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Postgame Quotes
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UNC vs. Virginia Postgame Quotes
North Carolina Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement:
“I just want to say congratulations to Tony [Bennett]. He’s a real neat young man and he’s done a great job with his basketball team. I haven’t done a great job with my basketball team. I really thought that we would play well but we didn’t come out with the intensity. We are very sorry at executing properly, turning it over three of the first five possessions. But I’ve got to do a better job, I know I sound like a stuck record, but that’s what we’ve got to do.”
On Virginia’s ball movement and spacing:
“They’re a good basketball team. Whether you look at their three-point field goal percentage, or free throws or rebound margin, you go down the line and see that they do a really nice job of playing team basketball. Landesberg is their best player and we wanted to try to do a great job on some of his dribble penetration, then he gets four lay-ups in the first half. They share the ball; it looked like some of our teams from past years.”
On feelings on loss after beating NC State:
“I’m about as frustrated and disappointed as I’ve ever been in my entire life. I’m very fortunate to have some great moments, but this is definitely not one of them. We have to figure out a better way to get our kids focused on doing the things that we talk about. I’ve gotten awfully dumb in the last six months, is what someone told me, and in some ways it’s true.”
Virginia Coach Tony Bennett
Challenge of coming off of a loss to Virginia Tech
“That was significant because that was a real hard loss to our in-state rival. We were up by ten with three minutes and then lost it. That was a challenge to them. A lot of teams would probably hang their heads and go into a situation like this and not fight. I said, ‘I want you to be different’ and I thought they were. Sylven was terrific offensively. He was special. Sammy made some big shots. It helps when you’ve got some guys making plays. That was significant for us to bounce back. I think it revealed a lot. It took away the sting of that game. Our guys were ready to play and I was happy to see it.”
Start of second half, extending the lead
“We made them earn. I understand too they were cold and they didn’t play one of their best games. But we did take advantage of the opportunities we had. We didn’t stop cutting hard, moving hard, defending hard. That’s our goal, it doesn’t change. I thought there was more purpose coming out because sometimes you can tighten up a little bit. Calvin Baker gave us a good lift, Jerome defensively was terrific. The right plays happened at the right time. There wasn’t really a drop off because we have kind of played in spurts a lot of our games.”
The ball movement and spacing on offense…
“I thought we cut extremely hard. We talked about that. We got a little stagnant at the end of our game against Virginia Tech. We really went to work because we knew they’d extend defensively and pressure us. We needed to make some outside shots, bounce it a little bit and cut real hard, making the extra pass. All those things happened. This is probably the best we have moved the ball, shared the ball and cut with a purpose. That makes a difference. It really dents the defense.”
Quotes courtesy of North Carolina Athletic Communications