KANSAS CITY - UNC coach Roy Williams met with the media following his team's 80-69 win over Northwestern in the semifinals of the CBE Classic on Monday. Here is what the coach had to say:
Opening statement
Needless to say, we feel better than we did on Saturday. I thought that at times we had three real good stretches where we were good on the offensive end and the defensive end and we also had two stretches where we were terrible defensively. But that's the game of basketball, its a game of runs. I thought Justin Jackson that everybody wanted me to be worried about five days ago has played pretty well the last two games. (He had) 21 and 13 tonight and 6 offensive rebounds, something that I always love to have.I thought Joel Berry made a big basket. It got to 10 or 11, 9, was it, got down to 9, then Isaiah made a pass out and Joel made a big 3. Needless to say, we haven’t shot the ball very well the last two games, particularly from 3. Nate was as hot as he could possibly be early and he’s really struggled the last two games. It’s the first game all year we’ve played against a zone the entire game, so down the line I think that’ll really help us. We’ve got to get our big guys with more movement. You know I like 4 for 6 and 4 for 6, but we’ve got to get them more shots. Just because somebody goes zone, doesn’t mean we should shoot three point shots all the time. Theo had 8 assists and really did some good things, but other than his 4 turnovers, everything is good there. 21 and 9, you like that part. They shot 37% in the second half, but they missed some easy shots to.
On do you like the way your team responded after Saturday’s loss to Northern Iowa
Yeah I do. We gotta do it again tomorrow. We didn’t do very well against Fairfield. We bounced back and did some nice things against Wofford and then stunk it up at times against Northern Iowa and then bounced back, it can’t be an every other day kinda thing. So, tomorrow we’ll have our hands full. I thought Kansas State was really super tonight and I know we’ll have our hands full tomorrow!
On how much are you guys a work in progress without Marcus
Well, we still, I think we know who we are, you know, that part. But how we’re playing out on the court and what the guys, have the confidence from one particular spot. You know Kenny Williams is an example. I think he’s a really good shooter and my God, he had Freshman itius out there tonight. Andrew, the team is trying to find their way and you have that security blanket over there, because the player is sitting over there. Your best player always makes a great difference in basketball, but we don’t have him. So those other guys have got to play well and gotta do some good things. If our big guys will get a little better movement and we don’t turn it over, tonight would have been a good game for us.
On Justin being more aggressive
No, the last two games the ball’s gone in the basket a little bit more. But I will say his aggressiveness on the back boards tonight was huge for us. And I talked to him last spring and we were sitting down trying to determine what he wanted his goals to be in the off season, doing a better job rebounding was a huge part of it. Northwestern, again, has got some guys who can shoot the basketball. 9 for 20 from three point line is not what we want to give up, but you gotta give them credit too. Chris does a nice job and they know their roles and they played well.
On bringing back memories playing Kansas State in Kansas City
I haven’t had time to think about that yet. You know we played a couple of times in the tournament, I remember that. I remember playing Kansas State in Allen Fieldhouse and I remember playing Kansas State in their building. I know I played them at least once, maybe more that once, in the tournament. You know it’s a whole different ball game. It’s truly a different ball game, much less two different widely variety of teams is what it was in the old days. I enjoy being back here. I’ve got some great friends here. I love Kansas City itself. 15 great years and all that stuff. If you can figure out a way to tell me to get some extra points because of it, I’ll really love it.
On have you had a conversation with Justin about being more aggressive after the Wofford Game
I’ve had three or four of those, but the biggest one was in the spring meetings. But I talked to him, I told him that you guys were always pestering the crap out of me. That’s what I told him exactly. I told you guys that he was my biggest worry, what a great situation I was in. I know Andrew was the last one. You may have been the one before that. I told you I do know a little about the game and I was not concerned about Justin Jackson. But, we’ve talked about the aggressiveness with him a lot. But on the back boards tonight was his best game.
On what was your approach after the game on Saturday with the guys
It’s something that varies from team to team. What you should do, I never have any idea if it’s gonna work, but I was ticked off. I wasn’t gonna treat em with kid gloves, we screwed it up, that’s what I told em.
