Roy: Needless to say it was a great day for us. Shoot 63% from the field and only have 8 turnovers. It was a good bounce back. Very disappointing game Wednesday night. I felt like I said after the press conference, or, at the press conference, Wednesday night, that we did some good things over there but if we had made better plays down the stretch. People were worried about the carry over. I wasn't worried about that. I was worried whether we'd have enough players to dress out. That was my biggest concern. We got things going for us that snowballed against Georgia Tech. They've played so many games. They have nine games where with one minute left in the game they were within one possession, seven and nine points, and they ended up with 9 losses out of those games. So we snowballed on them. We made some shots, got them to miss some, got the ball going up and down the court, that I really liked. They tried coming out running at us which they've done all year and it hurt us early then we did a better job of getting back. We caught them on a big day, a big day for us. I feel very fortunate to get a win.
Q: First possession you ran the Four Corners, obviously a tribute to Coach Smith, and it was fitting you got a layup out of it...
Roy: Very much so. It was something I'd been thinking about for a long time, two weeks, anyway, something that would mean a great deal to him and it would mean a great deal to me. And it worked out great. I was hoping they'd be man-to-man, but they weren't. We wanted to hold it for 20 seconds with everybody standing out there holding up four. I was disappointed that our crowd didn't have a little more savvy but I felt they were asleep most of the day anyway. It's not intended to be criticism, but it is criticism because we need some daggone help. When we're on the road and they're screaming like banshees. It was like every time I yelled at a player they turned around and looked at me. I yelled at a player Wednesday night and they thought I was frickin' doing exercises. You think I'm chastising fans - come in and invest, come in and invest. We need some help. We'd been in the road four out of 5 games and come back and Joel couldn't play, and didn't know if we were going to have Brice was going to be able to play, so we need some help. Show up with your lungs rested on Tuesday night. Everyone's sitting in the locker room, Steve and my coaches agreed with me and tried to get them to calm down. We need some support. My gosh, trying to honor the greatest coach, maybe one of the greatest individuals I've ever known. I can understand if they didn't recognize it because it was over so quickly. It was nice we got a backdoor layup. Don't just sit over there acting like we gotta entertain you, this is a team thing. Now, anymore want to ask any questions about the game, I got off it so much?
Q: How long did you practice the Four Corners?
Roy: I'm such a great coach that we did it one yesterday and I guarded Marcus (laughter). I drew it up on the board. I had some people watching practice yesterday, waited, went into the locker room and 5 minutes later everybody left, came back out and nobody was there because I wanted it to be something very sincere from our team, the University of North Carolina basketball TEAM (emphasis Roy's) to Coach Smith. I didn't want somebody to send something out by Twitter or fax or whatever else, and just wanted it to be between the team and Coach Smith.
Q: Does it mean something to you as well? Will you elaborate?
Roy: That guy on the screen behind you, John Thompson, one time said Coach Smith shared with him the knowledge that's the greatest thing you can have, and that's the greatest thing Coach gave me. Gave me his knowledge, gave me his chance, used to get me to try things on the JV to see if they worked before he tried them on the varsity. He used to say when I went to Kansas - I think there was a 45 second clock - and we didn't play Four Corners very much, he gave a call one night and asked me about it. I said, "Coach, I love it, too, but my team's better just running the dickens out of it." We didn't do much of it when the shot clock went down to 35 seconds we almost did none. I think he knows I'm honoring him. For 64 years I've tried to make him proud. It was just my way of saying, "Thank you."
Q: Has the team learned more about Coach Smith in the last 2 weeks?
Roy: They didn't know much about him, to say the least, except I talk about him all the time. I think you should talk about your experiences, especially when they are positive, so they've learned a lot more. So in the last 2 weeks has been much more educational for them, and they understand, and most of them did not know about the stuff off the court, but they know now. And the significance of what he did for basketball and the type of individual he was, always putting players first. John Calipari's using it now, but it started with Coach Smith, and John would tell you that himself, and he wrote an article on it. I think they know more about it now and it's something they should know about.
Q: Why did you pull off towards the end against Georgia Tech?
Roy: It's the ACC. It's a marathon, it's a marathon that's run uphill for 26 miles. If you do that you're not doing justice to Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech's had some tough games, and said earlier, they go to Miami and beat Miami, and duke it was a 6 point game, no, a 4 point game with a minute and a half, so I don't think you'd be fair to Georgia Tech's team. I think Bryan's done a really nice job with this team. Those kids work awfully hard. It is the ACC. If you want to say, "It's just Georgia Tech," then that's your right to.
