UNC-Marquette Postgame Quotes

Roy Williams
Postgame Press Conference
UNC vs. Marquette

Opening Statement: The most unselfish team won today. The hardest working team won today. And again I'll say, the best coached team won today.

Q: The energy that your team had, not just in the first half, maybe early in the second half. Could you just kind of comment on that? Did you sense that there was something up maybe before the game, that maybe they just weren't as into it as you would like?

Roy Williams: Guys, we've laid an egg a couple of times this year. Let's make sure we say this right here – Marquette beat our rear end. They outplayed us, I said outcoached us, that's not something I enjoy saying. But they outcoached us, they outplayed us, they wanted it more, everything. I was very concerned before the game. Yesterday at practice, our whole attitude. We can't stand the little prosperity. That's my take on it. I mean, the first two possessions of the game, we don't get any boxouts and they get three shots the very first possession of the game. Luckily, they missed those. But we had some shots close early. We were too soft with them. So many different things. Kills you at halftime when three perimeter players were 0 for 11 from the floor. We have 19 turnovers. Can't do that. So many different things. But the best coached team won the game.

Q: You mentioned the turnovers, the 19. It seemed like the guys were trending in the right direction as far as that concerned. Is there anything you can point to, whether that Marquette did or that your guys didn't, to sort of explain that regression?

RW: Well, I think they were more aggressive on the defensive end. But we did some crazy things. Some of our turnovers, we threw a lob, got a big guy running down the court, we throw it over his head, out of bounds. We had the ball with the big post player, he tries to hit the other post player at the basket and throws it behind him. We get an offensive foul twice. We've made some progression. Getting better with taking care of the ball. But we didn't have very good judgement today.

Q: The way that Marquette on offense spreads you out, there's nobody in the paint sometimes and just sort of having five guys driving and kicking and things like that. Is that just in terms of personnel, a tough matchup for you guys, for your big guys to try to cover that much space do you think?

RW: Well, it is but they went to that because their big guys were in foul trouble. You'd have to ask Wojo [Steve Wojciechowski] and he's got a better idea of what they want to do than I did. I think they would like to have those big guys in the game. But they got in foul trouble and then it went to that. The first thing we talked about was guarding the basketball, you've got to get down in stance and guard the ball and we didn't do a very good job of guarding the ball. We missed some easy shots early and then it sort of just got worse and worse.

Q: You mentioned you were worried about this game going in. Can you give us a sense for what practice was like heading in?

RW: Practices were okay but it's just we've had a couple of good wins and then we turn around and we think we're a lot better than we really are. We don't have the attention to detail. It's bad coaching, bad coaching. I called a set one time and they got out and they ran another set. They're not disciplined enough to do what I say, they went out on the court and changed their minds. It's bad coaching.

Players Post-Game Press Conference
UNC vs. Marquette

Garrison Brooks:
Q: Was this just a case of maybe you guys having that big win on Saturday against Louisville and, you know, maybe feeling a little bit too happy about that and not coming up focused enough for this game?
Brooks: Marquette came ready to play. You could tell by the first couple of minutes they came out with a lot of energy and took advantage and ran with it and never looked back.

Q: You guys went with some pressure in the second half which seemed to finally give you guys energy. Is that actually what it was that got you guys sort of climbing back in? You cut it to seven. Or was there anything else involved there too?
Brooks: Yeah, I think the pressure really helped us.

Q: Roy mentioned what he perceived as a lack of attention to detail. He said that there was one play that he called and the team ran something else. What do you attribute that to at this point of the season?
Brooks: Truth be told, I don't know.

Q: Steering away from tonight's performance, it looks like there are going to be some kind of fans in the Smith Center for the next couple of home games, your last home games of the season. What are your thoughts on that and how difficult has it been to play in front of no crowd here and have to generate your own energy all the time? What has that been like for you?
Brooks: It's hard man. It's been hard on everybody. I mean it's tough. It's not just us, it's tough on everybody in the world. It's a good thing we're going to see a couple of new faces in there and have a little bit more energy.

Q: What was it like at half time? What were you guys trying to fix? What were you talking about? You'd dug kind of a hole there. What were you guys trying to hone in on?
Brooks: Ball screen defense, staying in front of the ball and making shots.

RJ Davis
Q: Marquette got a number of open looks from three in the first half off of the drive and kick. What led to some of those breakdowns for you?
Davis: I think it was just miscommunication on the defensive end, not being at the spots. Obviously, you know, they got good looks from three. Sometimes you go a little bit over to help rather than getting back to the shooters. That's how they got open shots.

Q: We've seen this team bounce back from losses throughout the season. How do you guys go back and regroup to try to finish the regular season strong and kind of put this one behind you pretty quickly?
Davis: We have to look at the mistakes we made throughout the game, first half through second half, and be ready for tomorrow. Obviously we have a game coming up this weekend. You know learn from it, and then move on. Bring positive energy going into practice tomorrow and get ready for Saturday. We gotta move forward and everybody be ready to play.

Q: You had four field goals but overall the perimeter guys were eight for 34. Was it the kind of shots you guys were getting? Are you just not making them or knocking them down, or what was Marquette doing to keep you guys from having success on the perimeter, and just scoring in any manner out there?
Davis: We got some good looks, some open shots. Myself, Andrew, Kerwin, Caleb, we just gotta knock them down. Marquette did a good job I think, playing defense with everyone pressuring, but we had some good looks that we could have knocked down that just didn't fall tonight.

Q: Coach William mentioned that you guys weren't as focused as you needed to be coming out. How disappointing is that to be at this point in the season and that to be an issue?
Davis: It's definitely very important. You know, we are trying to play our way, get into the NCAA Tournament, so we have to remain focused throughout every game that we play. Every game that we play is going to be a dog fight, we have to come out ready to play. There's not going to be no easy games, so from this point out we just gotta play our best and everyone has to come together as a group.

Q: What was the primary mood in the locker room after the game? Is it frustration, confusion, anger, sadness? How would you sort of describe the way the guys are handling and digesting this one?
Davis: Definitely frustrating, no one likes to lose. You know, definitely everybody was a little angry. We could have done this, we could have done that. Now we just have to go back to the drawing board and move forward with positive energy. We can't just sit back and dwell in this moment. Obviously we know what it feels like to win, so we just have to get back to that winning feeling.

Q: It looks like some kind of fans are going to be allowed in the Smith Center for the last couple of home games here. What are your thoughts on the potential of finally being able to play in front of some kind of crowd? In your eyes, how difficult has it been to play here with nobody and generate your own energy and have to do that on a consistent basis?
Davis: I mean it'll definitely be great to have some fans come in to watch our games and cheer us on. It brings a different type of energy into the building, not just for us but for the people supporting us. For me, for my first time, not being able to play in front of fans, it's definitely disappointing a little bit, but for me, it's the basketball at the end of the day. I'll go out and hoop with or without fans so I'm just laser focused. It'll be great to be able to have a couple of more fans into our games to help support the team for the rest of our games.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Garrison Brooks

RJ Davis

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