UNC-UA: Postgame Quotes + Audio

Inside Carolina's postgame coverage includes quotes and audio from head coach Roy Williams, Marcus Ginyard, Tyler Hansbrough and Deon Thompson, who spoke to the media following the 108-77 victory over Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament’s second round at the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C.

(Inside Carolina audio is available to IC premium subscribers. To listen to the audio, you'll need an updated version of Windows Media Player - click here to download the software.)

---

ROY WILLIAMS PC (including Ginyard, Hansbrough & Thompson)

Listen to Audio (22:11)

Opening remarks:
“Before we get to the fun stuff, you guys write a little-bitty note in your columns that the NCAA says that I can’t bring a Coca-Cola cup up here, they can say everything in the world, but they can’t say let’s stop putting those stupid logos on the floor where kids slip and slide around and somebody is going to get hurt and I’ve said that for years and years and years. And every coach here at this site said that it is a mistake to have that. And the tournament committee people and the people that run this building were fantastic and tried to do everything they could do, but that is dangerous.

“Now, I can get off my high horse, reaching and things, we were pretty doggone good, we really were. In the second half, we were not very good defensively – they were shooting about 67 percent, I think, at the 12-minute timeout. But offensively, we were really good and in the first half defensively, we were much better. We talked earlier this week about Deon and Alex giving us something at the No. 4 spot and today they were 13-of-13. We talked about needing to make shots, and I think we did that.

“Rebounding-wise, the first half, they had six offensive rebounds, and so did we, so we tried to emphasize that. We didn’t miss a lot of shots to get a lot of offensive rebounds ourselves. We are ecstatic to be one of the teams that are still playing, and I could not be happier with these guys that I’ve got up here.”

On if this team needed a tough game:
“This team has shown some toughness all year. We’ve been behind and we’ve been behind at home and we’ve been behind on the road and they have reacted pretty well. Last year, I know were 16 down in the third round in the second half to Southern California and we came back and I really loved our toughness and two days later, we couldn’t handle it against Georgetown.

“I don’t get too caught up in how well we played today and how that relates to how we’ll play next weekend. A hundred years ago, before some of you were born, we played in the Big Eight Tournament and they asked the same question, ‘Are you happy that you’re peaking right now.’ We won the semifinals by 40, and lost the next day, less than 24 hours later.”

On the assist-to-turnover ratio:
“I think one thing is when you get Ty back, you get some easier ones and, all of a sudden, that’s a little deflating to the other team when they score and we come right up their backs and get a layup. Then it’s a combination of things, our guys start moving a little bit better, and then all of a sudden, ‘Q’ is in the game, and he finds a guy wide open underneath.

“I think it’s the kind of thing that’s catching. We’ve had 87 practices and 12 run-and-shoot periods, so we have had them on the court 99 days, and every day I talk about moving yourself and moving the ball intelligently. And the more you move the ball, the more pressure you on the defense.”

---

MARCUS GINYARD

On the benefits of having Ty Lawson at 100 percent:
It means a lot for this team, obviously, to have Tywon’s presence out there on the court. His speed in the transition game, his decision-making abilities, obviously his toughness inside and his ability to score inside, and shooting the ball as well as he did this weekend.”

How do you handle your success?
“I think that’s really an easy question for us. We don’t think that winning two games in the NCAA Tournament is a huge success for us. Coach just talked about it in the locker room – we have another two game tournament to play next weekend, and that’s what we’re focused on right now.”

---

TYLER HANSBROUGH

Do you think a tight game would have helped this team more?
“I think there’s some advantages [in close games], but also, I think we can take some things from these games as well. I think defensively, Coach really wants us to improve and get some stops. I think we can take some things from these games and definitely work on them.”

On the 28-to-7 assist/turnover ratio:
“Coach really stressed movement and moving the ball well and intelligently. It’s something we work on in practice and it just carried over these last couple of games.”

---

DEON THOMPSON

On if this team is peaking:
“[Alex Stepheson] and I are playing well right now along with the rest of our teammates that have always been playing well all season. But in my mind, I feel that Danny Green, our sparkplug off the bench, is not playing like – he’s playing well, but him at his full strength and Alex and I playing like we’ve played, that’s when we’ll be at full strength.”

On his play:
“My shot was feeling good and my teammates were finding me in places where I needed to shooting the ball low in the post. The ball was just going in tonight. I guess just putting in extra work and getting in the gym and shooting shots in practice that I was shooting in the game paid off.”