University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Louisville Quotes
January 10, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Postgame Quotes • Jan. 10, 2015
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
“[That was] a little bit different than five or six nights ago. You've heard me say it a thousand times. Everything looks better when the ball goes in the basket. In fact, I think probably Marcus [Paige's] layup that he made tonight was more difficult than the one he missed the other night. We were very fortunate. Louisville is a great club with a great coach. They jumped on us in the second half. Rick [Pitino's] halftime talk was a lot better than mine. We turned it over I think three or four times in the first five minutes of the second half. It didn't look good at that time. I told the guys that I was always confident we were going to come back, [but] I just didn't know if it's going to be enough. I was really confident that we would have a chance to win at the end, and we made some baskets. We got fortunate they missed some. I thought we were down nine or 10 – I don't spend a lot of time looking at the scoreboard – but they say we were down 13 with eight-something to play. Kennedy [Meeks] made a couple free throws and then Marcus made a couple baskets. Joel Berry made a big three for us, no question about that. J.P. [Tokoto], who I didn't think had played well at all, made two big baskets for us down the stretch. We came up with a nice steal in the press, and then the next time they lay it up on the other end so that was the end of that kind of press. You just feel very fortunate. I think after the first T.V. timeout or maybe after my timeout, I don't know… I think we only had one turnover the rest of the way and I think that's crucial, too. We had several objectives. One was to win the battle on the backboards and I think we did that. Another one was to try to play without fouling, and we allowed them to shoot 11 free throws. We only got 11 ourselves, but we kept them off the free throw line. The turnovers after that first part of that second half…We had seven [turnovers] I think at halftime, and we did have either three or four early in the second half. And I think after that we only had one. It would have been a killer if their shot had gone in. There's no question about that. It would have broken our hearts, but you always have a chance to bounce back too. It was a great, great, great afternoon for about four seconds there at the end, but I can take that because it's because it's those kind of things, those four seconds linger a lot longer.”
On if the final possession was improvisation or a set play
“There was some improvisation the other night [against Notre Dame], and the play worked perfectly. Brice [Johnson] was wide open at the basket, but they had pressure on the ball and J.P. couldn't throw it and Joel [Berry] didn't set the screen. Today we tried to run a set play and then break into freelance at the end of that. We did want to get Marcus the ball coming to the top of the key and see what happens after. We had a screen for a guy to go to the basket and a couple other things.”
On if he asked Marcus Paige if he was OK during a dead ball after Paige returned from the locker room
“[Yes] because I thought I saw him limp. And he's had a bad foot, he's got plantar fasciitis. It's been really difficult for him. He stepped on Montrezl [Harrell's] foot or Montrezl stepped on his, and he just rolled his ankle is all it was. So he went in and they did a re-tape job, and I asked him, 'How does it feel.' He said, 'Fine,' and I said, 'All right, let's try it and see.'
I told him he's a tough little sucker. If we had five guys out on the court as tough as he was all the time, it would be a lot more fun.”
Lousiville Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement
“We give credit to North Carolina. That's obviously about as bad a loss as we've had in my time, in fourteen years, that's about as tough a loss as I've had. Our guys played great all night. They played a great basketball game, did a lot of really, really good things. It doesn't really come down to the end of the game. Even though they made a very difficult shot, we had a wide open shot. That's what fans look at. But a key play in the game is that we didn't run our press offense, and we should have called a timeout and instead threw it to a 5'9'' guy [Chris Jones] posting up at the foul line. So, those type of things you can do something about. You can't do anything about the difficult shot he made, or the open shot you miss. But it was a great game, a great atmosphere. We give a lot of credit to North Carolina coming back. We're playing very good basketball. I'm excited, but we're hurting very much right now. It stings as much as any game I've coached. Our players are very hurt by it, but that's the ACC. There will be a lot of games like this. A lot of great teams in the ACC. We'll move on from there.”
On upcoming games
“This was a game we'll remember for a long time, but we can't let it have a hang over, because we've got Virginia Tech coming up and Duke. We let a golden opportunity slip away and we're very disappointed in that, but we had them at about 38 percent [shooting] in the second half and the ended up shooting 52 percent. You've got to guard on the road and defend every single possession down the stretch. We didn't do that and it's a credit to their offense.”
Regarding Chinanu Onuaku
“He played really well. He played well, and our guards also played well. Chris and Terry played great. Chinanu played terrific.”
Start of the second half
“We were playing good defense. We stopped them from getting on transition. They didn't get in transition the whole game and we did a good job of getting three people back. We can't play any better than that. We didn't execute our press offense on that one possession.
I have no beefs with the effort. We just need to do a better job containing the ball because we got caught rotating and helping out because our veterans got caught on the ball.”
Regarding Montrezl Harrell coming home
“He came home against Wake Forest and had twenty in the first half. So, what's your point? There's nothing different.”
North Carolina Players
On the final play of the game
“I've never been that nervous playing basketball in my life, I'm going to be honest. I'm just so happy that it got through one of us. It's like the same scenario as last game, and I'm just happy it got through this time.”
On the team's perseverance
“It just shows that we can do it. We went down 13 points and came back and won the game. Coach loved the way we gritted it out. We knew that was going to be the type of game it was, so I'm just glad we came out with the win.”
On the difference in the teams
“It's just that we stepped up and made big time shots. J.P. [Tokoto] got fouled but he still kept playing and he made the layup. That was a big-time shot. Marcus [Paige] was hurt, but he still came through and made the big-time shot.”
On Louisville's performance
“They came out flame throwing. They just couldn't miss, but last year we went through the same thing. It's not like we haven't seen that before. We just had to keep fighting it out, which we did, and we got the win.”
On the final seconds of the game
“Aw man. When he shot it, I was like, 'Please. Just go over the rim or something.' Just miss it. He missed it. By the time he got the rebound, the clock already expired. It was just a surreal feeling. I'm just glad we got the win.”
On the final minute of the game
“Well, we ran the same play twice in a row, we ran box. It's our basic set. We got Brice a great shot down low and the guy made an awesome cut, and blocked the shot, so we went back to that because that's one of our favorite plays that we think we have a lot of options out of. They covered it well, I came off the down-screen, it wasn't open and then we just went into a pick and roll, and I didn't want to settle for jump shot, try to get to the basket, they still defended it well, but I was able to get an angle on the board, and this time instead of the Notre Dame game, I was able to make a lay-up at the end and help us out.”
On what was going through his head
“Well I kind of fell awkwardly, and all I was thinking about was I hoped they missed because I realized I had enough time, and my guy had the ball coming down the court, and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to get back in the play, so I was praying that they missed. Blackshear had a decent look in the corner, and once that buzzer went off, the biggest sigh of relief came out of me and it was a good feeling.”
On his final shot
“Once they switched the screen, I knew I didn't have a lot of space, but he's going to challenge any jump shot I can shoot a lot better than me trying to use my quickness and get by him. He did a good job and almost cut me off, but I was able to sneak by him and get to that left hand, which is obviously the hand I prefer, and you know, get the shot off the board.”
On the pain from his injuries
“It was a bad combination for me, I was kind of limited, this week in practice, didn't do very many reps because the bottom of my foot was having a lot of pain, and then I sprained that same ankle and had to get it re-taped, when I left the court and came back. But you try to forget about it when it's down the stretch...but it was hard, it was hard to move laterally. It hurt us a lot, because [Terry] Rozier was able to get a great shot on me with 20-some seconds left, but I just wanted to be out there. That's what I love, that's my favorite part of the game. I wanted to be out there and help, and I was able to.”
