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University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Tulane Quotes
December 17, 2015 | Men's Basketball
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
“Well we were active defensively and got some turnovers early in the game which I thought really helped us, you look at the points off turnovers almost all of them were in the first half. Second half, we didn't scramble nearly as much, we went to the free throw line and missed some and we're better at it when we make the second shot on the free throw and get into our scramble. Brice (Johnson) was good offensively, he did some good things for us, you have six guys in double figures, and four guys setting a career high in assists, so 30 assists on 36 baskets is pretty good basketball, you like that part. No question I didn't like the fact they shot 56% in the second half but we were able to do okay. It got down to 12 or 13 or 14, something like that one of the coaches said, but then we made some shots and it was fun watching us offensively after we did get a couple stops, and the way we shared the ball and found open three point shooters or guys inside. I was frustrated with Luke (Maye), but the last time he was in there I thought really did some good things. We've seen some of that really good play in practice and since Kennedy's (Meeks) out we need another guy to be able to step up. I thought Joel (James) did some good things, Isaiah (Hicks) did some good things, and we need all three of those guys, Luke, Isaiah, and Joel to be able to step up while Kennedy is out. They made some shots during the first half and got them to miss a bunch of them except half court at the end at the buzzer.”
On starting Joel James
“I knew I was going to start Joel (James) because he's a senior, he deserved it, and he's done some good things. I didn't even look but I probably felt like Isaiah may even play more minutes…he really blasted him 19 to 18. But, Isaiah does a better job guarding the screen on the ball because he's quicker but Joel was a force in their defensively clogging the lane up and making a couple big time blocks for us too.”
On playing Isaiah Hicks and Joel James at the same time
“We've done that a lot, we do it every day in practice too. The only change is on two occasions we went small, one at the very end not the walk-on group, but before that we had Justin (Jackson) and Theo (Pinson) as the 3 and 4. But we did also have them as the 3 and 4 early in the game in the first half and that helped us a little bit as they went small as well.”
On line-up experimentation
“First of all I was trying to make sure we win, but there's no question that you're trying some things to see how it looks out there on the court as opposed to during practice because there is a little more stress and a little more pressure. But I think Luke Maye really is going to be a good player, you look at his stat line and it's not that impressive, but I really think Luke Maye is going to be a really good player for us, surprise a lot of people. He's got a little more confident, work a little harder, and I think if he does that he's got a knack for coming up with the basketball on the boards.”
On Brice Johnson after the loss
“I think he was Brice, I don't think he changed. Kids nowadays they take it hard in the locker-room and then on the plane they're always joking around playing games and stuff and it feels like someone reached in and took out my heart. But Brice is Brice and you have to understand that, but 25 points and 10 rebounds I like that, he has to play better defensively and he knows that. I think for a while there tonight he was really a man on the backboards, he got several offensive rebounds in a crowd, and we need him to do that.”
On effort
“Guys just have to play hard the time. Marcus's (Paige) first foul today was because Brice (Johnson) wasn't where he was supposed to be. Then Marcus got a second foul in the first half so we had to take Marcus out for the last three minutes of the first half. So, Brice wants to be it, but he's got to want it more and he got to be more active and be more effective. He's (Johnson) getting frustrated with himself and I like that, I want him to care, I want him to be ticked off, if you don't play well I want it to hurt you. Last year he and Isaiah (Hicks) both had trouble making too many silly fouls and in the game the other day in Texas a couple of Brice's would go in that category. You can't make silly fouls, your first foul is a silly one and then all of a sudden you get a second one, then you don't play as much. I think he played five minutes in the first half, if he's one of our best players I'd like for him to play more than five minutes, and he must be one our best players because I keep running him out there in the starting lineup.”
