North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State-UNC Coaches Quotes
2/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
On the end of the first half:
"I thought we were really lucky in the first half to stay in contact with NC State and make a nice run in the end. We put together some solid minutes towards the end of the half that really did a lot for us."
On Tyler Hansbrough’s performance:
"He’s pretty doggone good. When we get the basketball to him he’s able to make plays. He’s added a jump shot that draws his defender in closer.
Tyler Hansbrough is pretty doggone good and he gives you the same thing every night, and that’s the best that he can give you."
On the environment at the RBC Center:
"You go onto the road in the ACC and the crowd is going to be into the game. It’s always going to be up and down, and we talk to the team about that. We talk about playing with poise, and they certainly did that tonight."
On rebounding:
"Coach Holladay told the team that out of the last 10 times we’ve played, we’ve out-rebounded them nine times. We won all of those games.
The time that we got out-rebounded, they won. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but we definitely mentioned it."
NC State Head Coach Sidney Lowe
"It’s about concentration, focus, and being tough. We knew that in the second half their team would come out and be more physical. We can’t keep up and it’s puzzling to me."
"Our biggest thing is having trouble dealing with adversity. We haven’t been able to make a run back at them and stop theirs. We’re plagued in the second half. We start relaxing and teams take advantage of that. We make careless passes under pressure. It was a mental breakdown and we didn’t stay focused."
"In the first 15 minutes I thought we came out, played well and had a solid defense."
"You expect your more experienced guys to be more poised and comfortable. We can’t have our veteran guys turning over the ball the way they were."
"[Tyler Hansbrough] was the best player on the floor tonight. We didn’t challenge him enough. Our bigs were not contesting shots. He had a great game."
"We were looking for energy and quickness [from Tracy Smith]. We were able to cut into their lead a little bit. JJ [Hickson] wasn’t doing good on defense and we needed someone to make stops. Tracy did a good job of that."
