North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
RW: "[I want to] congratulate Mark [Gottfried] and his club. They were dominating from the first get-go. Before I even get to that, I want to say something and make something really clear. Our crowd was great tonight, and we let them down. They were sensational. They were off the charts. The coach let them down and the players early in the game they dominated everything. They intimidated us inside. Cat [Barber] controlled the game and they controlled the game inside with their blocked shots and their unwillingness to give us easy shots. We wanted easy shots and we didn't get easy shots. We made a nice run, but runs don't do you any good unless you're tough enough to withstand and keep going. We got [the deficit] to two but never got it to two with the ball. We got it to four and had a layup on the break, and we thought we got fouled but we didn't get fouled because they didn't call it. Then it goes back down and I think they make a three after that one. So all the sudden we have a chance to cut it to two and it goes back to seven. But you've got to congratulate those guys. Again, I thought Cat dominated the game early, and Trevor [Lacey] and Ralston [Turner] did a great job. We left them wide open three times in the first half just because we didn't get picked up. And then their big guys dominated things inside. BeeJay [Anya] had six blocked shots, seven for their team. We shoot 28 percent the first half and had pretty good looks, but they took those pretty good looks and they turned some of them into blocked shots and some of them into rushed shots and some of them into manufactured shots. I hate it for our crowd, too, because, god almighty, they were so loud. I challenged them last game and they came out and were fantastic. The basketball coach and the basketball team didn't stand up to our part."
On if the poor late-game execution was due to a lack of poise
RW: "Yes. Silly poise no poise is what it was. We've never had a play where our big guy shoots a three-point shot unless he can really shoot threes. Joe Wolf and Tyler Zeller and those guys could do it, but Kennedy [Meeks] didn't know what to do, so he shot it. We had a set play called twice in a row and didn't execute that, so that's the coach's fault."
On the performance of NC State's post players
RW: "Defensively they were sensational. Offensively, you look down there and one of their post players shot two and the other one shot two shots. So they weren't doing a lot offensively. They had five offensive rebounds.
But in the first half they make two shots as the shot clock expires. Cat made a nice move on the baseline and dribbles all the way across, but he shouldn't get there. Got to have a defensive player stop that. Then he turns around and makes a turnaround 10 or 12-footer as the horn goes off. Then Trevor makes a three as the horn goes off. We did some good things at times, but the bottom line is North Carolina State kicked our rear ends."
On the difference in hustle between the teams
RW: "I thought we tried in the second half. I thought we were sensational because early in the game we were sort of running in sand and they were getting all the loose balls. They out-rebounded us eight rebounds in the first half. 25-17. A lot of them were NC State's effort going after loose balls. Inside we kept going double pump, triple pump, and tried to shoot it over their guys. I don't think it was a matter of effort, particularly in the second half. It takes a great deal of effort to chase the ball down off the backboard and they out-rebounded us 25-17 in the first half. We were 7-25. There wasn't a lot that we did that was good."
On how to play against a good shot-blocker
RW: "Pump fake and go at him strong. Don't pump fake 17 times and try and make the softest shot in the history of basketball. You've got to be tough. I mean it's a physical game and you've got to be strong. If you don't have a good shot throw it back out and re-post."
On Marcus Paige only having one shot in the first half
RW: "Yes. It was awful. We had guys with six and seven shots shooting bad percentages. He was 1-1. He's got to be more aggressive and we have to look for him more often. Guys have to take shots that they can make."
On whether Marcus Paige has any lingering injuries
RW: "I don't think so. I think he's feeling as good as he's felt the last few weeks."
On Cat Barber guarding Marcus Paige
RW: "He's (Paige) an emphasis for the other team. We've got to do a better job getting him open. He's got to do a better job moving. Other guys have to step up and make a shot every now and then too. Our defense was good during that stretch there and we were running the break. We made some nice passes. The last three or four minutes we didn't look like a team that never had a practice.
