Opening Statement
“We won. I’m as happy as I can possibly be. It wasn’t very pretty. Wake struggled, and so did we. We shoot 26 percent in the second half. Everybody shows up to my weekly press conference and talks about what a great shooting team we are; remember don’t ask me that question any more. Brice [Johnson], 27 [points] and 11 [rebounds], 11 out of 12 from the free throw line. Defensively, we created some turnovers early, and that gave us a little confidence, and we had a 10 or 12 point lead. One of the few times I looked up at the scoreboard, I think we had a 25 or 24 [point lead], at one point we tuned it over three of the next four possessions. We didn’t practice very well this week, and from a coaching viewpoint, I’m glad we didn’t play well. Maybe we’ll learn something and practice better before we play at Virginia Tech on Sunday. Tomorrow is off, so we’ve got to come back Friday and Saturday and have great practices and get a heck of a lot better. Brad Frederick just gave me a stat: they had 17 field goals in the second half, and 14 of them were lay-ups. I’m tired of those guys on TV talking about how good North Carolina is but their defense is not very good. I’d like to get a plane and fly around the nation and say you’re exactly right, but I’m tired of listening to it. Other than that guys, I’m glad it’s not Christmas Eve.”
On indications of a bad practice
“Anybody that’s ever breathed and walked could have watched us in practice this week because we did nothing good. Someway, somehow, we’ve got to get better habits in practice, better efforts in practice. Monday at practice, I got mad at them at the end, and we decided to see if any of us could qualify for the track team, didn’t make me feel any better either. It’s pretty easy when you watch us practice this week, how bad we were in practice.”
On how to get Marcus Paige shooting better
“I don’t know. I guess they pay me a lot of money to say, ‘I don’t know,’ but I’ve never had a player I’ve had more confidence in in my entire life than Marcus Paige. The ball’s not going in the basket right now, but he is doing some other things. I don’t know what he had: one for eight [shooting], zero for five [from three], two assists, four steals, he was active defensively, but got in some foul trouble, made some silly fouls, too. Didn’t play very well, but I’m telling you the truth. I’ve never had a player in 28 years as a head coach that I’ve got more confidence in than I do Marcus.”
On if he is satisfied winning comfortably despite poor shooting
“No. It may be for them, but satisfaction is not a part of my language right now. Nowhere close. Mick Jagger, satisfaction, that’s not Roy Williams as a coach.”
On you getting the ball inside because you had too the way you were shooting outside
Yes. Brice was 8 for 12. Kennedy tip toed it up there tonight instead of exploding up. Isaiah twisted and turned too much instead of exploding up. I'm sitting here complaining, we've been all right, but my goals are pretty doggone high.
On is there a sense of satisfaction to win comfortably despite shooting poorly
No. It may be for them. But satisfaction is not part of my language right now. No, Nowhere close.
On how disappointing is this shooting performance with this veteran team
Four guys before tonight's game, they had a stretch where they were 7 for 51. Justin's 4 for 13. Marcus 1 for 8. Nate 2 for 6. Theo 1 for 3 so we didn't help our percentage a heck of a lot tonight. But you can't act like it's not there, we got to shoot the ball in the hole. I'm more disappointed about the defensive end of the floor and that kind of stuff. Shooting, sometimes the ball goes in and sometimes it doesn't. Kids will work at it and we'll get in some good work this week, but we've gotta be better defensively.
On has the defense made improvements in the last month or so
Yes. I told them today that we were getting better defensively but we didn't show it in the last couple days of practice. The toughest thing is they are wonderful, wonderful kids, wonderful human beings, it hard to get mad at them, it's hard to do that. We've got to play better.
“We won. I’m as happy as I can possibly be. It wasn’t very pretty. Wake struggled, and so did we. We shoot 26 percent in the second half. Everybody shows up to my weekly press conference and talks about what a great shooting team we are; remember don’t ask me that question any more. Brice [Johnson], 27 [points] and 11 [rebounds], 11 out of 12 from the free throw line. Defensively, we created some turnovers early, and that gave us a little confidence, and we had a 10 or 12 point lead. One of the few times I looked up at the scoreboard, I think we had a 25 or 24 [point lead], at one point we tuned it over three of the next four possessions. We didn’t practice very well this week, and from a coaching viewpoint, I’m glad we didn’t play well. Maybe we’ll learn something and practice better before we play at Virginia Tech on Sunday. Tomorrow is off, so we’ve got to come back Friday and Saturday and have great practices and get a heck of a lot better. Brad Frederick just gave me a stat: they had 17 field goals in the second half, and 14 of them were lay-ups. I’m tired of those guys on TV talking about how good North Carolina is but their defense is not very good. I’d like to get a plane and fly around the nation and say you’re exactly right, but I’m tired of listening to it. Other than that guys, I’m glad it’s not Christmas Eve.”
On indications of a bad practice
“Anybody that’s ever breathed and walked could have watched us in practice this week because we did nothing good. Someway, somehow, we’ve got to get better habits in practice, better efforts in practice. Monday at practice, I got mad at them at the end, and we decided to see if any of us could qualify for the track team, didn’t make me feel any better either. It’s pretty easy when you watch us practice this week, how bad we were in practice.”
On how to get Marcus Paige shooting better
“I don’t know. I guess they pay me a lot of money to say, ‘I don’t know,’ but I’ve never had a player I’ve had more confidence in in my entire life than Marcus Paige. The ball’s not going in the basket right now, but he is doing some other things. I don’t know what he had: one for eight [shooting], zero for five [from three], two assists, four steals, he was active defensively, but got in some foul trouble, made some silly fouls, too. Didn’t play very well, but I’m telling you the truth. I’ve never had a player in 28 years as a head coach that I’ve got more confidence in than I do Marcus.”
On if he is satisfied winning comfortably despite poor shooting
“No. It may be for them, but satisfaction is not a part of my language right now. Nowhere close. Mick Jagger, satisfaction, that’s not Roy Williams as a coach.”
On you getting the ball inside because you had too the way you were shooting outside
Yes. Brice was 8 for 12. Kennedy tip toed it up there tonight instead of exploding up. Isaiah twisted and turned too much instead of exploding up. I'm sitting here complaining, we've been all right, but my goals are pretty doggone high.
On is there a sense of satisfaction to win comfortably despite shooting poorly
No. It may be for them. But satisfaction is not part of my language right now. No, Nowhere close.
On how disappointing is this shooting performance with this veteran team
Four guys before tonight's game, they had a stretch where they were 7 for 51. Justin's 4 for 13. Marcus 1 for 8. Nate 2 for 6. Theo 1 for 3 so we didn't help our percentage a heck of a lot tonight. But you can't act like it's not there, we got to shoot the ball in the hole. I'm more disappointed about the defensive end of the floor and that kind of stuff. Shooting, sometimes the ball goes in and sometimes it doesn't. Kids will work at it and we'll get in some good work this week, but we've gotta be better defensively.
On has the defense made improvements in the last month or so
Yes. I told them today that we were getting better defensively but we didn't show it in the last couple days of practice. The toughest thing is they are wonderful, wonderful kids, wonderful human beings, it hard to get mad at them, it's hard to do that. We've got to play better.
