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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2018Theo PinsonRoy WilliamsNew York, New York North Carolina - 82, Miami - 65 ROY WILLIAMS: Weird game to say the least. Down 14-0, wasn't real pleased with those guys. After that, those five guys that came in off the bench, seventh, Andrew, B. Rob, Garrison and Sterling, really did a great job. THEO PINSON: He would say it would be a weird game when I have 25-11. That is amazing. ROY WILLIAMS: It was a weird game. But those five guys got in, and the best play was seventh taking the ball to the basket because the first group in there acted like we were going to be shot and killed and done all kinds of things. We missed shots and we were tight and missing everything, missing lay-ups. Defensively I thought even Theo's five, I thought they were doing okay defensively, and I just wanted to shake them a little bit and put those five guys in, they got it to 14-5 and sort of calmed the came down a little bit. At the time-out I told them, and I really meant it, let's give these five guys a chance and if they don't turn around and start playing better then I'll put you back in and let them sit the rest of the half, and I really meant that. I thought that was huge for us getting us back in the game, and then all of a sudden, it may have been like 16-16, something close to that. I very seldom look at the score but I did a couple of times in the first half today. After that point, I thought Theo was sensational, 25 points, 11 rebounds, really controlled the whole tempo of the game on the offensive end. I've said many times he's a play maker and in some ways maybe as good a play maker as anybody I've ever coached in 30 years as a head coach. Everybody wants to talk about the dunk, but I like the way he sort of read the defense. There's a lot of guys on the street corner that can dunk, but read the defense and see what they gave him there was sensational. I'm really surprised. I thought he had three assists. Maybe one of his most important ones was to Joel Berry in the corner right in front of our bench. Didn't you give him that one? And sort of just perked the whole team up for Joel to make a shot. We rebounded the ball better in the second half. They beat us second-chance points in Chapel Hill, they beat us in points off turnovers in Chapel Hill. We didn't guard them at all. They dominated the game in Chapel Hill even though it was won on a last second shot they dominated the game. For us it was a little more revenge, and I even used the word redeem. Never used it last year until we got to Phoenix. I hadn't even heard it, but I said let's redeem ourselves by how we play defense tonight. I'd like to say weird game. Ja'Quan just kept playing. I think he likes to play against the Carolina Blues. He played awfully well tonight, and Lawrence made those two threes in a row that were really big. Really happy for our team. Luke made 13 rebounds. So he did something even though he was 1 for 15. I believe in being straightforward with people. I told him if he had gotten one more rebound, he could say he rebounded all his misses. But 1 for 15 and still win and do some things, I think that's fantastic. Q. Theo, what goes through your head, and what do you say to each other when you guys miss the first 13 shots you take, and seven minutes into the game you look up at the scoreboard and you're down two touchdowns? THEO PINSON: I think at that point, we've been here before, even with the same team. We was in the same situation last week. We knew that we was going to make a run. There were shots that they could make, but I think we were rushing them. We were a little antsy about the game, and they just didn't fall for us. I'm just really proud of the guys that came off the bench, like Coach mentioned. I told them in the locker room even after the game when they interviewed me, I told them, those five really won the game for us. I mean, they settled us down. They got us playing to the way we needed to play. 7 set the tone by getting to the basket, and that was a huge play for us to see that we just shot all threes. We need to get to the cup and see what could happen. Q. Theo, what does it mean to you to be able to play Duke again here in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn? THEO PINSON: We did it last year. It's the next game. We just take it one game at a time. I think that's the way I tried to tell the team that we need to approach this. Like me and Coach mentioned to the team yesterday, we can't win the championship unless you win Game 1. You can't win the championship unless you win Game 2. Game 3 is against Duke, and we're excited, and they're excited also, I'm sure, and we're going to try to do everything we can to win the game. Q. Theo, I need a much better answer than that last one. Duke-Carolina, what does it mean? ROY WILLIAMS: What's wrong with telling the truth? THEO PINSON: Yeah, I don't know -- ROY WILLIAMS: You say you don't like our answer. We don't like your question worth a damn. Q. Well, I was being facetious with him. ROY WILLIAMS: Okay, I apologize. Go ahead. THEO PINSON: No, I mean, I know all about the rivalry. I've been here four years. It's a big-time game. Everybody and their mama is going to be watching the game tomorrow. Everybody knows that. I'm going to be ready. My teammates are going to be ready. We understand we lost the last game, so that's going to get us even more hyped up about it, but at the same time, you can't be bigger than the game. You've got to be settled down and just play. ROY WILLIAMS: You know, last year we lost this game that's going to be played tomorrow. I think we kept playing. I think, my memory is not as good as it used to be, but I think we kept playing. Q. Theo, career high tonight. You've been scoring more the last couple weeks, but you've also been shooting more. Has that been a mindset change for you? THEO PINSON: Not really, just taking what the defense gives me. I have the ball in my hands a lot, so I have the choice of shooting the ball or passing to my teammates. Of course I would like to get my teammates -- I love getting my teammates going. I have joy in doing that. But at the