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University of North Carolina Athletics
Jalen Washington
Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI
UNC-Charleston Southern Postgame Quotes
December 29, 2023 | Men's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Dec. 29, 2023
Chapel Hill, N.C.
North Carolina 105, Charleston Southern 60
Head Coach Saah Nimley
On the challenges of playing in the Smith Center
"It is definitely a challenge, but the biggest thing was, were we going to be fully connected tonight? And we did that. The biggest challenge is hey, let's not think about the venue. It's the same sized court. There's two rims. Can we go out there and be CSU? Can we be Charleston Southern? Can we not try to be North Carolina, let's be us. Let's execute what we do and let the chips fall where they may, and we did that tonight. That was a very good team that we played tonight, which can be seen in their talent. It is what it is. I am happy with how hard we played and how connected we were tonight."
Head Coach Hubert Davis
On RJ Davis's consistency this season
"Yeah, he's in a really good rhythm. His leadership has been off the charts this year, his defense has been terrific, and just offensively, there are very few players that from an offensive standpoint have the ability to be able to score with the ball in his hands and off the ball, and still be able to distribute and get other people involved. He just can do that. His shot selection is great. He's just in a really nice rhythm now and it's nice to see him being celebrated for the type of player and the type of person and the type of leader he is."
On RJ Davis saying he is losing himself more now in the game
"One of the things that I told the team was that the way that he is playing is the way that he prepares and the way that he practices. I'm not saying that he didn't prepare or practice in the past, I'm just saying that there's a reason, and I wanted to highlight that to our younger players in terms of what allows you to be successful out there on the floor. It's your preparation and your practice. RJ is a great example of that."
On this team's second unit and how much of an asset they can be:
"I have said before, the guys that play, those are the minutes they have earned through their preparation and through their practice. It's great that you can have guys like Jalen Washington, J Wit (Jae'Lyn Withers), Seth (Trimble), those guys come off the bench and give you such positive play on both ends of the floor. I am really excited about the number of guys coming off the bench, having career highs, getting that rhythm, getting that confidence because that is going to be something needed heading into the conference season."
On Jalen Washington's career-best scoring night:
"I thought he gave us life. We've talked about how we have to get better in terms of rebounding, attacking the offensive glass, earning second-chance opportunities, keeping the ball alive, he was really good defensively. In practice lately, we have been playing him and Armando (Bacot) together, and we had them out there tonight. They are two bigs, but they are different and give us a bigger and different look. It helps us in terms of rebounding, and I'm really happy he had a good game tonight."
On Elliot Cadeau's creative playmaking:
"I think it's helped to have multiple guys that can create, not just Elliot. I'm talking about Seth and Harrison and Cormac. I think we have a team that enjoys making that extra pass. I think that unselfishness really helps out RJ, and it helps out everybody on this team."
Seth Trimble
On using the bench after career highs from himself and Jalen Washington:
"It just shows we can do it. You know we do it in practice, we do it in games. We continue to work in our roles and positions, and keep our heads down everyday. It shows that we can do it."
On where the sharpness and intensity came from after a long break:
"Just the hunger, the want to play well. You know we had a however long break it was from playing games, so we had hunger and a thirst. Our last few days of practice have been really aggressive and really good, so I think we wanted to make sure we continued that."
On what Hubert Davis was emphasizing for this game:
"He was emphasizing that we were very solid on defense. Like I said, we had a break so who knew what to expect, but he wanted to make sure we were solid on defense. We wanted to shut down some of their primary players tonight, and I think we kinda did."
RJ Davis
On being the first Tar Heel to have 20 points, 10 assists, 5 steals in a game:
"It means a lot. I'm lost for words a little bit. I know there's a lot of players that have come through this program, a lot of big-time players, and for me being the first to ever do it, this is truly a blessing. I'm honored, and I'm grateful. I never had 'Going into this game, I'm going to set this record," [on my mind]. I just lean off of what I've been practicing and practicing. I'm a firm believer in the way you practice is the way you play, and I had a great three practices leading up to today's game."
