Jan. 29, 2012
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery
Georgia Tech Head Coach Brian Gregory
Opening Statement:
“Obviously, you’re starting to see how the Carolina team over the last 10 days, or whatever, is much different than the one that you saw in Tallahassee, and then in the first half of the game against Virginia Tech. They’re playing at a very high level. They had different guys stepping up at different times, and obviously, at the pace that they play at, it’s hard to simulate that in practice, and when you got a guy with the ball that’s making a good decision, a quality decision on every play, it made it difficult. The other thing, I thought we did a halfway decent job, I said before the game that they are shooting 50 percent from the field but still getting 16 offensive rebounds, which is an incredible stat. But usually teams that average 16 offensive rebounds are teams that can’t shoot at all. They’ve got a lot of different, you know, weapons, and they are getting better defensively as well, so they’re obviously a team that will challenge for this league championship and are a team that can move on to the Final Four.”
On defending UNC’s three-point shooting:
“They do have some good shooters. The thing is, again, we did a poor job in our transition coverage, because I bet their shooting percentage in the half court was pretty respectable for us. But you get the 54 percent and you get the 10 of 16, they probably hit six or seven of those threes in the open court because our guys back have to hold the rim because their bigs are running, and our bigs aren’t. Now they get the three. But when you have Barnes, when you have Bullock, when you have Hairston coming off the bench, those guys can all shoot the three pretty well. So they are not a bad shooting team, but you have to do a little better job of defending them. But all those threes come from Marshall, to be honest with you. They hit one in the second half where we just blew a coverage, but other than that, Marshall created every single one of those open threes that they got.”
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement:
“I thought at times we were really good. I think we held our focus very well in the second half. For them to shoot 55 percent against us in the second half, we’re not pleased with that, but at the same time we should congratulate Georgia Tech and Brian and his kids because they didn’t quit. They kept playing. I reminded our team before we went out for the second half, I think I’ll get this right or very close, they were down seventeen or fifteen against Clemson, and it ended up being a two-point game. They were down fourteen or fifteen to Duke, and they kept playing and got it within a one-possession game in the last two minutes. I was disappointed with some of the things we did in the second half, but that also acts like it’s only our game, which you’ve got to give Georgia Tech credit. They made seven out of ten from three. In the first half it was two out of ten. In the second half they made a bunch of them. I think we did some good things in the first half. I was really pleased about everything we did, to be up twenty like that and feel good about the way we played. We shot the ball well, and you’ve heard me say a hundred times, everything looks better when the ball goes in the basket. Four guys in double figures: that’s good. We had a rebounding edge. I think we should have had more, but at the same time, be lucky and feel good about what you have. “
On Reggie Bullock:
“I’ve said all year that Reggie’s gotten better and better defensively. I think he has the length. He doesn’t have the quickness or the speed Dexter does, but he has the length. I think Reggie did a nice job defensively, and in fact, at the State game I think he was defensive player of the game.”
On three-point shooting:
“We’re good shooters. I mean, we really are. We make a bunch of them in practice all the time. I’ve said that the whole time. I’ve thought that. I believe that. When we started making them, it would make things even a lot prettier.”
