Nov. 6, 2004

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WSSU 54, North Carolina 113
Post Game Quotes

WSSU Head Coach Philip Stitt:

What do you think that you got out of this exhibition game?
We definitely got out of it that we have a lot of work to do. Let's face it, we probably will not play too many teams in the country better than this team tonight. We have a long way to go, we knew that coming in This puts an exclamation point on it.

What goes through your head when a team that is already up 30 points goes on a 27 to six run?
Who's running the clock. They never need to stop that thing. It's not a fun experience. It doesn't matter how good your team is, or how poorly your team is playing, it's not fun. You have to try to keep working it and executing your offense and defense that we have in so far. We tried to do that tonight, but obviously North Carolina did a great job of getting us out of it.

What did you do that was positive? What do you take away that is good?
We played hard, and especially I think that the best part was coming out of the second half. We played hard and were aggressive. Of course, they made a couple of runs and I think we hung our heads a little bit. But hopefully we are going to learn from that also. We know we are not going to play anybody in Division II that is that good. We know that the worst is over, I guess until next Thursday anyway.

North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams

I've said many times that exhibitions are like glorified practices and that's what we tried to treat it as. We tried to play different people in different combinations; we started a new group for the second half as opposed to what we started the game with to try and get different combinations and to try and make sure people don¹t get that comfortable that it's going to be the same five always running out there. I was pleased with some things but I think we had flurries, defensively, where we were good but I didn't like our impatience on the defensive end of the floor. We seemed to run around at times without any process or any system going on. I liked how active we were, again we have to be more sound with it, and I liked how unselfish we were. With 34 assists and 43 baskets, I think that's the way we like to play. I would like for us to do a better job with our half-court offense. They [Winston-Salem] came out with a zone and we¹ve only practiced zone offense one day. We have no zone plays, or zone plays from out of bounds underneath, so it was just freelance at that point. I told their coach that I hoped this game was good for them because it was good for us.

On keeping focus with a big lead
We tried to challenge them not to look at the clock and the score. I can go a whole half without looking at the score because I want to make my decision based on how we're playing and what I see, not just what the scoreboard tells us. To maintain focus, we just treat every possession like it's important and try to do the best you can every possession.

On playing in front of a crowd
I think it's extremely important to do this. Coach Smith used to talk about game slippage: once you get people in the stands, you¹re going to slip some and not be as sharp as you are in practice about running your set stuff.

On Quentin Thomas playing with confidence
Quentin has had a good preseason. His knee has bothered him a little bit, but it didn't seem to bother him too much for this first exhibition game and playing in front of a crowd. He is a good passer, and he can be a better defender by being more patient. I think he did some nice things and I think he learned a lot tonight. Hopefully next Friday night will be even better.

On Jackie Manuel's offensive confidence
If he went 7 for 10, then he should be confident. He has worked extremely hard. I do want him to be more offensive-minded. Most of his shots, other than the three, were him taking the ball to the basket; this is something he does very well. I¹m not concerned about Jackie¹s offensive. I don't think he has to do anything particular. If he just does what he did last year and he'll be in the right place at the right time a little more often and have more opportunities.

On defense meeting Coach's expectations
Our defense isn¹t there yet. Nobody has practiced it more than we have and we are going to continue doing that. We¹ve got to get ourselves in a position where in a half-court situation, we can just stop people. We talk about having a must stop. We haven't gotten that yet but I think they're understanding the value of this. Hopefully we¹re just going to get better.

On the team's communication
I think our communication was the best thing we did tonight. We talk a lot more now than we did at any point last year. I have no problem with our effort or enthusiasm, but we just have to be more fundamentally sound, particularly with our patience. I've always talked about respecting everyone, fear no one. When you're up 40 or so points, you start to lose a little respect for the other team and start to take more chances.

Rashad McCants
How did it feel to play outside competition? We got a new look defensively, like what we can do offensive wise chemistry wise just sticking together I think we did pretty well.

What most impressed you the most this season?
How composed we were, you know under pressure. How the freshman, how they got things pretty quickly and pretty good. I think we looked pretty good overall.

Evaluate practice, defense, how things are going so far?
Yeah, to make a long story short. From the start of the pre-season we've been doing a good job bonding, just making sure things are intact for the beginning of the season. We want to make sure everybody didn't have any knick-knack injuries or anything that can hold anybody back from being on the floor. We have a lot of depth that we can exploit and I think its going to be good for us.

What does the team need the most improvement on?
Taking care of the ball under pressure. I think everything we need to work on will happen in due time. You know, give a little bit of time and I think we'll take care of everything.

David Noel
What ís the biggest thing you take out of your first competition?
We are just happy to play somebody else, instead of beating on each other all day at practice. You just take all the stuff that we've been working on in practice and try to execute it for the first time against somebody else who really doesn't see it coming so that ís what we tried to do tonight and also focus more on defense as well.

What did you do well and what you didn't?
I think we guarded the ball tremendously well, it ís one of those types of deals where you go out and like coach says defense should never have an off night no matter who you play, so we went out and tried the best defense that we could play. We are going to continue to do that throughout the year.

Did you see some of those things that you've been working on in practice?
Yeah. Definitely, the help-factor we've always been able to guard the ball especially in the middle of the court but once somebody got beat, we had help and rotation and we had guys sprinting off the double team and things like that. Those are a lot of the things we were working on in practice and it showed in tonight's game.

Did it help to have Marvin there?
Goodness! Yes, that's a tremendous help. He plays so hard and gives us so much energy. He plays defense, that's basically what coach wants and he can also do his thing on offensive end as well. So with him on the floor, it's boosted our energy, given our other guys a lot of rest and also it's helping him develop his game.

Sean May
What do you feel like you guys got out of this game?
Just an opportunity to play against someone else. You know we've been practicing for three weeks and just getting a chance to run your plays against somebody across from you that you don't know how will play defense, you don't know if they've scouted you at all. Best thing we can take out of this is our defensive intensity and you know there are a lot of mistakes that you guys saw, but Winston-Salem State came in and did the best job they could. You know we had some fun tonight.