University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Post-Game Quotesheet
2/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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POST-GAME QUOTESHEET
No. 12 North Carolina at Pitt • Petersen Events Center • Pittsburgh, Pa. • February 14, 2015
Pitt 89, No. 12 North Carolina 76
Quoting Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon
Opening Statement:
“We shot it well and that makes a lot of things work a lot better so that was good to see. The passing was where it started. The unselfishness, 30 assists, 5 turnovers. It was really a great performance against a very good team, who also played well. A well-played game by two very good teams. We are a team that has been through a lot but is getting better at the right time. You are seeing guys grow, you are seeing guys improve and most importantly, they are playing with a lot of confidence. I think we are headed in the right direction and looking forward to getting ready for our next one. I can’t talk enough about our bench too. Obviously, Derrick [Randal] was terrific. Chris Jones has been giving us the scoring we need off the bench that is something we really emphasized to him. Josh [Newkirk] was solid in the minutes he was in there. Joseph [Uchebo] gave us good minutes. You get those nine guys going and you’ve seen them improve and get better, it’s a good thing to see.”
On stopping Marcus Paige:
“As the game went on we continued to talk about stopping [Marcus] Paige. We played a zone but we had to know where he was at, at all times. I thought that zone was good for us down the stretch. It allowed us to play some guys. We had foul trouble throughout the board so that was key. James [Robinson] started on him, so that shows he was a factor. As the game went on, we put more emphasis on him. They were hurting us inside but I thought because we had the lead in the second half we couldn’t let him get any three’s going. It was a zone but it was shaded towards him in every way. That was really helpful for us given we had foul trouble, fatigue and it made them use some clock too. The rebounding suffered because of it, they came up with some second chance shots. We did want to contain their big guys but they are very good and they made some tough shots. We changed how we guarded in the second half but they were still able to get the touches and finishes.”
On Sheldon Jeter’s progression:
“`He is taking those mid-range jump shots and getting around the glass. We’ve interchanged Jamel [Artis], Mike [Young] and Sheldon [Jeter] in what we are doing offensively. We have changed our zone offense and that was key tonight. We have seen so much zone and we’ve had to find a way to apply him at the three but keep him close to the basket at the same time. He has gotten better for us defensively. He is playing with a lot of confidence now and the guys know where he needs to get the ball and that’s important too. It takes some time. He is playing in the best league in the country against the best teams in the country and he wasn’t doing that last year.”
On the 30 assists and 5 turnovers offensively:
“I thought the offense was good against man and zone. We really went inside and got some things out of it after that. We are shooting the ball. We were passing up shots during that stretch. We’ve had guys at different spots all season long and now we’ve found where we need to be. A lot of these guys in different roles, pretty much the whole team is in a different role than they were last year. Then you throw Cameron [Wright] in and out and back out again so it has just taken some time. Just taking the open shot has made us a better team offensively.”
On North Carolina’s offensive rebounding:
“At one point they were number one in the country in offensive rebound percentage and second chance points, that is what they do well. We emphasized that and we did a good job. You’re not going to dominate them in that area when they are as good as anybody in the country but we held our own. We did the things we needed to do. We were up on the glass and that was what we had to do. We had to make shots, which we’ve been doing at a good rate lately. We’re a completely different team than we were early in the year.”
On Pitt taking the lead after UNC tied the game:
“At Louisville, our best free throw shooters were missing free throws. There were just some things that happened and you just can’t miss. With Louisville, we played 30 good minutes and ten that we didn’t play well and it got away from us. This game we played 40 good minutes. Talking about top ten teams in the country, they are going to make runs. Louisville is a veteran team and this North Carolina team has a lot of juniors that have played a lot of minutes. They are going to make runs and we have to withstand it and stick with our game. I thought we were patient offensively when we needed to be. It’s not like we were using clock. I thought the end of the half was key, too. Being up 12 at the last second using the clock, they came out and trapped us and we put Michael [Young] in there and getting that basket gave us momentum going into halftime.”
On the team’s toughness being called into question:
“When you lose and get outrebounded by 14 in a ten minute span, call it what you will but we didn’t’ get it done at Louisville. We did our rebounding drills, one-on-one drills, and guarding at practice. Hopefully the message was sent. When you’re up six on the road against a top ten team, you feel you should win. We were extremely disappointed and had a bad ten minute stretch. That is something we hope to learn from and grow on. We are still not rebounding and defending at the level we need to. Every team in the country can say the same thing so we are all striving to get better. Whatever we need to motivate and point out our deficiencies we are going to use. We are going to do that tomorrow as we get ready for the next one.”
