North Carolina Head Coach Quotes
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Syracuse vs. North Carolina
February 29, 2020
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement:
“Everything looks better when the ball goes in the basket. I thought that was a key to the game to say the least, making the free throws and I thought that the rebounding battle was going to be huge for us to do a better job there. On second-chance points, we had 22 to their 10. I’m so ecstatic for our kids and I’ve known young Buddy Boeheim since he was a kid and 10 years ago, I gave him some Kansas and North Carolina gear. He played his tail off for them and they were hard for us to handle, but we made shots, and everything looked a lot better.”
Did your team’s second half 3-point shooting surprise you?
“We’ve had some good stretches in practice where we’ve shot it great, but we just haven’t shot it great in a game all year. We’ve had some stretches in practice where I’ve said, ‘Why don’t we do that in a game guys?’ That was what we needed. Christian Keeling had some ability to score early in the year, but the 3-point shot wasn’t going in. He was turning it over and he wasn’t guarding very well. I said ‘Son, you’ve got to give me something to hang my hat on to put you in the game’ and in the last eight games, he’s been averaging double figures and has done a little better defensively. He had zero turnovers today so that’s a point for him. But making shots were huge and important to us too.”
Can you talk about the team play finishing with 25 assists?
“25 assists and 33 baskets. That’s the way we love to play. They played the zone and you have to keep moving it around and not be selfish by taking shots that you shouldn’t take. You can’t be concerned about the shot clock because if you just move it, we can get better spacing and then we’ve got a better chance to get a good shot.”
What did you know about Christian Keeling before he came and did you know he could play like that?
“I had no idea. You watch a guy on tape and that’s all I had ever seen from him was on tape. But we thought that we were going to get one other guy that we didn’t get, and we needed a couple more players since we lost five leading scorers. One of my assistants was his coach and I called him to get his endorsement and he said great things about him. If you look at his numbers, you expect it. But you don’t know if a guy can do what he did at Charleston Southern at this level. I never saw him in person. I saw him on tape, and I can’t get a great look on tape.”
How did Cole Anthony play?
“Seven assists and two turnovers are pretty impressive. I love that part of it. The biggest thing for his game today was how well he did there. He got a couple of weird calls at the beginning that almost got him in foul trouble. I had to take him out in the last part of the first half, but I thought his game management was really good.”
Syracuse vs. North Carolina
February 29, 2020
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement:
“Everything looks better when the ball goes in the basket. I thought that was a key to the game to say the least, making the free throws and I thought that the rebounding battle was going to be huge for us to do a better job there. On second-chance points, we had 22 to their 10. I’m so ecstatic for our kids and I’ve known young Buddy Boeheim since he was a kid and 10 years ago, I gave him some Kansas and North Carolina gear. He played his tail off for them and they were hard for us to handle, but we made shots, and everything looked a lot better.”
Did your team’s second half 3-point shooting surprise you?
“We’ve had some good stretches in practice where we’ve shot it great, but we just haven’t shot it great in a game all year. We’ve had some stretches in practice where I’ve said, ‘Why don’t we do that in a game guys?’ That was what we needed. Christian Keeling had some ability to score early in the year, but the 3-point shot wasn’t going in. He was turning it over and he wasn’t guarding very well. I said ‘Son, you’ve got to give me something to hang my hat on to put you in the game’ and in the last eight games, he’s been averaging double figures and has done a little better defensively. He had zero turnovers today so that’s a point for him. But making shots were huge and important to us too.”
Can you talk about the team play finishing with 25 assists?
“25 assists and 33 baskets. That’s the way we love to play. They played the zone and you have to keep moving it around and not be selfish by taking shots that you shouldn’t take. You can’t be concerned about the shot clock because if you just move it, we can get better spacing and then we’ve got a better chance to get a good shot.”
What did you know about Christian Keeling before he came and did you know he could play like that?
“I had no idea. You watch a guy on tape and that’s all I had ever seen from him was on tape. But we thought that we were going to get one other guy that we didn’t get, and we needed a couple more players since we lost five leading scorers. One of my assistants was his coach and I called him to get his endorsement and he said great things about him. If you look at his numbers, you expect it. But you don’t know if a guy can do what he did at Charleston Southern at this level. I never saw him in person. I saw him on tape, and I can’t get a great look on tape.”
How did Cole Anthony play?
“Seven assists and two turnovers are pretty impressive. I love that part of it. The biggest thing for his game today was how well he did there. He got a couple of weird calls at the beginning that almost got him in foul trouble. I had to take him out in the last part of the first half, but I thought his game management was really good.”
