University of North Carolina Athletics
Jaydon Young
Photo by: Peyton Williams
October 27, 2026 | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME QUOTES
UNC 89, CHARLOTTE 82 (OT)
OCTOBER 27, 2026
DEAN E. SMITH CENTER, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.
UNC 89, CHARLOTTE 82 (OT)
OCTOBER 27, 2026
DEAN E. SMITH CENTER, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.
UNC Head Coach Michael Malone
On having the opportunity to play Charlotte and face former Tar Heels…
"I appreciate Wes [Miller] and these guys from Charlotte coming up here and giving us a hell of a fight, and we wish them nothing but the best this season."
On the emotions of the first home game…
"I told them early in one of the huddles, I said, 'Man, take a deep breath, relax.' These guys work so hard… and the first time in front of a home crowd, and I thought they were just kind of very excited."
On being down at the half…
"We closed the half, and I like the fact that we just stayed with it. We stayed with it. We found a way, But, yeah, lots to clean up."
On Jaydon Young holding a veteran status on the team…
"Shooting makes up for a multitude of sins, and JY [Jaydon Young] can get hot from the three. One of the best shooters in the gym every single day… He's going to have a poise about him that maybe some of the younger players may not have.. You know, he did a pretty good job, and I thought he was competing on the defensive end as well."
On the dynamic of Terrance Brown and Neo Avdalas….
"You can't lock in on just one of them. I think you know when you have multiple ball handlers, you become that much harder to guard… I thought Terrence was terrific tonight. By far, his best game of the preseason… and made some big, big plays for us."
On the mood in the locker room postgame…
"You're never satisfied…So I think our guys are, of course, you're happy that you win, but I think we all know collectively that we can and we have to play a lot better. You know, the season is upon us. There's no more exhibition games. We're done… So we have to clean things up in a hurry. We have to take ownership of that… I think everybody was thankful that we got through the game. We're able to pull out a win. Nobody got hurt, while also fully understanding, there's much work to be done.
Charlotte Head Coach Wes Miller
On having the opportunity to play back at UNC…
"I'm really grateful to Coach Malone, he's done such a remarkable job and kind of embracing the Carolina family and all that, and it meant a lot to me. I know a lot of the teammates and friends that have been part of this program in the past. So I'm really grateful to him for allowing us to come in and play."
On the "Carolina System" that he learned as a player, impacting his coaching style at Charlotte…
"The foundation of what I value, what I believe about the game, and how it should be played, a lot of that is derived – and the majority of that's derived – from my time here and what I learned here."
Jaydon Young
On the message at halftime…
"Everybody calm down a little bit. I think we're all moving a little too fast, but all in all, just really just getting back into who we are, what we practice every single day. Just like I mentioned earlier, the turnovers and rebounding, of course. But yeah, it wasn't as cruel as some people may think."
On Terrence's performance…
"You saw a more aggressive Terrence. You saw him miss a few shots to start off and still kind of keep himself out there in a great mindset. So that's the Terrence we expect. That's the Terrence we know."
On today's struggles that stand out…
"I think it's a pretty ongoing theme. I think it's the rebounding, of course, turning the ball over. So, like Coach said, you can't beat yourself. Good teams can't beat themselves. So honestly I think that's what we'll definitely key in: the rebounding, turnovers, and then some things we'll clean up on defense. But small stuff."
Terrence Brown
On a slow start in the first half…
"Obviously, it was our first game in front of the Dean Dome, so we practice here every day. We were just missing shots. We were just missing shots. We just got to make shots. We got to step up and make shots. We come in here every single day. We shoot in this gym. We practice in this gym. We just got to have the confidence to make the shots. And Coach puts the confidence in us. He doesn't tell anybody on the court not to shoot."
On the adjustment to his role…
"Obviously, my other schools I was bringing the ball up the court, and now…I'm coming off of pin downs, staggers, things like that, and just trying to find my groove without shooting too early in the shot clock, killing the possession with too much dribbles, things like that. I'm trying to bring my game up in efficiency and bring my turnovers down as well."
On trust in between the team…
"Coming down here having the ball in my hands all the time is definitely different. But I'm playing with somebody who's great with the ball in his hands, who's gonna find me. My other teammates trusted me really well, and Coach Malone trusts me, so I trust his vision. You know, he coached a championship team, and he was really great at it, so I trust his vision. I put my trust in him every time I come into practice. He tells me to trust him, so I trust this whole team to give me shots and me being able to get them shots."
Jarin Stevenson
On Jaydon Young's game…
"He does that in practice. He's always ready to shoot, knocks on second shots, even contesting shots. Yeah, Jay Young's a great player. He brings contests defensively too, and [is] really physically surprisingly strong…Jay Young was definitely a difference maker today, and he picked up our energy."
On what the team could've done better…
"Just staying organized. Can't let pressure take us out of our actions. I feel like yeah, there are some times where we just didn't know what we were doing. So again, you have to stay organized, get into action, and you have to stay composed."
Neoklis Avdalas
On Terrence vs. Neo handling the ball…
"Every day our chemistry is getting better. When I was out of the game, he was playing with the ball and doing great things. He scored 27 points today. We're happy to see him do what he does."
On different play out of Terrence today…
"It was good seeing him being aggressive. It was good seeing him being himself. We know he's great with the ball. We gotta give him the ball every time. He just helped us win."
On playing with Alexandros Samodurov, another Greek player…
"That Greek connection, man. Samo's my guy. We played a lot of years together, so he knows how to move the ball and I can find him. It was just great to make a play for him because he's my friend. I really hope that he's playing good every day because he's a very good player."
On the main issue with offensive consistency…
"Obviously, we're not in our best right now. Like I said, I mean, we'll take a win every time, but we have to watch film and get better. We have to be able to close our games better with our opponents."
Players Mentioned
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