UNC-NCSU Postgame Quotes

North Carolina 85, North Carolina State 79 • February 25, 2020
Postgame Quotes
North Carolina Coach Roy Williams

Opening Statement
"I am very happy for our kids. I am really happy for Garrison [Brooks]. Eleven straight free throws in the second half. Fourteen-out-of-sixteen for the game. I thought that Christian [Keeling] gave us a big lift to say the least. The shot he took that cut it down to four, I did not like at all, but loved it when it stumbled and stumbled and stumbled and went in the basket. I tell you what, Markell [Johnson] is hard to keep in front of you. I mean he is just a load for us. Then that stretch when they cut it to ten or eleven down to four, it seemed that they were making every shot that was a three at that time. Our defense is got to get a lot better. I thought we did a decent job rebounding but did not do a really good job guarding the screen and role as their big guy kept rolling. I am happy as I can be for our team."

On Players Stepping Up
"The last play of the first half was something that I loved. Justin [Pierce] made a silly play as we were trying to hold for the last shot…I think it was Andrew [Platek] that came from behind and made the big steal. We are flying around and I love that play at the end of the first half. We were down 10-0. At least two times in my career were we down 10-0 to those guys in this building…I thought we played harder this time. I thought we did come up with a couple loose balls that were big for us."

On Finishing the Game
"I think Christian [Keeling], the couple big shots he made was big for us. The team had a great deal of confidence that they could get the ball to Garrison [Brooks] and good things were going to happen. Cole [Anthony] made a big time drive and layup one time when we might have played it to Garrison [Brooks], but they overplayed him and Cole [Anthony] took it all the way to the basket and made it too. We made some good plays."

North Carolina State Coach Kevin Keatts

Opening Statement
"I told my guys after the game that we played extremely hard tonight. The unfortunate thing is that we came up on the short end of the stick. I give Carolina credit, they finished the game much better than we did. They've been in a couple of games, to be exact the last four-of-six, which could have gone either way. They lost by two points, and the other game was a five or six-point game. I thought we did a lot of good things; I didn't think we played particularly smart. We turned the ball over at key spots in the game that I didn't like…"

Coach Keatts on handling Garrison Brooks
"I think our guys did a better job considering 14 of his points came from the free throw line. Don't take away from his performance, he was good, and was certainly much better than I anticipate after sitting out the Louisville game after being sick. I thought we did a better job with him, obviously the score won't reflect that but a lot of those were from the free throw line. I think we gave him six or eight free throws at the end, and to give him credit, he made them."

North Carolina Players

Cole Anthony, Freshman Guard
On the victory
"That's the first time for me being on the court getting a win since 2019. That's my first win of 2020 being on the court. That felt good. That felt good."

On Garrison Brooks
"Man, Garrison was balling. I just love to see all of my brothers succeed. We all played well tonight, I'm happy for everybody on this team. It feels like we turned a new leaf tonight."

On extra motivation to beat NC State
"It isn't really much of a rivalry, just one side wins... No, a lot of credit to the NC State team, they have some nice players. Markell [Johnson] is nice. They've got some dudes on that team, nothing but respect for all of them."

Christian Keeling, Graduate Guard
On the improvement in his shooting
"I think I started off on the defensive end. I improved my defense and I think it led to offense. Then I found my niche, which is the mid-range. That just opened up more shots because people are anticipating that... and just getting more involved... just having fun."

On confidence in his shot
"I'm just happy to be confident in my shot. I know I'm a shooter... Midrange has been good to me over the last couple of weeks... I opened up my three-ball and driving. Anything to contribute to the team and I'm just happy we got the win tonight."

Garrison Brooks, Junior Forward
On what got into him tonight
"I just wanted to play. I missed playing Saturday, and I was emotional about it and really sad about it. I just wanted to play today."

On what it feels like to get a win
"It feels really good. Of course, we've got a couple more games left, very capable to win it. I mean, I think we can celebrate for a little while, but I mean it's back to focus."

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Garrison Brooks

Christian Keeling

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