The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Quotes: Texas vs. No. 23/19 North Carolina
12.19.2012 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2012
TEXAS
Head Coach Rick Barnes
On the win: It was a great team win. I'm happy for these guys because tonight they started seeing some of the things we had talked about. We were aggressive, we ran, we got on the glass with Jonathan Holmes early. It was a great win for the team because we had certain plays here and there. Demarcus Holland came in and ran and got an easy one for us. (Ioannis Papapetrou) Papi came in because they decided to go small, so we went small, and he comes up with 10 rebounds. We haven't faced that defensive pressure all year. It's the hardest pressure we've face. We turned it over 13 times. We hadn't seen that all year. I'm proud of our guys for that.
On confidence: They looked more decisive than we've been. The last game I was seeing more of that. I told them all year that we would average a bunch of points if we stopped turning it over. Even in the first half, we took some shots that were not great shots but I'd rather it be that way right now because we can get that cleaned up. It was really a great win for us.
On the hot start: It's all important. It's a 40-minute game and that's what we told our guys. You can win games early and you can also lose games early. We were aggressive and moved the ball pretty well. We got some good looks at the basket and we knocked them down. It was a game we thought would be won in transition and on the boards.
Sophomore G Sheldon McClellan
On being desperate for a big win: I don't really think so. It was a win that we needed. We got the win and we're glad we got the win. We're happy but we've still got a lot of things to work on. This was a good win for us.
On shooting success: I was being aggressive. I knew they were going to pressure me a lot coming off screens, so I was just ready to come off the screen shooting.
On the energy: There was a lot of hype coming into the game just because of the rivalry of us playing North Carolina. Everyone was hyped for the game. For me personally, I think this was my first time I really got into the game and got my team pumped up and was able do other things outside of just scoring.
Jonathan Holmes
On win after rough start to season: I think it's pretty big for us. We've had a couple of tough losses because we weren't playing as hard as we should have, but tonight we came out, played harder than them, and did what we expected to do. It definitely set the bar higher for us.
Freshman G Javan Felix
On outplaying North Carolina: Coming into the game Coach Barnes preached to us about getting the ball up, as well as getting back on defense in transition. That was pretty much our game plan.
On not panicking: None of my teammates panicked at all. We knew we were going to win the game and we just stayed confident in what we were doing and what we had to do. We executed down the stretch to get the win.
NORTH CAROLINA
Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement: It was an ugly night for us to say the least. They were aggressive. They were more attentive to every thing. They were quicker to every loose ball. First half we talked about how we have to be aggressive, keeping them off the boards, and being quicker to the ball. The first shot goes in and everything started to look a lot better. They were averaging five threes a game, they made five in the first half of the game. Holmes made some big shots for them in the first half; he had only made three threes throughout the season but he made two in the first half. That is our fault because we did not do a good job guarding him. We backed off of him although we like to guard everybody, we did not get a hand up. We also had players with four turnovers in the first eleven or twelve minutes of the game. Yet I thought we still had a great chance to win the game. We got it to four at one point; we threw it inside but didn't get a good shot. We were more aggressive at that point, but Texas took it back to a nine point lead. We got it back to four again but we had a turnover; they scored on that then scored six in a row. We thought we would have a chance at the end but we started to foul a little bit. Papapatrou had not been putting up a great free throw percentage; he had 50 something percent coming into the game but made five out-of six when the game was on the line. I congratulate him. I thought Felix did a great job of controlling the ball for Texas. They out ran us. We like to say that we are a running team but Texas did a better job tonight of pushing the pace, and getting us back on our heels. In the game they were more aggressive than we were. It seemed like every loose ball. One time we even had two guys get a rebound yet step out of bounds. It was a bad night for us. Congrats to Texas and Rick Barnes, they were more aggressive, more attentive, and more physical tonight.
Reggie Bullock
On the game overall: We were not sharing the ball well. During the second half when we tried to share the ball and make easy runs, the game started to come to us.
On Texas' defense: I felt like they were running us off the three-point line. They knew that we were three point shooters, and they did a great job of controlling us. I give credit to them for that. In order for us to get the shots that we want we have to use our strength and come off ready to attack at any moment.
