UNC-Marshall Coach Comments

What did North Carolina head coach Roy Williams and Marshall head coach Donnie Jones have to say following UNC's 98-61 victory over the Thundering Herd Tuesday night?

NORTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH ROY WILLIAMS

"Well, it was a game that I was extremely concerned about because I think that Marshall has a really nice team. And I was afraid that we would be a little tight and I thought we were tight early in the game. I think any time you lose a game around here, a lot of people tend to overreact and particularly when you lose to a really good team. I overreact because I want us to play better, because it's not just about the outcome of the game."

"And so I think some of our kids went into the game a little tight. But give Marshall credit because they did some thing that really bothered us. All of a sudden at the end of the half, though, we made a couple really nice plays. We actually had very poor execution on the very last play (of the first half)."

"But yet, Will Graves still made the shot. That's one of the crazy things about basketball. Will was supposed to come off the screen real hard, and Ed was supposed to go away and screen. But instead we all just stood there, threw the ball to Will, and he made the shot. That's the crazy thing about basketball. But when shots go in everything looks a whole lot better."

"And then in the second half, we wanted to try and play better than we did in the first half. But in the beginning of the second half we missed a couple of opportunities, and they score on their first two or three possessions. And then we followed that up with a huge run. But I thought Ed Davis was really impressive. He got two baskets running the floor, which I think might be the first two he has ever had in a year and a half (as a result of running the floor)."

"Tyler Zeller also got some baskets from running. Deon (Thompson) was one of the guys I thought was a little tight, but that's just my opinion. Our guys really care what goes on and sometimes that makes it harder for them, because they do care so much."

MARSHALL HEAD COACH DONNIE JONES

"Where do I begin? I'm still watching all those free throws and shots go in. it is a tale of two halves for our team. You got to be able to put two halves together. We obviously came out with good energy and got ourselves back into the game in the first half and got up. They made a tough shot to then the half, which was good momentum for them."

"We didn't come out in the second half with as much energy. I am a little disappointed the how we came out. We knew, against them, especially coming off with the loss against Texas, rebounding the basketball would be a big focus."

"It is a terrific team and they have a lot of young guys who are growing as well. It was a great experience for our basketball team. I think there will be a lot of things we will take from this that we will use to make us better like competing for forty minutes."

"We had some young guys in there that found out how it was to run the floor how Carolina runs with the big guy---it is pretty impressive. It will be a good opportunity when we talk about how to run the floor. Now, they have seen how it is done."

"I think with our guys we found out what happens when we don't play as a team. We went one-on-one individually, tried to get shots off in the second half instead of trying to play together as a team."