On shifting the focus from this win to Virginia:
“We already have shifted the focus. We are moving on to Virginia. We are getting ready for them and have had some big wins so this shouldn’t linger too long. We have to go and get ready to play well. We have to guard and get better in that area. I thought we did some things better defensively. We guarded a shooter in [Marcus] Paige. I thought we gave up too many baskets inside but that has been a deficiency of ours and something we need to work on. But they are really good so when you play good teams they are going to score.”
On James Robinson and Cameron Wright holding opponents to poor performances:
“Our defense is still not where it needs to be but those are our experienced guys so they need to be our best defenders. They need to make our other guys better defenders and that is what we are trying to get across. That is the role of experienced guys. We don’t feel like we played a great defensive game here but they’re very good and a high percentage team. They shot 49% and that is what they shoot normally so that is a bad day for them. Their size, athleticism and numbers inside just wear on you. It wore on us to a degree but we kept coming at them offensively and that was important. James and Cameron are good defenders but we have to get better. That is what we are trying to do but every team is doing the same thing right now.”
On preparing to play a team like Virginia:
“We have 48 hours and we will do the best we can. We try to do a lot of their principles defensively. We haven’t got it down but they have a lot of experienced guys at every position. We understand what they’re trying to do but they have done it at a really high level over the past two years. Coach Bennett has been there six years and it has taken them a while to get there. But what they’ve done defensively speaks for itself. We understand that and have to guard them well to make them take jump shots. We’ll do everything we can to get ready in these 48 hours.”
Quoting Pitt forward Sheldon Jeter
On what the rim looked like:
“Cam had five of his [ten] assists to me and James probably had at least four of his to me. They were just finding me in good spots so I could get shots. That was it.”
On his surge of production and confidence:
“I got to a point where I wasn’t playing as much. I was taking advantage of the opportunities that were given [to me] or ended up on the bench. So every chance I got I made sure it counted. The more chances I got the better I played.”
On if they were intimidated today:
“I felt like we had a lot to prove. Our toughness and our manhood got questioned after the Louisville game. I think tonight we went out there and we showed just how much of a man we are.”
On how big of a factor was the crowd in the win:
“The Zoo is always a big factor whether we win or lose. They always give us some type of edge. North Carolina missed nine free throws today, I give most of that to the Zoo.”
Quoting Pitt guard James Robinson
On ball movement:
“It was a really big emphasis coming in. We knew [North Carolina] plays aggressive defense. We just tried to attack the open gaps in their defense. When guys are hitting shots, it really comes down to passing the ball. That’s what we did and we were able to knock them down.”
On his confidence as a shooter:
“I’m just taking open shots. We have guys on the post, like Sheldon, or are willing and able passers who make easy to take open shots.”
Quoting Pitt guard Cam Wright
On how much of an emphasis was put on defensive rebounds in practice:
“We just wanted to be more aggressive on defense and rebounding. We really stressed that in practice over the past week and a few days after the Louisville game. We can still do better: a better job on the glass, on defense especially. We will definitely be focusing on that tomorrow.”
Quoting North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement:
“That was a pretty neat thing the Oakland Zoo did out there, they gave me a signed card with their condolences for the loss of Coach (Dean) Smith. College athletics aren’t all that bad and I told those kids I would keep all of them, they will never be tossed. Pittsburgh played fantastic today. Jaime’s club was so much more well-prepared than we were. They shot the ball better than they have all year long and our defense really helped them do that. It was a weird game and I wasn’t concerned at all when it was 10-0 because I have never lost a game in the first three minutes. I know we got it tied two or three times and then had a dry spell and they went on a run. I think Pitt made more three-pointers in the first half than they average on the year, but we didn’t guard them very effectively, their looks were open looks. They made a bunch of shots and they should be congratulated for that. For us, we had 25 assists, four turnovers and shot 49% so you think that may be a win for us, but they were sensational shooting the ball. They had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 30:5. I though Cameron Wright was sensational for them and had no idea he had 10 assists. The best team won the game today. I’m very disappointed, even in the first play of the game, we were flat-footed and they made a nice play on the tip and got the open layup. They were so much more aggressive early and so much more positive than anything we did. I don’t think we ever had a lead. Early in the second-half, I thought it was any man’s ball game and they made their first seven shots. Am I disappointed and upset with my team? In several ways yes, but you also have to understand Pittsburgh had a lot to do with the outcome of the game.”