“He had a really good preseason, if you go in there right he'll tell you he had nine assists and three turnovers because he went brain-dead three times. I want him to be 9-0, tonight would've been an easy night for him to go 9-0 because his three turnovers…a guy at this level usually doesn't just jump up in the air and come back down with the basketball without passing it, some of that. Joel had a great preseason for us, he's been really big for us in a lot of games, and I think he's just going to get better and better and better. The good things is he understands his mistakes and understands what he needs to do and now he's just gotta do it. I think I even said at the end of the preseason that he and Marcus (Paige) had the two best performances in the preseason.”
On Justin Jackson and the trap zone
“From up there (Point in the zone) he has to be more effective. What I like is he had four offensive rebounds tonight, I told him and Theo we gotta get more rebounding from the 3 spot. We played the trap I think four possessions, we haven't practiced it enough so we have to get a lot better, Justin plays there (Point), Theo (Pinson) plays there, Kennedy (Meeks) plays there. Kennedy may be more effective there than the other two guys so we have to keep working at it.”
On missing Kennedy Meeks
“I think it does affect us defensively because it's hard to move him around in there but I think it affects offensively as well because of all our big guys he's our best passing big man. Tonight, Brice (Johnson) was 0-2 (Assists-Turnovers), Joel (James) was 0-0, Isaiah (Hicks) was 3-0, and we need to have good assist ratios. Kennedy is the best passing big man we have, so it hurts not having him on both ends of the floor right now. But, bottom line is we don't have him right now so we have to play with who we have.”
Coming off of Texas
“I was very frustrated after that game, again, just because I got three fouls in the first half, and I played a grand total of five minutes. I really could've helped my team out in the long run in the first half if I'd played a little bit more, but that was my biggest goal today to play harder and just stay out of foul trouble so I could be able to stay in the game and help my team. I only had one foul in the first half. I did what I wanted to do, and especially with Kennedy [Meeks] being out, I knew that I'd have to play a little bit more just because, I mean we have Isaiah [Hicks] and Joel [James] and Luke [Maye] but at the same time I'm a really good scorer down low, and Coach [Williams] really needs me to score big time points. I had to step up.”
Playing without Meeks
“It's the same; it's just we don't have Kennedy. We've been here without Kennedy. This isn't the first time he hasn't been playing. He missed a couple games last year. Just kind of used to it now, just wish he was out there. We hope he gets better soon because he is a big, key part of this team, but I think we can hold it down with the bigs that we do have. We do have a pretty steep rotation of big guys, and we do have some guys that can really score the ball down low, and we do have some guards that can really score it out there too, so we can really hold it down for him.”
Marcus Paige, G
On Shammond Williams and his time at UNC
“Before I got here, I knew that he played with Vince Carter…he went to a couple of Final Fours. Before the season, I was watching an NBA Classic game, and he was playing with the Sonics and cooking, and I was like 'That's Shammond.' Ever since I've been here, he's been a really good, kind of like ambassador, for the program. He kind of helped me in pick-up games, and he really helped me and pushed me at times. So he does a lot, and he's still very involved with us, until obviously he took this coaching job. He's a good dude. I know he made a lot of 3s because it took a long time to pass him.”
On surpassing Williams for UNC three-point record
“It was very cool. Coming into the season, I knew I was pretty close, and I figured, I didn't know I was going to be hurt, but I wanted it to be kind of on a home game, just because I think that would be cool. It happened on the road, but then seeing that the next game would be Tulane, I would get a chance to talk to him [Williams], and just kind of get recognized by him. I think that was very cool. He's a great guy, and we have a pretty good relationship.”
On comfort level running the offense
“Just a little with being more comfortable with the offense. Last year I was doing more thinking than just playing. Now I know the offense so I can just go out there and have a feel for it, playing off of instincts and not have to always think about should I do this or should I do that and now it's all about having a feel for it and getting lost out there on the court.”
On gauging improvement
“I just feel like when you start off, everything just seems so fast. Like you said we are 10 games in and now I feel like things are slowing down, and now I can just go out there and be aggressive and play the game, do what I can and not do anything outside of what I know how to do. Like I said, everything just slowed down.”