Q: What made you bring up the atmosphere today?
Roy: I haven't noticed it all year. But today, guys, when I'm on the road and I'm yelling they have to be able to read my lips from 65'. Did you guys feel like it was really loud out there today? Be honest (a few "no's" from press). Ok. And we've been gone. It's not like we've been home two days ago and then two days ago, and two days before that. They'll criticize me, and that's fine, because I'm telling the truth. I've never thought that this year. I really haven't. We lost to Notre Dame, we lost to Iowa, we lost to Virginia, so we lost 3 home games. I like the home venues to be so demanding that it's really, really impossible for you. But it's even in those games we lost I thought the crowd was fine - (turning to a basketball staffer) - was anything said behind closed doors? No, but I thought...and maybe the occasion of Coach Smith had something to do with it. But I can tell you one guy that was disappointed, that guy right up there (motioning with head to back wall), he was disappointed. He always talked about it. We always talked that we had to get the crowd involved and do our part. We need some help. Let's put it this way: am I 100% sure I am correct? No. But I do think 99. Because I'm yelling out there today, "JOEL!" (coach starts looking around surprised) - most of the time they can't hear a word I'm saying.
Q: Six guys out there in double figures - how did you achieve that balance? And in context, how good was it to see Justin aggressive again?
Roy: Well the biggest thing is 26 assists on 36 baskets - we kept talking about sharing the ball, sharing the ball, and I think we did that. Some guys played more minutes, too, as we were down Joel, who got sick last night and started throwing up and was in the hospital this morning getting IV's, and Brice woke up this morning and he's sick and he went to hospital for IV's. So we really wanted to distribute the basketball more - we really talked about it, because we've got to move it, move it, move it and not just spread it out, and the games we've played well we shared it.
Q: In some ways is this team playing for Coach Smith?
Roy: I don't sense that. We haven't talked about it at all. We talked about everybody in this room let's play for each other. We talked about physically, emotionally, mentally involved, invested. And I know what's going to happen - everyone's going to make a big deal about me criticizing he fans, but the story to me is that North Carolina bounced back after a very disappointing loss. That's the bigger story. We played really well, and the other stuff about the fans... the good thing about the United States and you can say what you want. I don't they're playing for Coach Smith. I think we have some goals for ourselves, for this team. I mean, he retired 18 years ago. The oldest guy on my team then was 3 years old.
Q: First possession you ran the Four Corners, obviously a tribute to Coach Smith, and it was fitting you got a layup out of it...
Roy: Very much so. It was something I'd been thinking about for a long time, two weeks, anyway, something that would mean a great deal to him and it would mean a great deal to me. And it worked out great. I was hoping they'd be man-to-man, but they weren't. We wanted to hold it for 20 seconds with everybody standing out there holding up four. I was disappointed that our crowd didn't have a little more savvy but I felt they were asleep most of the day anyway. It's not intended to be criticism, but it is criticism because we need some daggone help. When we're on the road and they're screaming like banshees. It was like every time I yelled at a player they turned around and looked at me. I yelled at a player Wednesday night and they thought I was frickin' doing exercises. You think I'm chastising fans - come in and invest, come in and invest. We need some help. We'd been in the road four out of 5 games and come back and Joel couldn't play, and didn't know if we were going to have Brice was going to be able to play, so we need some help. Show up with your lungs rested on Tuesday night. Everyone's sitting in the locker room, Steve and my coaches agreed with me and tried to get them to calm down. We need some support. My gosh, trying to honor the greatest coach, maybe one of the greatest individuals I've ever known. I can understand if they didn't recognize it because it was over so quickly. It was nice we got a backdoor layup. Don't just sit over there acting like we gotta entertain you, this is a team thing. Now, anymore want to ask any questions about the game, I got off it so much?
Q: How long did you practice the Four Corners?
Roy: I'm such a great coach that we did it one yesterday and I guarded Marcus (laughter). I drew it up on the board. I had some people watching practice yesterday, waited, went into the locker room and 5 minutes later everybody left, came back out and nobody was there because I wanted it to be something very sincere from our team, the University of North Carolina basketball TEAM (emphasis Roy's) to Coach Smith. I didn't want somebody to send something out by Twitter or fax or whatever else, and just wanted it to be between the team and Coach Smith.
