UNC-Florida State Postgame Quotes

Roy Williams Postgame Press Conference
UNC vs. Florida State 2-27-21

Opening Statement: Before I talk about the game for a second. I just got stopped by Leonard Hamilton, Coach Hamilton, out in the hallway. I saw Leonard this morning, during his practice. Things that are coming up for him and the National Hall of Fame. Leonard Hamilton deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. He's a good friend, he's been a friend for a long time. When I was starting out at North Carolina, he was at Kentucky. What he's done and his record ... more than likely he's going to win the league again this year, second year in a row. It's hard [to do], there's 15 teams in this league. That right there is really, really hard. They lost two or three guys that were drafted, two of them at least I know in the first round. But he came back again and he's playing 10 or 11 guys all the time. He is a Hall of Fame coach. I feel very honored and blessed to call him a friend. We got lucky today. They didn't do what he normally does in the second half. But that's a Hall of Fame coach out there and I hope that that works out for him and the voting because he really deserves it. People always say, "well look at his record early." He didn't have basketball schools or anything like that but he made every one of them better.

"Other than that, and I do love Leonard but I love my team more. No question about that. I told Bubba [Cunningham] and Steve [Kirschner], we were walking over here, it reminded me of the Florida State game [in 1993] when I was coaching at Kansas. I was watching it on TV when Carolina made a big comeback in the second half. First half, we were about as ugly as we could be. Twenty-five percent from the floor, 14 percent from 3-point line. Turned it over a million times. I told the team if we go out in the second half and get a score, we had the ball to start the half, let's score and get one stop. And then score again and get one more stop we'd be right back in the game. And I really felt that way, I thought that the little push we made at the end of the first half was big to get it to 10. I was ticked off that we gave up that basket at the end of the half to make it 12. I thought those guys that were in the game at that point gave us a lift. So we did, we got two scores and got two stops and then they had a couple more turnovers, so we had more than the two stops and we kept scoring. Walker Kessler was the one big guy that I thought was positive in the first half. So we started him in the second half. I thought he was sensational. I think I was really, really discouraged at half because we only had two assists. We ended up having nine in the second half. So it was nine out of 16 baskets, that's the way we're supposed to play. But first half, their pressure was so big on us that R.J. [Davis] and Caleb [Love], our two point guards had zero assists. They kept dribbling off sideways, east and west. I think Walker was huge for us to say the least. Caleb was much more effective putting the ball in the basket in the second half. Six for six from the foul-line. Kerwin [Walton] four for four from the foul-line. 14 out of 14 from the foul-line in the second half. But I just think defensively, we were a lot better in the second half and then I think also they turned it over and that helped us. But I think making the free throws, and we got fortunate too because Florida State, they make 26 out of 27 and today they missed some key free throws in the second half that helped us.

Q: You mentioned Walker [Kessler] was sensational. What was working for him today? This game was obviously his best yet at UNC. How have you seen him grow since he first arrived to be capable of doing what he did today?

Roy Williams: Well I think guys, what people don't realize is this young man had two 14-day close contact quarantines. And he never tested positive. That second 14 stretch was the two weeks right before practice started. And so he missed that time right before practice started and in Asheville one game, I put him in and we called a play and he looked at me like I was talking Chinese. And he's so great a kid, he cares so much. He cares so much he beats himself up. And I think we've tried to get him out of that, if he misses a shot, he's still thinking about it five possessions later. Been trying to get him out of that. His knees have been giving him a problem. I told him he might still be growing but you take away what he's done from that point to now. He just got a bad start to our season, okay? Missing 14 days right before we start playing is tough. And at that same time, his shot wasn't going in as much as it used to and he started worrying about that. But I love kids that worry. They show you that they care. And this is a kid that cares. And you look back and, I don't know you guys have got the stats. His last four games or five games, he's gotten a little bit better, little bit better, little bit better and he deserved the time. Garrison [Brooks] was struggling, I got mad at Garrison for missing the box out and put him right back in and Garrison had given the tired signal. And so he was ready to go back in and Walker Kessler understood immediately. I think that then when I put him back in again, I took him out one time because he was tired. But I just love it for the kid because he beats himself up, but he cares. And again, I've said many, many times, give me a kid that cares. That's a kid that's really going to get better. So to answer the question, he's been getting better. Today, the pace of the game early up and down. Guys were finding him around the basket. He's a great finisher. And even on the inbound play, where he knocked in that 10-foot jumper. I just thought he was phenomenal for us on the defensive end of the floor at the end of the first half. He was one of those guys in there that had at least one block and maybe two during that stretch as well. I'm just as happy as I can be for him and he's one of those guys that I always say, "do the best you can because you never know when you're going to be called on", and he was called on today. But he's been called on the last four games as well. I think he was big in every game we've been in the last four or five games.

Q: How much can a win like this serve as a springboard, especially coming off of the performance against Marquette?

RW: I don't know. Think about it guys, God almighty, I would've thought last week's game against Louisville would've been a springboard too and the daggum diving board broke. And everybody fell in the pond. I think the guys appreciate how hard they had to work on the defensive end in the second half. I think going to the free throw line and making the free throws are things that they're going to remember as well. I'm hopeful but yeah, we've got four or five hours to enjoy this and tomorrow we got a quick practice and get on a plane and go to Syracuse. The schedule's been a difficult schedule for us and this turn around quick like this has been something that I've seen coming down the road. They'll enjoy this until about midnight tonight.

Q: The dribble drives were a bit of a problem in the first half, but not as much in the second half. What did you guys do differently to keep them from having that much success driving to the basket after halftime?

