University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - North Carolina 67, Virginia 58
January 8, 2017 | Women's Basketball
North Carolina 67, Virginia 58 • January 8, 2017
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Opening Statement
“Well it's good to get a big ACC win. We've had two good games, Virginia Tech and Florida State, and we played well. We did some good things against teams that were ranked so we're getting better. I need to say a couple things about Paris (Kea) because in our last 6 games she's had at least five assists in all of those games. She's doing a lot of good things out there, and she was one point away from a triple double. If I had known that I would have told them to throw the ball to her at the end so they would have fouled her. She's making the team better, so I wanted to make sure I mentioned that. I thought when Jamie got hurt, Destinee (Walker) did a really good job. We didn't shoot the ball as well tonight as we've been shooting, and we were open. We had a lot of open looks, and normally we would knock those things down. We didn't do that, so this is an even bigger win because of that. We shot pretty well from the foul line, and we're getting better with our rebounding. This was a very good win against a very good team. We're very young, and we're a work in progress, but these kids are working their behinds off. We're getting better and better, and that's going to continue. When Fuller shot went in, I knew right then we were going to win. Those kids were battling hard, and I thought we got some big rebounds and made some big foul shots down the stretch. These are a great group of kids. I love them to death and they're just working their behinds off. I'll be glad to start school back so we get on a schedule. We start classes on Wednesday and then we're over at Duke on Thursday night, but it was a good ACC win.”
On sideline energy transferring to court
“Well, I don't really know to be honest with you. I just try to be fired up all the time because a big part of it is energy. I've wanted us to come out at halftime fired up because we've been a little flat, and we did. We're just not coming out with the energy that we need to after the half, so if we can do that and not get in that little slump like we've been doing, that would help us a lot too. I'm trying to get, even though we're as young as we are, more leadership out of them. Coaches can lead but can only do so much, but the really great teams are player led. I really keep challenging them to step up and do those types of things, and more of them are. They're doing it more and more, but everything we do, two-thirds of our team has never done it before. We're going over to Duke Thursday night, but two-thirds of our kids have never even been over there. Same thing when we went over to Virginia Tech. A lot of this is new experiences for them and they're sort of just deer in the headlights looking like they're watching everybody else to see what they do because they're not sure what they're supposed to do. But they're fun. Sometimes their innocence just makes me smile. You know the coaching staff has done it forever, so we take some of it for granted. They're working hard, and they're great kids. We're just going to continue to get better and better.”
Destinee Walker, Guard
On performance
“I just think my teammates have been doing a really good job of finding me more, especially Paris (Kea). She has been finding me a lot. Overall for this game, I am just really proud of how we played because the past couple games we have been playing hard like Coach (Hatchel) was saying she has seen greatness in us, but we haven't been finishing out games. So for this game I am just really proud of how we finished it out. We fought hard, stayed together, found people when it was necessary to find someone. We just executed and I am proud of how this game went for the whole team.”
On importance of big shots
“It's definitely a great feeling to knock it down when it counts. The first half I wasn't knocking down shots, but in the second half knocking them down when it counts and seeing your teammates happy is ultimately the best part.”
Paris Kea, Guard
On pressure to perform in multiple roles on the court
“I don't feel pressure. I just want to do whatever it takes to help my team and in the end I just want to win.”