Q: Does it mean something to you as well? Will you elaborate?
Roy: That guy on the screen behind you, John Thompson, one time said Coach Smith shared with him the knowledge that's the greatest thing you can have, and that's the greatest thing Coach gave me. Gave me his knowledge, gave me his chance, used to get me to try things on the JV to see if they worked before he tried them on the varsity. He used to say when I went to Kansas - I think there was a 45 second clock - and we didn't play Four Corners very much, he gave a call one night and asked me about it. I said, "Coach, I love it, too, but my team's better just running the dickens out of it." We didn't do much of it when the shot clock went down to 35 seconds we almost did none. I think he knows I'm honoring him. For 64 years I've tried to make him proud. It was just my way of saying, "Thank you."
Q: Has the team learned more about Coach Smith in the last 2 weeks?
Roy: They didn't know much about him, to say the least, except I talk about him all the time. I think you should talk about your experiences, especially when they are positive, so they've learned a lot more. So in the last 2 weeks has been much more educational for them, and they understand, and most of them did not know about the stuff off the court, but they know now. And the significance of what he did for basketball and the type of individual he was, always putting players first. John Calipari's using it now, but it started with Coach Smith, and John would tell you that himself, and he wrote an article on it. I think they know more about it now and it's something they should know about.
Q: Why did you pull off towards the end against Georgia Tech?
Roy: It's the ACC. It's a marathon, it's a marathon that's run uphill for 26 miles. If you do that you're not doing justice to Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech's had some tough games, and said earlier, they go to Miami and beat Miami, and duke it was a 6 point game, no, a 4 point game with a minute and a half, so I don't think you'd be fair to Georgia Tech's team. I think Bryan's done a really nice job with this team. Those kids work awfully hard. It is the ACC. If you want to say, "It's just Georgia Tech," then that's your right to.
Q: What made you bring up the atmosphere today?
Roy: I haven't noticed it all year. But today, guys, when I'm on the road and I'm yelling they have to be able to read my lips from 65'. Did you guys feel like it was really loud out there today? Be honest (a few "no's" from press). Ok. And we've been gone. It's not like we've been home two days ago and then two days ago, and two days before that. They'll criticize me, and that's fine, because I'm telling the truth. I've never thought that this year. I really haven't. We lost to Notre Dame, we lost to Iowa, we lost to Virginia, so we lost 3 home games. I like the home venues to be so demanding that it's really, really impossible for you. But it's even in those games we lost I thought the crowd was fine - (turning to a basketball staffer) - was anything said behind closed doors? No, but I thought...and maybe the occasion of Coach Smith had something to do with it. But I can tell you one guy that was disappointed, that guy right up there (motioning with head to back wall), he was disappointed. He always talked about it. We always talked that we had to get the crowd involved and do our part. We need some help. Let's put it this way: am I 100% sure I am correct? No. But I do think 99. Because I'm yelling out there today, "JOEL!" (coach starts looking around surprised) - most of the time they can't hear a word I'm saying.
Q: Six guys out there in double figures - how did you achieve that balance? And in context, how good was it to see Justin aggressive again?
Roy: Well the biggest thing is 26 assists on 36 baskets - we kept talking about sharing the ball, sharing the ball, and I think we did that. Some guys played more minutes, too, as we were down Joel, who got sick last night and started throwing up and was in the hospital this morning getting IV's, and Brice woke up this morning and he's sick and he went to hospital for IV's. So we really wanted to distribute the basketball more - we really talked about it, because we've got to move it, move it, move it and not just spread it out, and the games we've played well we shared it.
Q: In some ways is this team playing for Coach Smith?
Roy: I don't sense that. We haven't talked about it at all. We talked about everybody in this room let's play for each other. We talked about physically, emotionally, mentally involved, invested. And I know what's going to happen - everyone's going to make a big deal about me criticizing he fans, but the story to me is that North Carolina bounced back after a very disappointing loss. That's the bigger story. We played really well, and the other stuff about the fans... the good thing about the United States and you can say what you want. I don't they're playing for Coach Smith. I think we have some goals for ourselves, for this team. I mean, he retired 18 years ago. The oldest guy on my team then was 3 years old.
