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CBS SPORTS CLASSIC

December 22, 2018

Roy Williams

Las Vegas, Nevada

Kentucky 80, North Carolina 72

THE MODERATOR: Coach, give us some initial thoughts on today's game.

COACH ROY WILLIAMS: Well, hope everybody has a better Christmas than I'm going to have. Mine's not going to be as smooth as I would like for it to be.

But congratulate John and his club, and amazing thing to look down and Ashton Hagans is 2-for-6, seven points, and I thought in some ways he was more dominating in the game than anybody, seven steals. We turned it over 18 times, 17 times, and gave him 20 points out of it. That's one of the keys for us in the game was to make the easy play and not turn it over but their effort I thought was much better than ours.

We had one play where they go down and get a layup and we had a couple guys that I didn't think sprinted back as hard and they got a layup and it comes down and one of those guys on Kentucky came running from behind and the corner crossed from our bench and deflected it.

So I think Kentucky's staff did a better job than North Carolina's staff about trying to get the kids to play as hard as they possibly could play.

I don't think either team played exceptionally well but John's club came better prepared, and it's a little frustrating for us right now. Not much else to say.

Q. Coach, especially early on, it seemed like Reid Travis gave you a lot of trouble. If you can talk about that and his performance?
COACH ROY WILLIAMS: Our intention was to try to front the low post. We didn't get him fronted. We also, one of the rules we had defensively is not to help up the lane and three different times in the first half, we helped up the lane and they ditched it down to either read or PJ or one of their other big guys and they dumped three of them because we just doing something we weren't supposed to do.

Reid, he was first team all SEC last year -- not SEC, whatever that league was he was in last year (laughter) his first team preseason SEC this year, so he's a very good player. They dominated things inside, and we don't have a big stud like we've had at times in the past. But we've still got to figure out a play to win.

But got to front the guy in the low post if he's like Reid and PJ, as well. PJ loves to get the ball in the foul line area and drive right, and laid it up and had one guy that was there to take a charge and sort of backed out, so we've got to do a better job of getting our guys to do those kind of things.

Q. The players talk about, they need to buy in more, is the message. I'm sure they are not openly defying you, so how do they --
COACH ROY WILLIAMS: You've got to lose yourself in the game more and not be concerned about how you're doing. Reid twice today said, if it takes an extra five seconds to get a better shot, let's take five extra seconds, and took two bad shots immediately.

They are great kids, I have no problem, they are the kind of kids would I trust with my grandchildren and I wouldn't trust my grandchildren with any of you guys because I don't know you. But they do, they have to buy in more about the name in front of the jersey. If you lose yourself in the game and lose yourself into the success of the team, every individual will be taken care of. That's stood the test of time with everybody I think, but it's stood the test of time I think with me for 31 years.

We've got to get better defensively. I think the defensive intensity is something that's got to go up, the defensive brain has got to get better. There's too many missed assignments, and we actually, one time on a time-out, a dead-ball situation, I called a trap and we didn't even get the trap and it was a veteran team in there at the time. It wasn't -- can't blame it on Nassir or Leaky or Coby. It was a veteran team in there and we're getting a double-team.

Got to use your heart, just got to care more about it, that name on the front of the jersey, take care of it, got to use our brain a little more, concentration.

Of course, so many little things in the game make a big difference in winning and losing. I think three things we put up on the board is one, win the rebounding battle. We lost it by ten. And before the game, we had the best rebound margin than anybody in the country and they were two or three.

Another thing was limit turnovers and make the easy play and didn't do a very good job of that. Another thing, the first half, they shoot 12 free throws and we shoot two and third thing up on the board is play defense without fouling. So it's a tough situation.

Q. What did you see of Hagans on film coming into the game defensively and what did you see --
COACH ROY WILLIAMS: Scouting report said he was a really good on the ball defender. Saw him in high school and really liked him in high school. Reclassified. He's a really gifted young man and works really hard, too. I don't know if he's the one that got it. I think it was a 6-point game, we get the rebound, and just make a simple pass, and I'm not sure if he's the one that got the steal or not. A guy that sees the defense. He's a gifted youngster and his shooting percentage from deep is not good, but where he attacks the basket and passes the ball and defends like crazy and plays with a reckless abandon.

