Clemson vs. North Carolina Postgame Coaches’ Quotes

Jan. 6, 2008

Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell

General thoughts: “We have a very disappointed lockerroom. Our guys realize we let one get away against a good team. We had a good working lead in the last five or six minutes, but couldn’t convert our free throws and turned it over. I didn’t think our confidence was gone even after Booker fouled out. We were up one with five seconds and didn’t finish. We didn’t take care of the ball like we wanted to or knock down free throws. We didn’t want them to go in the lane to Hansbrough, we wanted them to shoot over the top. We looked at this as a major measuring stick game, we’ve got a ways to go. We have to close the deal. It’s back to working to get better. We have an unbelievable trap game against UNC Charlotte. The most important thing is to get back up after you get knocked down.”

On threes: “We took too many bad ones. When we pounded the ball inside we had some good looks. We got away from it at different points during the game.”

On Ellington: “We didn’t think he could go for 36. In fact, 33 would have been fine. He’s a heck of a player. If you had told me we would do that type of job on Hansbrough, I’d take it. Ellington really hurt us in transition.”

What to say to team: “We talked about taking care of small details that come back to haunt you. It’s never just one play. I just told them we are not where we need to be yet.”

Measuring stick: “I feel a little better than last year, I’ll admit that. We had the opportunity to knock off the #1 team in the country and we didn’t do it.”

North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams

“We feel fortunate to win tonight.”

“It wasn’t the prettiest game in the world, but it was a game by two teams that fought very hard.”

“Both teams played exceptionally well.”

“Clemson is by far the best team that we have played so far, it was the first team we’ve really been tested by this year.”

“We never did a good job of getting the ball into Tyler (Hansbrough). They have great athletes and put a lot of pressure on the ball. Clemson is a great defensive team.”

“We didn’t have good spacing, which was huge for us.”

“We’re a hard team to press. We work hard at getting it out of bounds and attacking.”