On being "lost in the game":
"I give a lot of credit to my teammates and coaching staff. They have put me in positions for me to showcase that, whether it's on or off the ball. I think that me being a leader of this team, and it being my senior year, I just wanted to go out with a bang and do it all. It doesn't matter if I'm scoring, just impacting the game in some how or some way. That's been my main theme going into this year, for senior year, to impact my performance and my play."
On no turnovers in the past two games:
"That Kentucky game, I had five turnovers and that's unlike me. I wanted to cut that down. I was just being more cautious with my decision-making. A lot of them were silly mistakes, but you know, [I was] being attentive with the ball and being decisive with my decisions [tonight]."
Elliot Cadeau
On being more comfortable with his shots:
"I'm trying to be more aggressive in finding my own shot. That's what I tried to do today and worked out pretty good in the second half."
On the team's mindset as conference play begins next week:
"We don't really think of it as a mid-major or top 10 team. We think of it as a chance to get better. So we come into every game just doing the things that we work on every day and playing as hard as we can."
On RJ Davis' record-setting night:
"I mean, it's great. I always think that unselfishness is contagious, so to see him, the best scorer in the country to come out and get 10 assists really says a lot for us for example. It was contagious because everybody was sharing the ball."
Jalen Washington
On the bench players getting more minutes
"Any time that Coach (Hubert) Davis asks us to go out there and we do what we are told, and look good doing it, it gives us a lot of confidence. I'm sure it gives him a lot of confidence to keep trusting us too. We just got to keep building on that and make sure we're doing things that our team needs to bring energy off the bench, hustle plays, taking care of the ball, and everything we need to do to help the team win."
On his career high
"I felt like I was rewarded for a lot of hard work. You can really smile finally for a couple of days and then you gotta get right back to the drawing board. It's good to reward yourself every once and a while with a good game, but you know, we got bigger plans and bigger goals."
Dec. 29, 2023
Chapel Hill, N.C.
North Carolina 105, Charleston Southern 60
Head Coach Saah Nimley
On the challenges of playing in the Smith Center
"It is definitely a challenge, but the biggest thing was, were we going to be fully connected tonight? And we did that. The biggest challenge is hey, let's not think about the venue. It's the same sized court. There's two rims. Can we go out there and be CSU? Can we be Charleston Southern? Can we not try to be North Carolina, let's be us. Let's execute what we do and let the chips fall where they may, and we did that tonight. That was a very good team that we played tonight, which can be seen in their talent. It is what it is. I am happy with how hard we played and how connected we were tonight."
Head Coach Hubert Davis
On RJ Davis's consistency this season
"Yeah, he's in a really good rhythm. His leadership has been off the charts this year, his defense has been terrific, and just offensively, there are very few players that from an offensive standpoint have the ability to be able to score with the ball in his hands and off the ball, and still be able to distribute and get other people involved. He just can do that. His shot selection is great. He's just in a really nice rhythm now and it's nice to see him being celebrated for the type of player and the type of person and the type of leader he is."
On RJ Davis saying he is losing himself more now in the game
"One of the things that I told the team was that the way that he is playing is the way that he prepares and the way that he practices. I'm not saying that he didn't prepare or practice in the past, I'm just saying that there's a reason, and I wanted to highlight that to our younger players in terms of what allows you to be successful out there on the floor. It's your preparation and your practice. RJ is a great example of that."
On this team's second unit and how much of an asset they can be:
"I have said before, the guys that play, those are the minutes they have earned through their preparation and through their practice. It's great that you can have guys like Jalen Washington, J Wit (Jae'Lyn Withers), Seth (Trimble), those guys come off the bench and give you such positive play on both ends of the floor. I am really excited about the number of guys coming off the bench, having career highs, getting that rhythm, getting that confidence because that is going to be something needed heading into the conference season."
