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University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Davidson Quotes
December 7, 2015 | Men's Basketball
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
“That was a nice workman-like effort, no question about that. Davidson is a team that can really shoot the basketball, and they missed several shots early they'd normally make. Perhaps that made them stress a little bit more, shot 24 percent in the first half. I just watched the tape of their Charlotte game where they made everything, made over 50 percent from three. [Jack] Gibbs, in that game, made his first 14 shots. I think our defense had a little to do with it, but I also think that they missed shots that they normally make, and I think over the course of the whole first half that bothered them a lot. Second half, they started out making a lot more shots. I was not pleased with what we were doing defensively. It was a tie game in the second half for a while, and we ended up out scoring them in the end. I like our balance; we've got five guys in double figures [in points]; we've got 10 guys in double figures minutes. Big guys, if you include Justin [Jackson] with Brice [Johnson], Kennedy [Meeks], Joel [James], they had 13 of our 15 turnovers. We've got to stop turning it over. We've got to set legal screens. We work all the time about not leading with your shoulder when you're turning to make, so we had three offensive fouls. Can't turn the basketball over, the big guys can't do that. But rebounding I thought was something. Kennedy had seven rebounds in the first 10 minutes of the game, and ended up with 10 [rebounds] and nine [points]. But again, I thought it was a total team effort for us. We got a lot of good things from a lot of people, no question. Nate [Britt] acted like a microwave out there for awhile coming in, and give us a big lift in the first half.”
On ball movement
“We're a good passing team. I mean 21-15 on assist-error ratio. And Kennedy had two charging fouls; Brice had a charging foul, an offensive foul, and an illegal screen; Joel [James] had an illegal screen; so that's a bunch of your turnovers right there. So if you do a better job with that part of it, it's really a great game assist-error ratio-wise. Stretches we were active defensively are not quite as active as we were the other night against Maryland, but at times we did some good things. You have to be alert with teams that can shoot the ball as well as they do.”
On Nate Britt's play so far with Marcus Paige being back
“He had started out the first three or four games, I though he was sensational, and then he had a couple of games where he didn't play as well, and then the last two games I'd thought he really played well. It's always my objective when I put a guy in the game for him to help the team, give us something positive. There's no question I'd thought that Nate did that. We'd been getting that from Isaiah [Hicks] and a couple other guys too. We didn't get as much from Isaiah today, but we certainly got it from Nate.”
On what has improved most about Nate's game since last season
“Last year is the first year we changed him over from left to right hand. I think if you ask anyone on our team, the two guys that worked the hardest on their shot in the offseason were Joel Berry and Nate Britt, and it shows up during the season. But I think his assist-error ratio, 1-0, his assist-error ratio is better than it was last year too. Nate and Joel [Berry], and Marcus, all three, by being able to rotate those guys, we have someone fresh that can pressure the ball out there on the court a little bit and I think that helps us too.”
On defending Jack Gibbs
“Guard him. The guy makes 14 [shots], but you look at the stats, and talk to Bob [McKillop] about this because I don't try to coach their team, but he hadn't shot it extremely well the whole year except that game [against Charlotte]. He was six for seven that game, and I think before that, he was six for 25 from the three-point line. He was an emphasis for us, there's no question. When the guy makes 14 in a row, you better emphasize him. But again, I think everybody did a better job on the ball. We didn't have to help as much, so that leaves guys open for three-point shots. Gibbs and [Brian] Sullivan and Peyton Aldrich, that's three guys who made six threes either in the game against us or the game before us. They've got some big time shooters, and fortunately for us, today they were eight for 31.”
On Nate Britt's efficiency
“He missed one in the first half. He's been doing that for us. If you look at him, he's done a nice job for us. He can shoot the basketball, and guys who can shoot should shoot. Guys who can't shouldn't. He's doing a nice job for us, but not just in shooting. Defensively, he's a lot better this year, not that he was bad last year. But he's great this year, gotten a lot better. His assist-error ratio, but you like a guy coming off the bench again that can add something.”
