 baskets being like 'Dean Smith basketball'
"Well is should be, it's North Carolina basketball as I've always known it. It tied the record for most assists since I've been here. Usually we have more opportunity for more assists because we play at a faster pace and we haven't played at a faster pace much this year. We shared the ball--you have heard me complain about the defense and standing around but I don't think we stood very much today I think we moved intelligently without the ball."

On the team being rewarded with a win today
"I think they do feel really good, I think they should feel happy and some reward for some of the hard work, because for the most part, they've come to practice and tried. Nobody has taken the days off, and we just have to keep getting better. I was discouraged in the second half because I thought they kept just driving the ball to the basket and laying it up against us, but other than that, I felt good about it--and darn right they have to feel good about it."

On the pressure to get his 880th win
"I would have been just as happy if it had happened four or five games ago. I know some people don't believe me, but I didn't realize that until they told me this summer that we were that close. I desperately wanted [win] number nine for this team. And I've been very honest. Hopefully, I'll live some after I quit. And somebody will say, 'You won some games,' and I'll say 'yeah, they were a lot of fun.' I really haven't tried to evaluate where I am or anything like that, because that usually means that you're ready to quit. I hope I'm not ready to quit."

Miami Head Coach Jim Larrañaga
Opening statement
"Carolina played very well. We couldn't stop them, and they defensively really caused problems for us."

On how soon he knew that Chris Lykes and Kameron McGusty would be out
"We played Florida State last Saturday and after the game was over those guys were not doing well. I didn't think they were going to play against Duke but they both came and said 'Hey, we want to give it a try.' And they did but you could tell after the game that neither one of them felt good. They didn't play like they wanted to play. And if you look at it, they didn't practice on Sunday or Monday, played some against Duke, did not practice Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Coming here [it] just made sense to rest them and see if they can get better. Neither one of them is close to 100%. [Chris] Lykes is dealing with a hip flexor and [Kameron] McGusty is dealing with back spasms, and if any of you have ever had back issues, you know you can't bend, you can't move--it's just hard."

On their approach today knowing that UNC has been struggling
"Quite frankly, based on our situation, we're not concerned about the opponent. We're trying to figure out--we only had six scholarship players--we played 3-on-3 yesterday. There's no preparation. We tried to go through some of the Carolina offense and by the end we just said 'we'll zone them and hope they miss shots,' because we can't guard them the way we are physically. [We] didn't want to get in foul trouble, and we knew they would pressure us and we had two freshman guards trying to handle the pressure. It's very challenging. But, one bright spot for us is that we only had 10 turnovers for the game, which shocks me. We had like 24 last Saturday, and I don't know how many against Duke, but we've been turning the ball over like crazy."

North Carolina Player Quotes
Brandon Robinson, Senior Guard
On difficulty navigating through this season
"It was definitely tough because I felt like a lot of games that we've been losing, we're actually doing some good things in the games and we're leading in some of those games. To finally just maintain the lead the whole game and come out and win, it feels great. We've just got to use that momentum going into the next game."

On having success against the zone defense
"I think we did a good job at getting the ball inside. Then when they collapsed on Garrison and Armando, especially Armando, did a great job of getting it out to me while I was wide open so I knocked it in. We just didn't settle a lot for threes. We were getting the ball inside and finishing."

On making a difference by not settling
"Yes, definitely not settling for jumpers. We were smart about if we miss the threes, to get the ball inside protect the basket and not sit there and take another one."

On Roy Williams passing Dean Smith on all-time career wins list
"It's definitely great to be a part of history. Especially for me to have a chance to play here is just something I always thank him for."

Armando Bacot, Freshman Forward
On not having to talk about another loss
"It feels good. It's been long overdue. We've lost a lot of games in heartbreaking fashion. It's just close games, and with us being able to win a game comfortably is a great feeling."

On the difference today
"I feel like we moved the ball a lot and we just had fun. Before, we were just out there not having fun, but I feel like today we had fun. Everybody got a chance to score. We had a lot of players in double figures and a lot of people with four or more assists. We tied a record for most assists since Coach [Roy Williams] has been here. It was definitely a lot of fun today."

On how to build on this game for the rest of the season
"Just try to carry it over to the next game. We play over in Raleigh and we just want to take a lot of things, like our spacing and how much we move the ball and how we were passing and how we were having fun, and try to take that over to Raleigh. And get a W."

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Brandon Robinson

Related Videos