On what you can do defensively when a team is shooting the ball so well:
“You can guard them better. Justin Jackson got a hand up in a guy’s face early in the second-half and that might have been the first shot we did a good job of guarding. I told our club during the timeout that if they are making shots like that, I can live with that. What you can do is guard them better, and I really believe that the better you guard them, the less likely they will shoot 60-65% for the game.”
On what Pitt did to limit Marcus Paige offensively:
“I think that James (Robinson) and Cameron are really good defensively. I think their big guys do a good job when our big guys set a screen. Their team defense was so much stronger than our team offense was. I’m sure they had a focus on Marcus because he played very well against them last year, when we played them in the tournament he had 27. I think they made him an emphasis, but I don’t think it was any one guy in particular. I can’t grade them defensively because I don’t know what they were supposed to do, but I think that Jaime will think his defense was pretty good.”
On Sheldon Jeter’s offensive performance:
“He was 10-14, only two turnovers in 35 minutes, that’s a pretty impressive line. I have always told our guys that when you come off the bench add something, give us something positive. They put him in the starting lineup a couple of games ago and he has done some good things. He made a bunch of shots, but I think he’s a scorer.”
On limiting Pitt’s three-point shooting in the second-half:
“When they were getting four-footers, why shoot a twenty-footer. It seemed like every possession early in the second-half they were getting those four-footers. I think they had one play that was almost identical to a play we ran when I was on the freshmen team under Coach Smith and they kept running the same play and kept getting the ball three-feet from the basket. They were probably getting want they wanted and didn’t have to shoot three’s.”
Quoting North Carolina guard Marcus Paige
On Pitt’s offense:
“We didn’t do a good job of taking them out of their offense, first of all. They had over 1.3 points per possession in the first half. That’s the highest we’ve had all year. I didn’t see it for the end of the game. I know they shot over 60 percent. That’s really what this was about. You’ve got to credit them for making some tough shots, but they also made a lot of shots where we gave them open looks. They had the offense rolling on all cylinders and we didn’t do anything to take them out of that rhythm.”
On how Pitt created open looks:
“They’re just a team that does constant screening and motion. It’s not any trick plays or anything; they just screen, move, screen, move. Their big guys did a good job of scoring inside today. We really didn’t pressure them or challenge them defensively to make them feel us. We always talk about making your guy feel you on defense, but we didn’t have any of that today.”
On North Carolina’s struggles of late in the second half:
“Today it was about us not playing a complete game defensively. I’m not sure. The second half was really no different than the first half today.
On failing to make second half adjustments:
“Each game, you have to treat it differently. There’s a lot of differences between the Louisville game, the Virginia game, and the Boston College game. It’s not necessarily one theme that keeps recurring.”
On evaluating the state of UNC’s team:
“We had some pretty good practices leading up to this. They came out and that was their A-game. We didn’t bring anywhere close to ours, so it’s hard to say just based off today. Clearly, this is not what we wanted to happen. You’ve got to credit them for coming out. They needed a big win, they saw this as a great opportunity, and they took advantage of it. If you make 65 percent of your shots, you came ready to play. You’ve got to credit them a little bit. Our offense wasn’t terrible. We weren’t in a great rhythm, but we got the ball to Brice [Johnson] and Kennedy [Meeks] down low and scored. We just couldn’t stop them to save our lives.”
Quoting North Carolina forward Brice Johnson
On Pitt’s hot shooting:
“They were on fire. Some shots, their coach was yelling it was a bad shot but they were still making them. It’s really difficult to beat somebody that’s knocking down everything they’re shooting. We’ve just got to defend better. We’ve got to guard our own man and be able to play as one on the defensive end.”
On defending Pitt’s high percentage shooting:
“It hurts to know that you played good defense and all of sudden, he just throws up something and makes it. It’s really disheartening because we did play defense well a couple times and all of a sudden they throw up a shot and it just falls in. It’s disheartening because we were out there trying.”
On the game’s atmosphere:
“They came out and were ready to play. They wanted to do the same thing they did to us last year, and they did the same thing. We didn’t respond well, and they went up in the second half and we just couldn’t fight back. They were just making everything. At one point they probably didn’t miss a shot in the beginning of the second half. That’s really tough to beat when you’ve got things going on like that. We were scoring but, at the same time, when they’re not missing a shot it’s really hard. We’re a really good rebounding team, but if it’s going through the net, there’s nothing you can really do about that.”