Davidson Head Coach Bob McKillop
Opening Statement
“North Carolina knocked us on our heels in the opening minutes of the game. They kept us on our heels throughout the game. They overpowered us in transition. They overpowered us on the glass. They created chaos for our offense. They're a terrific team.”
Is there anything to prevent over-powering?
“We have a choice. The choice is we can play a slow down game, walk it up the court, pass the ball for 25 seconds and then take a shot, and limit their possessions or we can get better at who we are. Historically, we have always worked to get better at who we are, hoping that the lessons learned, hoping that the toughness that we develop from these kinds of experiences will pay dividends as we go through the season.”
Is it tempting to slow the game down?
“I've never done that in 27 years at Davidson College. That's not stubborn, that's just confidence in our guys and belief in our guys, and trust in our guys. We make subtle adjustments and changes, but the pace of the game is something that we feel confident that that's a fast pace that we want. Our offense was their best offense, which means their defense was them forcing us into the ill-advised decisions, ill-advised shots, and I think that was their best offense.”
What happened to Jake (Belford) when he fell?
“Concussion and he's having a CAT scan right now. He's at the hospital. I think he got hit by one of his own teammates in a flurry for a loose ball. I guess that was the last play of the half, too.”
The biggest issue
“We don't have Tyler Kalinoski. Tyler Kalinoski got 50-50 balls, averaged five points, seven rebounds a game. We're just not getting that production where he got that. There were seven or ten long rebounds today that Tyler would have gotten. Our guys have been challenged about that as far back as September and they know it. Tyler had a nose for the ball that masqueraded our rebound deficiencies over the last two years.”
On Nate Britt's improvement
“He's gotten a whole lot more confident, whether that's in his shot – obviously you can see it in his shot – but he's just out there playing basketball like he knows how to play. I think he's always been a very skilled point guard, and his shot has just gotten much, much better. He played great for us today, and we just need him to keep it up. He's looking to score, and he's smart when he takes his shots. You have a heat check every once in a while, but for the most part Nate knows when to score. He knows when to be aggressive, and he knows when to pass it off. Him being a smart player just makes it even better.”
On playing with intensity
“We want to do that every single game, and that started with the Maryland game. We wanted to come out and play with the same intensity as with Maryland. Obviously, Davidson is a great team, not as good as Maryland, but Coach [Williams] said this is the second-best team we've played all year. We had to come out and play as if it was the No. 1 team in the country. We tried to come out with the same intensity. We didn't play as well as we did against Maryland, but we came out with some good intensity, we came out with the win.”
Nate Britt, G
On Marcus Paige
“Marcus [Paige] is our best player, and we're glad to have him back. He's going to play a lot of minutes, so we knew minutes were going to be taken away, but we were all perfectly fine with that. Everyone knows their role on the team, and I think I just did a pretty good job tonight. Defensively, guarding the ball and containing any drivers or scoring guards that they have. Offensively, just helping our team with assists and knocking down the open shot and just trying to run the team and push the ball in transition. The three point guards all have the same role. Marcus does a bit more as far as scoring. Joel [Berry] is a little bit more aggressive with trying to get to the basket. We all have different types of game, but we all have the same duties, essentially.
On being a microwave
“I wouldn't say I try to embody that, but any type of boost off the bench I can give the team offensively or defensively I try to do. “
Marcus Paige, G
On playing against zone defense
“We have a history in the past couple of seasons of not shooting the ball well from the outside, but we've shot it a lot better this year so far, and we're still able to mix it up and get it inside to our big guys. They went zone for a couple possession but we made them pay, and Nate [Britt] hit some big shots. It's hard to play zone when we're getting transition baskets, and a lot of times we are able to force that tempo and get that score going to where you can't really sit back in the zone because you're sprinting back and forth.”