same time, if they're not going to play me, I've got to be aggressive. That gets my teammates going. If I'm scoring, I'm a threat, so that means they have to guard me, too, and that just gets those guys even more open shots. ROY WILLIAMS: You know, the first three he took tonight I was really happy he took it. The second one -- was that when the shot clock was winding down? I'll answer this for him. He's had some walk-around games on the defensive end of the floor. And I think he's gotten more focused defensively in the last 10 games, and I think that's made him more active offensively, too. But we've tried to put the ball in his hands more consciously. I think it's been good for him, and I like 9 for 12, but I think 2 for 2, also. But I did really like the first one. The second one, somebody has got to take a shot because the clock is winding down. Not just scoring, guys -- 11 rebounds. He doesn't look like Arnold Schwarzenegger up here, but 11 rebounds, and I think the way he plays has just been sensational. I am moving him this week from honorable mention to high honorable mention. Q. Coach, two of your more important players, Joel and Luke, go 5 for 29, yet you guys still can pull away with a victory. What does this say about your group? ROY WILLIAMS: Well, we've always felt like we're not just one guy, not just two guys. We lost Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson a couple years ago. It's impossible to be more important to the team than they were but we win the National Championship the next year because Theo and Joel, those guys, Justin we tried to make sure they felt important their junior year when we lost in Houston. But I think the way we've always tried to coach is have kids who will buy into being part of a family, buy into being part of a team, and know that when one guy is down, somebody has got to pick them up, and I think we've had that happen. And I will agree with you, that may have been about as heavy a lifting as we've ever done, 4 for 29. But again, you just think about those guys that came off the bench. You think about Theo, you think about Cam. 13.7 rebounds, five assists, zero turnovers. We had Theo diving on the floor for a loose ball that got us a possession. We had Kenny getting on the floor for a loose ball and a missed free throw that got us another possession. So those two guys have gotten most of the accolades, but it is a team out there, and I'm happy about that. Q. Coach, you do the five for five substitution as much as any coach we've ever seen. Just remind us why you choose that route more than anybody else? And Theo, you and Marvin Bagley both had double-doubles today. You end up dealing with him when y'all go head to head. How long is the list of things you and Marvin Bagley have in common? THEO PINSON: He's left-handed, I'm right-handed. He's 6'11", I'm 6'6". ROY WILLIAMS: He said in common, not different. THEO PINSON: I don't see anything common right now. We just both have a double-double. He's a great player. We're both competitors, so we're both going to go at it. He knows it's not going to be easy, I know it's not going to be easy. We're just going to do all we can to -- he's a team guy more than people think. I mean, you can just tell the way he plays. He cares about winning just like everybody else on the team. I'm the same way. I think that's what's good about both of us. That's common. ROY WILLIAMS: You know, substituting five for five, I've done it several times. One year my high school coach told me, I could never do that. But generally what was I supposed to do, take out Theo, leave the other four in, or take out Joel? I was mad at everybody. I was less mad at Theo because I don't think you had taken a shot during that stretch. But the other guys, they practice every day, and they really enjoy it when they beat the white team, and they talk trash to them and stuff like that, but it is competition every day. I can sit over there and say, well, they'll work their way out of it, but I like to see if I can jar them a little bit more and slap them in the face a little bit more with the action, not personally but -- sometimes it's worked, sometimes it hasn't, but I do have a great deal of confidence that the game is not going to be lost in the first seven or eight minutes of the game. Q. Can you talk a little bit about the varying recruiting philosophies that you and Duke have had the past couple of years? You obviously have made it to two Monday nights. Your highest draft pick have been 15th. I'm wondering if you can reflect on that for me, please. ROY WILLIAMS: You know, there is a difference, but it's a smaller difference than most people think. I'd like some of those guys -- I really would, and we tried to recruit Wendell, something I thought he was really good, I tried to recruit Jayson Tatum, I tried to recruit Harry Giles, Luke Kennard. We haven't been able to get them. But probably the little difference is if I had one or two, I wouldn't want three or four more. I'd love to have Brandon Wright and Marvin Williams and Tony Bradley, okay, they were one-and-done for us. What people don't realize, we've had just as many guys leave early for the NBA as Duke has, and maybe one more since I've been back, it's just they haven't been one-and-dones, there's only been three freshmen. But I'd love to have one or two of those guys, but I like some other guys that I get to enjoy and get to know even better and are not there only eight or nine months or something like that. It's a smaller philosophy difference. I told Calipari the same thing, I tried to recruit those guys. We tried to recruit PJ Washington and Kevin Knox that he has. But I would struggle -- I'm old fashioned. I'm old school. I just told them that in the locker room there. I like to have some guys that can stay and have a special relationship with for a long time. Everybody likes talent, and I do, too, and I think I've got one of the talented guys beside me that has meant a great deal to our program, and in a corny, corny way but in a truthful way, he's really meant a lot to Roy Williams, and I really like that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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