UNC-NCCU Postgame Quotes

POSTGAME QUOTES
UNC 97, NC CENTRAL 53
NOVEMBER 14, 2025
DEAN E. SMITH CENTER, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.

NC Central Head Coach LeVelle Moton
On playing in the Smith Center…
"First and foremost, it was a great opportunity to come in here. We understand the respect level that we have for the University of North Carolina… I have a tremendous amount of respect for this place."

On Caleb Wilson…
"Caleb Wilson is absolutely incredible. If there's anyone better in the country, I've got to see that for myself, because this kid is remarkable."

UNC Head Coach Hubert Davis
On having zero turnovers in the second half…
"It's something that we talk about, and I talk about to them every day, the importance of making the easy play. I give them every slogan you know, make the easy play, make routine plays routinely. We don't need home runs. We just need singles. Simple. Simple works perfectly — everything, and try to get them to understand that it's important for us to get shots and not turn the ball over."

On the team's ability to block shots…
"I mean, it's real…if they don't block a shot, their ability to alter shots is huge for us. So when guys get into the lane, it's not easy to be able to finish around there. I think they do a good job of staying out of foul trouble. But it's not just those two. I mean, Jarin is 6 '10. We've talked about our positional size, so even our guards are 6'5, 6'6, and so it's really helped us out defensively."

On Derek Dixon and this year's freshman class…
"I'm amazed at these freshmen, how comfortable they are. I was not that way as a freshman. I really didn't want any part out there on the floor. I wasn't ready. I'm glad coach Lebo was my senior and I was sitting the bench, because I just wasn't ready. But Derek is someone who's very confident in his game, and obviously he can shoot the basketball, but I think he's done a nice job handling the ball and defending and getting our team into the offense, and he has so much room to improve as well."

On shutting down Gage Lattimore…
"It wasn't just one defender, it was a number of guys on him, and I felt like everyone had their antennas up when he had the ball, and knew that a lot of their actions ended with him getting some type of screen to get free from three. He got a couple clean looks, but pretty much, he had to really work hard, and they were contested, and so overall, I thought we did a good job on him."

On hosting Onyx Williams and his family at tonight's game…
"It was great being able to spend time with him. My hope is that he had a lot of fun tonight. But more importantly, my hope is that he can come to more games, and it was great to share that moment with him."

Luka Bogavac
On what Coach Davis said to the team at halftime…
"He was a little bit mad at us because we turned the ball over a lot. But, in the second half, we didn't have any turnovers. He was a little bit mad at us for sure but I think we came out of halftime and showed that we can play clean basketball."

On playing against a zone defense…
"It's good to see different kinds of defense. When the big games come around, we should be ready for all kinds of defense. So seeing different looks now can be very useful."

On turning defense into offense…
"I think if we play good defense, we can get easy buckets on the other end. I think at times we need to play a little bit better defensively. For example, in the first half, we were less aggressive on shooters. If you get blocks and turnovers, you can get out and run and get open threes."

Derek Dixon
On seeing a zone defense…
"It's been really good for us at a lot of our practices. Before the season started we hadn't worked on it much. You see a little bit of the struggles in the first half of these games, but after that we figure out how to move the ball and get the ball into the middle of the zone."

On his confidence shooting the ball…
"I definitely felt good seeing a few go through. I felt like I hadn't knocked down as many looks as I wanted to before tonight, but having a game like this definitely feels good."

On pushing the ball in transition…
"Coach Davis harped on pitching the ball ahead in one of the timeouts. He always wants to pitch the ball ahead. Carolina has always played fast and that's what we're trying to do. He's always getting on us to pitch ahead and that the guy ahead of you is the best option."

Caleb Wilson
On the team's defense compared to the last three games…
"I think we did good. I let #22 [Ramondo Battle II] get off to too much of a start in the first half, so I had to lock in on that. But I think we did good, you know, it will only get better. And just gotta be more physical and limit teams to tough shots for sure."

On him and Henri's connection, especially both having had double-doubles…
"Henri's a great player. We just talk a lot and communicate throughout the preseason. You know, we often talked about what we were good at. We often talked about [...] — see what we can get from each other. You know, me being really athletic and him being able to play the stretch kind of position. And so this all just comes through communication. You know, he was tall, athletic — just like me. And it's all about being unselfish and trusting your guy."

On the amount of turnovers in the first half and lack thereof in the second…
"You know, we have to stop letting Coach [Davis] get on us, and that changes us. So we have to just come out with the mindset that we're going to be disciplined. But you know, we just came out and focused on limiting turnovers in the second half."

On Derek Dixon's game tonight…
"Oh, he's tough, you know, that's my guy. Derek had a great game. I feel like he's very underrated and people will see that throughout the year."

On the team's 14 total blocks…
"You know, we just focused and locked down on defense. And we just decided to be physical… and just focus on the end of the court. That's something that's very important, and you know, we'll play against better teams later down the road — and defense wins championships."

Jonathan Powell
On the defense performance compared to the last game…
"Most definitely, we picked it up defensively. I mean, just coming together. The main thing we talked about was playing with some pride on defense. I mean, continual man one on one, not letting them score, and if one get beat, basically help young man out, so I think we did a great job of that."

On slower first halves compared to second halves…
"I think it's just really just the same confidence, saying we come into every practice, every game, just basically come out with confidence against every shot. I mean, I think that's the main thing coming out with energy and confidence, and that leads from getting stops, and then us getting stops leads our offense and getting a better flow."

On playing without Seth Trimble…
"I think at first, it's most definitely a little odd not playing with Seth, not having him practice in games, but I think we'll be more settled in offensively, defensively coming together, so I think we'll be good."
"He's being vocal in practice, and time out is just talking everybody, encouraging everybody to keep going, to keep playing hard."

On Luka getting more comfortable and settled with the team…
"He's been showing it, most definitely seen improvement since he got here to now. From game one to this game, most definitely getting more comfortable. So I mean, I'm looking forward to seeing him progressing."
"He allowed not just me but other teammates to get more shots because attention that he draws. So, I mean, it's good to have a play on the floor."

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Luka Bogavac

Derek Dixon

Jonathan Powell

Seth Trimble

Caleb Wilson

Related Videos