Nov. 28, 2004

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

Rashad McCants

(comments on game)
"I thought we played great as a team tonight, especially defensively early. We got after them; it set the tone from the tip-off, and it payed off for us."

(Was losing to Santa Clara the best thing to happen because ya'll have been on fire ever since that game?)
"Could be, you never know right now. We're just trying to take it one game at a time, and we're trying not to have any slip-ups like we had then. We can't use Raymond [Felton] as an excuse; you know, we didn't play with him. But you know, he makes a big difference for us. And I think that if we can just continue playing the way we are playing now, we'll be good."

(What was you mind set like coming from Hawaii?)
"Well me personally, I'm still a little jet-lagged, and my body is taking a toll on me adjusting to the times and all, but I think as a whole we came together, and we had a great effort out there."

David Noel

(How much as the increased depth of the team contributed to this year's team?)
"It's contributed a lot. Main guys don't have to play as many minutes so when they go in there they're fresh, and they can do what they do. As I said before, when the other guys come in, I feel like we bring more energy to the game. I think it's done well for us."

(How has it been adjusting to the number of games in such as short time? How fresh do you feel, and could that team without the depth have lasted as you all have)
"No! I'll tell you that now because that was a long trip. I know we were up for at least 24 hours straight, like to travel back, we were up for a long time. And on top of that we came back and had practice. So like last year, I'd say no. but I think this year, the depth helped us out a whole lot."

Quentin Thomas

(On getting used to this style of play and sped at the college game):
"I think so; slowly but surely. I've learned from Raymond and the rest of my teammates. They're all helping me and I'm just trying to get used to it.

(On level of fun playing this type of game, getting the win early and finishing it up:
"It's real fun. My great teammates make it so easy with the flow of the game. I love playing with them."

On what he likes about his teammates:
"They teach me. Whenever I have questions, I ask them and they're always willing to tell me - they don't have any problem doing this. This helps me the most."

On making the adjustments (defensively) from high school:
"From high school, it's totally different. The energy you have to put in and the extra hard work. Coach Williams stays on top of all of us and I'm just trying to work as hard as I can to become a better player."

On first Smith Center experience:
"I loved it. The atmosphere - everything about it."

On his first performance at home:
"I see areas where I can improve but I just take this as a learning experience and try to get better day by day."

Marvin Williams

On being more tired after this game than he's ever been:
"College basketball is just so intense. You work hard every play, so I'm pretty tired."

On his first Smith Center experience:
"It was great. I think me and Quentin had a good time."

On his progression this year:
"I just want to play hard and try to fit in where I can, and give those guys a break."

On winning two defensive awards this season:
"I guess it's an accomplishment. Coach said I was the first freshman ever to do it. That's pretty exciting for me. I'm just going to keep working hard to see if I can do it again."

On playing big bodies inside:
"It's tough because I'm kind of a little guy. It's tough but it's fun."

UNC Head Coach Roy Williams

"We're very pleased with the outcome and very pleased with the way played. I think defensively we were in a little bit of a frenzy in the first half. That's good if you can do it and still be fundamentally sound as well. I think they had either 16 or 17 turnovers in the first half. We missed several easy shots starting the game. The first three of our first four shots were from six inches, but we missed those. I was worried about us being a little bit stagnant, a little too casual, and I congratulate the kids for really being into it on the defensive end of the floor, particularly in the first half. At halftime we talked about that we'd done a good job in the first half defensively against Iowa in Maui and they came out and shot 65 percent in the second half, so it does feel good to see we held them to 35 percent in both halves. I thought we were really active defensively. I thought Raymond did a nice job in a full court game of finding people. Jawad, Sean, and Marvin gave us some threat inside so it wasn't just a perimeter shooting game. In fact, in the first half I thought we shot too many threes. I was happy we didn't shoot as many in the second half. I feel very good about the win. I think we played exceptionally well and caught Henry [Bibby's] club on a night when they didn't play so well."

How much has depth contributed to this four game win streak?
"Well I think it really contributed a great deal in Maui more than any other factor. Melvin [Scott] hurt his hip flexor in the last game in Maui, and if you had to pick one guy that came off the bench and gave us a bigger lift than anybody, you'd say it was Melvin Scott for three games. And he tried to play tonight, but it was just bothering him so much. We'll have to hold him out of practice a little bit tomorrow to give him some rest. I really do believe that if anybody came off the bench and did a job--and Marvin did well, and David did well--but I think Melvin gave us the biggest lift coming off the bench in Maui. I've always liked to play where I have 7 or 8 or 9 guys. I think I can give those guys enough minutes if they're honest and give all their effort the whole time. And I think it's important to our team that you have fresh legs to run out there. Tonight was pretty much an up and down game. The last four minutes were about as sloppy as I've ever looked at. Sometimes those things happen. It'll be an up and down game and an intense game that we're going to have to play in our league and in some of our non-conference opponents you need that."

Coach, there were 28 assists for you, 28 turnovers for them.
"I'd like us to have fewer than 20 turnovers. I thought Quentin made some really big-time passes and then decisions that weren't very good. He had four assists and five turnovers. You can't have that out of your point guard.

We're in an up and down game. We're gonna share the ball and be unselfish, and I think that gives the assists. Again defensively in the first half I thought that it was such a frenzy and everybody was trying to help each other out. We got some double teams that helped us early and helped them create. You know we're gonna have some turnovers because of the way we play. What I'd love to do is hold the other team to a very low percentage and have forced a great deal of turnovers. And that's hard to do because when you force turnovers you're gambling, and so when you gamble sometimes the other teams get good shots. Coming into today's game I think we were +8 on the turnover margin [per game] in the first four games, and we did it again tonight. So after five games we're +8 in the turnover margin. That's intensity and kids trying to move as a team on the defensive end."

Over the last four games have you guys consistently played the way you want to play--maybe more than you have since you've been here?
"I think you could say that. If you were going to say `consistently,' I'd say no. But we've come closer to playing the way I want to play than we did at any time last year probably."

USC Head Coach Henry Bibby

On tonight's game:
"I thought we played much smarter in the second half. We played a good basketball team tonight. There were some good things we did, and we knew exactly what they were going to do; we talked about transition defense. They got some easy baskets that way and we talked about offensive rebounds and they did that. We know that they can make shots. We were prepared, but there were some pretty good guys out there tonight, but I thought we did some good things. It just shows me how much more work we need to do and to get where we need to be. I thought that the kids played hard out on the floor, but I don't think we always played smart but they'll get better as things go on. We played probably a Final Four team tonight. We aren't going to see too many teams better than the team we faced tonight."

Positives from the game tonight:
"I thought we played hard, we competed, I don't think we gave up. I thought they tried to do some things we asked them to do and I can't ask for much more than that. "

Carolina's traps:
"We knew they were coming, we knew they were going to trap, and we talked about that, but we tried to dribble through the traps. We just didn't rotate right during the traps, but we knew they were going to trap. We were prepared for it, but they were long, athletic, quick, and they beat us to some of the spots."

Other thoughts:
"I learned where we are, and we needed something to humble us a bit. We won three games, two exhibition games, and we won our first game of the season. It puts things back into perspective for us; we need to go back to the drawing board. We need to work a little harder, stay a little more focused. We thought we had a chance to come in here and win the basketball game and that was what we were hoping for. We didn't have a lot of things go in our direction and you can't just come in and be down 10 already. We were playing hard, but I wanted to go to my bench and play people. I want to play eight, nine, or ten guys this year. If guys get tired, then we need to go to some of our younger guys whom we think can play for us."