Opening statement
Needless to say, we feel better than we did on Saturday. I thought that at times we had three real good stretches where we were good on the offensive end and the defensive end and we also had two stretches where we were terrible defensively. But that's the game of basketball, its a game of runs. I thought Justin Jackson that everybody wanted me to be worried about five days ago has played pretty well the last two games. (He had) 21 and 13 tonight and 6 offensive rebounds, something that I always love to have.I thought Joel Berry made a big basket. It got to 10 or 11, 9, was it, got down to 9, then Isaiah made a pass out and Joel made a big 3. Needless to say, we haven’t shot the ball very well the last two games, particularly from 3. Nate was as hot as he could possibly be early and he’s really struggled the last two games. It’s the first game all year we’ve played against a zone the entire game, so down the line I think that’ll really help us. We’ve got to get our big guys with more movement. You know I like 4 for 6 and 4 for 6, but we’ve got to get them more shots. Just because somebody goes zone, doesn’t mean we should shoot three point shots all the time. Theo had 8 assists and really did some good things, but other than his 4 turnovers, everything is good there. 21 and 9, you like that part. They shot 37% in the second half, but they missed some easy shots to.
On do you like the way your team responded after Saturday’s loss to Northern Iowa
Yeah I do. We gotta do it again tomorrow. We didn’t do very well against Fairfield. We bounced back and did some nice things against Wofford and then stunk it up at times against Northern Iowa and then bounced back, it can’t be an every other day kinda thing. So, tomorrow we’ll have our hands full. I thought Kansas State was really super tonight and I know we’ll have our hands full tomorrow!
On how much are you guys a work in progress without Marcus
Well, we still, I think we know who we are, you know, that part. But how we’re playing out on the court and what the guys, have the confidence from one particular spot. You know Kenny Williams is an example. I think he’s a really good shooter and my God, he had Freshman itius out there tonight. Andrew, the team is trying to find their way and you have that security blanket over there, because the player is sitting over there. Your best player always makes a great difference in basketball, but we don’t have him. So those other guys have got to play well and gotta do some good things. If our big guys will get a little better movement and we don’t turn it over, tonight would have been a good game for us.
On Justin being more aggressive
No, the last two games the ball’s gone in the basket a little bit more. But I will say his aggressiveness on the back boards tonight was huge for us. And I talked to him last spring and we were sitting down trying to determine what he wanted his goals to be in the off season, doing a better job rebounding was a huge part of it. Northwestern, again, has got some guys who can shoot the basketball. 9 for 20 from three point line is not what we want to give up, but you gotta give them credit too. Chris does a nice job and they know their roles and they played well.
On bringing back memories playing Kansas State in Kansas City
I haven’t had time to think about that yet. You know we played a couple of times in the tournament, I remember that. I remember playing Kansas State in Allen Fieldhouse and I remember playing Kansas State in their building. I know I played them at least once, maybe more that once, in the tournament. You know it’s a whole different ball game. It’s truly a different ball game, much less two different widely variety of teams is what it was in the old days. I enjoy being back here. I’ve got some great friends here. I love Kansas City itself. 15 great years and all that stuff. If you can figure out a way to tell me to get some extra points because of it, I’ll really love it.
On have you had a conversation with Justin about being more aggressive after the Wofford Game
I’ve had three or four of those, but the biggest one was in the spring meetings. But I talked to him, I told him that you guys were always pestering the crap out of me. That’s what I told him exactly. I told you guys that he was my biggest worry, what a great situation I was in. I know Andrew was the last one. You may have been the one before that. I told you I do know a little about the game and I was not concerned about Justin Jackson. But, we’ve talked about the aggressiveness with him a lot. But on the back boards tonight was his best game.
On what was your approach after the game on Saturday with the guys
It’s something that varies from team to team. What you should do, I never have any idea if it’s gonna work, but I was ticked off. I wasn’t gonna treat em with kid gloves, we screwed it up, that’s what I told em.
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