On Jalen Washington's career-best scoring night:
"I thought he gave us life. We've talked about how we have to get better in terms of rebounding, attacking the offensive glass, earning second-chance opportunities, keeping the ball alive, he was really good defensively. In practice lately, we have been playing him and Armando (Bacot) together, and we had them out there tonight. They are two bigs, but they are different and give us a bigger and different look. It helps us in terms of rebounding, and I'm really happy he had a good game tonight."
On Elliot Cadeau's creative playmaking:
"I think it's helped to have multiple guys that can create, not just Elliot. I'm talking about Seth and Harrison and Cormac. I think we have a team that enjoys making that extra pass. I think that unselfishness really helps out RJ, and it helps out everybody on this team."
Seth Trimble
On using the bench after career highs from himself and Jalen Washington:
"It just shows we can do it. You know we do it in practice, we do it in games. We continue to work in our roles and positions, and keep our heads down everyday. It shows that we can do it."
On where the sharpness and intensity came from after a long break:
"Just the hunger, the want to play well. You know we had a however long break it was from playing games, so we had hunger and a thirst. Our last few days of practice have been really aggressive and really good, so I think we wanted to make sure we continued that."
On what Hubert Davis was emphasizing for this game:
"He was emphasizing that we were very solid on defense. Like I said, we had a break so who knew what to expect, but he wanted to make sure we were solid on defense. We wanted to shut down some of their primary players tonight, and I think we kinda did."
RJ Davis
On being the first Tar Heel to have 20 points, 10 assists, 5 steals in a game:
"It means a lot. I'm lost for words a little bit. I know there's a lot of players that have come through this program, a lot of big-time players, and for me being the first to ever do it, this is truly a blessing. I'm honored, and I'm grateful. I never had 'Going into this game, I'm going to set this record," [on my mind]. I just lean off of what I've been practicing and practicing. I'm a firm believer in the way you practice is the way you play, and I had a great three practices leading up to today's game."
On being "lost in the game":
"I give a lot of credit to my teammates and coaching staff. They have put me in positions for me to showcase that, whether it's on or off the ball. I think that me being a leader of this team, and it being my senior year, I just wanted to go out with a bang and do it all. It doesn't matter if I'm scoring, just impacting the game in some how or some way. That's been my main theme going into this year, for senior year, to impact my performance and my play."
On no turnovers in the past two games:
"That Kentucky game, I had five turnovers and that's unlike me. I wanted to cut that down. I was just being more cautious with my decision-making. A lot of them were silly mistakes, but you know, [I was] being attentive with the ball and being decisive with my decisions [tonight]."
Elliot Cadeau
On being more comfortable with his shots:
"I'm trying to be more aggressive in finding my own shot. That's what I tried to do today and worked out pretty good in the second half."
On the team's mindset as conference play begins next week:
"We don't really think of it as a mid-major or top 10 team. We think of it as a chance to get better. So we come into every game just doing the things that we work on every day and playing as hard as we can."
On RJ Davis' record-setting night:
"I mean, it's great. I always think that unselfishness is contagious, so to see him, the best scorer in the country to come out and get 10 assists really says a lot for us for example. It was contagious because everybody was sharing the ball."
Jalen Washington
On the bench players getting more minutes
"Any time that Coach (Hubert) Davis asks us to go out there and we do what we are told, and look good doing it, it gives us a lot of confidence. I'm sure it gives him a lot of confidence to keep trusting us too. We just got to keep building on that and make sure we're doing things that our team needs to bring energy off the bench, hustle plays, taking care of the ball, and everything we need to do to help the team win."
On his career high
"I felt like I was rewarded for a lot of hard work. You can really smile finally for a couple of days and then you gotta get right back to the drawing board. It's good to reward yourself every once and a while with a good game, but you know, we got bigger plans and bigger goals."
Players Mentioned
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