RW: We were a little better covering the basketball but close to the end of the first half, R.J. got beat on a drive and the guy goes all the way to the basket and we had Caleb and Anthony [Harris] on the right side. And at timeout I said, "Guys, you've got to get involved. You've got to come in and help". So the very next play after the timeout, the guy did the same thing and Anthony came in and helped and then Walker Kessler came over and blocked his shot. We had people trying to guard, not just one guy trying to guard the ball and the other four guys watching. First half was not good defensively. It was so ugly it was ridiculous. But we were better in the second half. Also, we caught Florida State when they missed some shots, even missed a dunk, they missed a couple of free throws. I like 49 points in the second half a lot better than 29 in the first.

Q: I know you want to win every game you play but given the way the first half had gone with all the problems, you're playing the best team in the league probably. It seems like you're just kind of drowning in things. To be able to turn it against that team and do what you did in the second half, I guess is there an extra satisfaction just the way you won this and the way you went about getting out of what you had dug yourself into?

RW: You know, it could be. I don't think too much in those terms. I do know that in the first half, I thought there were three calls that I didn't really like and all of a sudden, my team is complaining on every call. And my gosh, I look at the video board and it was an illegal screen that Armando [Bacot] caught, Day'Ron [Sharpe] did hook the guy. I had to get on them about those kinds of things. That I think in the second half, we just played. You can't control what the other team does to some degree. You can't control what the officials do. So you've got to play. But I thought that we showed our immaturity in the first half, blaming everybody else instead of being accountable. I was sure that some of them were wrong, maybe the tapes going to show me, but I told the officials, "Hey, even though I disagreed with three of them, I thought that all three were wrong, I made 33 mistakes, my team made 33 mistakes". They weren't nearly as bad as I was in the first half. But I do think we showed some immaturity in the first half and showed some maturity in the second half.

Q: We ask you all the time when your team misses a bunch of free throws, what you're going to do to fix it. Did you do anything this time to get the free throws dialed in and can you get some confidence from that? From making those in that key situation.

RW: I do think you get confidence making free throws when the crunch time is on. When there's a little bit of heat. We put everybody in heat in every day at practice. We do it every day from the free throw line. We did it a little bit more I guess yesterday's practice. Two weeks ago, we shot 300 free throws. I told you guys that two guys shot 79% and everybody else was way above 80. Guys, we shot 300 again this week. 83 was the lowest percentage, we had seven guys to shoot over 90. And so, we are good free throw shooters, we just got to be able to do it when the bright lights are on, the cameras are on, and that kind of thing. I do think that this should give them some confidence. We put them under a little stress from the free throw line every single day. If they miss, they get the opportunity to run more or those nice things like that.

Q: For a team that's as young as yours, they sort of came out sluggish in the first half, playing in front of fans for the first time in the Smith Center. What were some of the adjustments you think they made in the second half and how do you think the fans impacted the game?

RW: You know, I don't think we came out sluggish because the crowd was there. I think we came out sluggish because Florida State hit us right in the mouth. And we backed up. We didn't handle the fire, we didn't face up to the fire. We got more timid and started, as I said, trying to blame other reasons other than taking responsibility. I'll tell you, it was 3200, 3400 whatever it was, it was the best 3200 crowd I've ever seen in my life, or 3400. I can't explain to them enough how much a better atmosphere it was. I can't explain to them enough about how helpful it was. I've never lost a game because of the crowd, but today they helped us win this game because they didn't give up. I was thrilled for them, I'd be thrilled if we would get back to a more normal place in our world. I hope we don't start opening things up too quickly and start seeing those spikes come back with some new variance around it. I watch it every day guys, every day. I got more knowledge on this stuff than all of you guys in front of me. But the crowd was sensational, it was fun being back in that environment. I didn't even care one time I was yelling out what play I wanted them to run and they couldn't hear because the crowd was so loud. That was a neat deal. But I love our fans and have for 18 years but this one will go back in my mind. It'll be a game that I'll remember for a long, long time.

Q: I know you're not big about talking about personal accomplishments and what not. But I got to ask, what is it kind of mean to you to pick up your 900th career win today and just what was that experience like for you?

RW: You know guys, I've said it before. I'll look back on it one of these days and say, "Hey that was pretty neat". But I was focused on one thing: trying to help this team get to 15. We laid a bad egg a couple of days ago and I wanted to bounce back desperately. I told them I wanted them to have that desperately focused attitude that I'll have. You know, it's neat and I appreciate all the players that have ever been in involved in those things. My assistant coaches, I've had the staff, for 33 years I've felt like I've had the best coaching staff in the world. And I believe that every day. It was nice but I wanted to get them into the locker room so we could act like a fool. Steve Robinson and Steve Kirschner (stopped me), and I really didn't want to do anything. But it was nice. Like I said the other day though, 69 is not a round number but I appreciate us shooting 69 more than I did 70. You know, if I had dropped dead walking out before the game today, I would've still had 899, that's not that far from 900. It's okay.

Q: I just wanted to talk about the significance of this team and what do you hope to kind of carry throughout the remainder of the season? And you know push for that extra hype going into the post-season.

RW: Our focus will be solely on Syracuse. I want them to enjoy this until midnight. An old friend of mine that just passed, Marty Schottenheimer, always said, "You can enjoy the game until midnight, then after that you've got to look onto the next one". I want those kids to enjoy this. Don't think there'll be any videos or anything about our guys out tonight. Anything at all like that. They will enjoy this. Now we've got to move on. But I'm going to enjoy it until midnight myself. My two oldest grandsons are here so I'll get a chance to see them for a few minutes before they head back. I want them to enjoy this game but understand that Syracuse has got to be our focus. College basketball is tough, I mean bam, bam, bam. And the ACC is tough too because you look at our last three games. Florida State, first in our league. It's a difficult schedule but let's enjoy this and then focus our tail off on Syracuse and see what we can build on.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Walker Kessler

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