Q. What did you think of Kentucky's passing, and especially the bigs, Reid and PJ?
COACH ROY WILLIAMS: I think they probably passed it better than, you know, I don't know who had the most turnovers for them. They were just as bad as us. They had 18 turnovers.

But I think their big guys looked for each other. It's a little bit of a buddy system, which is what we try to do which is one big guy gets the ball and another big guy goes to the front of the him and makes himself available.

Like I said, three times in the first half, we helped up the lane and supposed to fake and cover the basket if you're a big guy and get help from the wings and we didn't do that. I think all those dunks that they got at the end of the first half was big guy to big guy.

Q. You have the toughest schedule in the league; Gonzaga, then Kentucky. Mentally what preparation goes into having back-to-back games like tough opponents like this?
COACH ROY WILLIAMS: I like it myself. I think playing the better teams tells you more about your team. I love having a tough game every game. Every now and then it's okay to win easy, but I still think you get better preparation playing a tough schedule and playing on the road and playing different places.

Gonzaga, I would think, what did we do -- Texas, UCLA, Michigan, Wilmington, Gonzaga and Kentucky, that's a pretty tough stretch but we didn't do so well, either. But everybody wants you to play a tough schedule which you really benefit by playing a tough schedule when you win a few of them.

Q. You mentioned the glass -- what was the difference?
COACH ROY WILLIAMS: Effort. Toughness. Probably a little size might have had something to do with it, too. We went small and it was just terrible. We couldn't guard the post and couldn't get a rebound, either.

I think rebounding is a little technique, but it's going after the basketball, too. I took Kenny and Cam out one time because Coby shoots a lay up and they don't go to the board and neither one of them get back, either. So it's just right now, it's a combination of errors. It's not one simple thing.

Q. How much further along -- a couple weeks ago in Vegas, you said Nassir still on both ends not settled, defensively. How much closer is he now, obviously on the bench in crunch time?
COACH ROY WILLIAMS: One of my buddies -- reports -- I don't care what the hell anybody else thinks. If you guys think I care what you think -- if I hold the guy back, why am I playing Coby in come on, if I'm holding the guy back, why am I playing Coby?

And the other thing, the guy that is playing in front of him made six out of eight from three-point line and was the ACC player of the league last week. So that's all I'm going to say about some report. Is that all right -- I know -- I know -- Jeff, let me answer. I got it, okay? You're a good guy.

I don't think there is an answer to your question. I think he is trying hard. I want him to have more time. That's why I'm playing him at the 3 and 4 both, and it's difficult for him. It's difficult for anybody, when you're crossing the line, whether it's a position at point guard, 2 and 3 is a position, 4 and 5 is a position. There's three spots but if you go across the line, it's really difficult.

I'm trying to get him some more minutes out there. Today we wanted to him to drive the ball to the basket and we settled for three point shots. In the All-American game, they never guard anybody, so if you go down and dunk, you look pretty good in that and he does that as well as anybody. He's a kid that wants to be good.

He's a kid that's trying to learn, and he's trying to learn against Texas, UCLA, Michigan, Gonzaga and Kentucky and so that makes it hard, as well. But I think he's coming along. I love the way he wants to be good. He wants to be better. He's willing to stay out there and shoot extra shots. He's willing to do the things. I don't know that there is a calendar or a schedule that you have on anybody, freshmen and big guys are about the same. They come at a different rate. Big guys, you never know when a big guy is going to Wake up and the light switch has gone on and I think freshmen, a little bit of that, as well. He needs to really have a good game defensively and give him a little more confidence there, and he needs a game for a couple of jumpshots to go in.

But he's trying and I'm sticking with him. Again, when you're playing Gonzaga, Michigan, Kentucky, Texas, UCLA, it's a hard way to learn.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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