Opening Statement
RW: "[I want to] congratulate Mark [Gottfried] and his club. They were dominating from the first get-go. Before I even get to that, I want to say something and make something really clear. Our crowd was great tonight, and we let them down. They were sensational. They were off the charts. The coach let them down and the players early in the game they dominated everything. They intimidated us inside. Cat [Barber] controlled the game and they controlled the game inside with their blocked shots and their unwillingness to give us easy shots. We wanted easy shots and we didn't get easy shots. We made a nice run, but runs don't do you any good unless you're tough enough to withstand and keep going. We got [the deficit] to two but never got it to two with the ball. We got it to four and had a layup on the break, and we thought we got fouled but we didn't get fouled because they didn't call it. Then it goes back down and I think they make a three after that one. So all the sudden we have a chance to cut it to two and it goes back to seven. But you've got to congratulate those guys. Again, I thought Cat dominated the game early, and Trevor [Lacey] and Ralston [Turner] did a great job. We left them wide open three times in the first half just because we didn't get picked up. And then their big guys dominated things inside. BeeJay [Anya] had six blocked shots, seven for their team. We shoot 28 percent the first half and had pretty good looks, but they took those pretty good looks and they turned some of them into blocked shots and some of them into rushed shots and some of them into manufactured shots. I hate it for our crowd, too, because, god almighty, they were so loud. I challenged them last game and they came out and were fantastic. The basketball coach and the basketball team didn't stand up to our part."
On if the poor late-game execution was due to a lack of poise
RW: "Yes. Silly poise no poise is what it was. We've never had a play where our big guy shoots a three-point shot unless he can really shoot threes. Joe Wolf and Tyler Zeller and those guys could do it, but Kennedy [Meeks] didn't know what to do, so he shot it. We had a set play called twice in a row and didn't execute that, so that's the coach's fault."
On the performance of NC State's post players
RW: "Defensively they were sensational. Offensively, you look down there and one of their post players shot two and the other one shot two shots. So they weren't doing a lot offensively. They had five offensive rebounds.
But in the first half they make two shots as the shot clock expires. Cat made a nice move on the baseline and dribbles all the way across, but he shouldn't get there. Got to have a defensive player stop that. Then he turns around and makes a turnaround 10 or 12-footer as the horn goes off. Then Trevor makes a three as the horn goes off. We did some good things at times, but the bottom line is North Carolina State kicked our rear ends."
On the difference in hustle between the teams
RW: "I thought we tried in the second half. I thought we were sensational because early in the game we were sort of running in sand and they were getting all the loose balls. They out-rebounded us eight rebounds in the first half. 25-17. A lot of them were NC State's effort going after loose balls. Inside we kept going double pump, triple pump, and tried to shoot it over their guys. I don't think it was a matter of effort, particularly in the second half. It takes a great deal of effort to chase the ball down off the backboard and they out-rebounded us 25-17 in the first half. We were 7-25. There wasn't a lot that we did that was good."
On how to play against a good shot-blocker
RW: "Pump fake and go at him strong. Don't pump fake 17 times and try and make the softest shot in the history of basketball. You've got to be tough. I mean it's a physical game and you've got to be strong. If you don't have a good shot throw it back out and re-post."
On Marcus Paige only having one shot in the first half
RW: "Yes. It was awful. We had guys with six and seven shots shooting bad percentages. He was 1-1. He's got to be more aggressive and we have to look for him more often. Guys have to take shots that they can make."
On whether Marcus Paige has any lingering injuries
RW: "I don't think so. I think he's feeling as good as he's felt the last few weeks."
On Cat Barber guarding Marcus Paige
RW: "He's (Paige) an emphasis for the other team. We've got to do a better job getting him open. He's got to do a better job moving. Other guys have to step up and make a shot every now and then too. Our defense was good during that stretch there and we were running the break. We made some nice passes. The last three or four minutes we didn't look like a team that never had a practice.
