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CBS SPORTS CLASSIC

December 21, 2019

Las Vegas, Nevada

North Carolina - 74, UCLA - 64

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from Coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

GARRISON BROOKS (joking, on behalf of Roy Williams): It was a tough fought victory. We had a really tough stretch in there when B-Rob missed some free throws, Garrison missed some free throws. And I was getting on those guys over break to at least do cardio and really shoot free throws and focus. Those guys are mentally tough, especially down the conference stretch.

ROY WILLIAMS: I would rather be Garrison Brooks. I'm starting to see -- I'm sorry that Anthony can't be in there, but seriously he's got the quickest flight trying to get out, so I'll brag on him as well. I told the guys all season long, if you want to play more, play better. If you want to play more, be tougher. And I think Anthony gave us some of that toughness. And I'm not saying he's a great shooter, but he willed a couple of those shots in today. He got a couple of steals and goes down and makes some baskets, so I think he was probably the biggest story in the game for us. We came out, didn't play well early and right before the half, had a nice little run and then came out in the second half and just got dumb again. And, yes, Garrison Brooks missed two free throws in that stretch, but they made the first missed three. Coach Williams said he missed three, I thought he just missed two.

But we weathered that storm and then we made a little run and then after that we got the game where it should have been in pretty good shape. And B Rob made a terrible turnover on the break, and then Jeremiah, I can't even describe what the crap he tried to do with that shot. But Garrison told me later that he would tell me what his description was. But made enough free throws to win. We didn't shoot them nearly as well as we like to. Jeremiah stepped up and made several of them there. But five guys in double figures, Armando bounced back from really struggling the last two games. He was 3-20 in the last three -- or two games, excuse me. And he and Garrison both made big baskets for us when it was really a tight game and it helped us open up the lead.

THE MODERATOR: We're also joined now by Jeremiah Francis. So let's take questions for the student-athletes first, please.

Q. Garrison, what kind of energy and toughness does Anthony give you guys? And also Jeremiah with the way he's played the last couple games. That kind of makes you guys a little bit different than maybe you were before you started to get a lot of minutes?
GARRISON BROOKS: He's a tough guy. He works extremely hard. One of the hardest workers I've ever seen in the weight room myself. But he just, he has like a Kenny Williams affect. Just a really tough on defense, going to do everything Coach says and just gets the job done no matter what.

Q. Jeremiah, congratulations. When you first got to UNC what was your expectation for how this year was going to go? And how has it sort of being reshaped or if it's following the plan game by game, sort of?
JEREMIAH FRANCIS: I came to UNC a little bit out of shape so I just wanted to get myself back into playing shape with our strength and conditioning coach. I've been working hard in the weight room just trying to get my quads stronger and just listening to Coach and just, it's been a blessing.

Q. (No microphone).
JEREMIAH FRANCIS: No, I haven't. Just being ready whenever my name is called and just doing my job to the best of my ability.

Q. Jeremiah, Anthony also had some knee injuries that kept him sidelined this off-season. Just with you guys working out together and rehabbing together, what kind of bond did that allow to you kind of form? And how did that help with the toughness you guys have been showing?
JEREMIAH FRANCIS: Anthony's my roommate, so I talk to him every day. And just waking up at 6:30 and we're always in the weight room together and everything makes a bond. We just talk and talk, and so we just been working out together and we have a good bond.

ROY WILLIAMS: I would intersect something here, and then you can go back to the players. I'm in the weight room Monday Wednesday -- I know it doesn't look like it, but I'm in the weight room Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning and these guys were in there when I got there. Tyler Hansbrough has always been the motto of guys working extremely hard to make their bodies as tight as it can be. What Jeremiah Francis and Anthony Harris have done since they came to school in June for -- end of June for second session, summer school, is Tyler Hansbrough-like level. Jonas is so pleased. He pushed them. Doug pushed them. I would go to the weight room just to try to work out, myself. But I would find myself watching all the things these guys did. As freshmen coming in and putting in that work it was admirable and it was a, high high quality every single day. They didn't balk at anything. And Doug and Jonas put them through it, and I think what you're seeing now is rewards for what they did busting their butt.

Q. What was -- UCLA, early in the second half, obviously, was doing some pressure in the back court. What was it about that that give you guys trouble? And then how were you able to get around that the rest of the game?
GARRISON BROOKS: I think that it took us by surprise, especially on the court at the moment. But we just had to get settled down and get organized and just do what we practice every day and it eventually worked out for us.

Q. Garrison, had you seen this potential early on from Jeremiah and Anthony, and if you had, how anxious were you for them to come back?
GARRISON BROOKS: I saw Jeremiah play a long time ago. Before he committed, he came on a visit. I knew he was really talented and really could play, really could score the ball. I was hoping he would be able to play this year, but before that I was hoping he would come here to play. And he was given the opportunity tonight and he's making the best of it. And Anthony is a real surprise for me. I've never seen him play, never. I heard about him a little bit, but I didn't know he could be this special right now.

ROY WILLIAMS: You guys understand they only started practicing two weeks ago. I mean, seriously. They started doing full practices two weeks ago. Not that he's a bad evaluator of talent, but none of us had any idea.

GARRISON BROOKS: But it's pretty -- I was pretty excited to get those guys back out there, especially I can see how excited Jeremiah and Anthony were in practice because they worked so hard and then they were just energetic all the time, ready to play, doing whatever Coach told them to do full speed. And I think that, that right there will help our team so much. We really needed that.

Q. Jeremiah, can you sort of walk us through some of what -- we hear about all this hard work. Can you walk us through what some of that looks like? Like, what is it exactly that you're doing to try to get your body back into shape.
ROY WILLIAMS: Something that none of you guys could do.

JEREMIAH FRANCIS: Just trying to get my quads back to my right body, just trying to match everything to my right side. I been through a lot of stuff with my left leg, so just trying to get everything to match and everything symmetry. And so it's just matching everything.

Q. Garrison, how does this win feel? Is it a relief? Is it excitement? How does this win kind of feel to you guys?
GARRISON BROOKS: No, it's very exciting, trust me. It was a tough stretch for us, and we didn't really plan on this at all, just losing four straight games. But it's a sigh of relief. We got ACC play coming up, so we know that's going to be even tougher and we got to be prepared for that also. But it's a good sign that we got back on the right track.

Q. Jeremiah, do you feel the pressure of kind of filling in for Cole and trying to carry the team right now?
JEREMIAH FRANCIS: Well, I wouldn't call it pressure. It's just next man up. That's what I've always been taught, just next man up, and I'm going to do my job to the best of my ability.

Q. Garrison, Lewis, like, what he just asked, last Sunday after Wofford, that's about as disappointed as I've seen you, other than after an NCAA tournament losses. How different is the emotion now, or do you allow yourself to kind of enjoy this, other than just the building process?
GARRISON BROOKS: The good part is I get to go home, so I'm going to enjoy that a little bit more. But normally there's a timetable for enjoying the win. It's 24 hours and you move on to the next game. But the Wofford loss was really disappointing. I tried not to get so down on our team and down on myself, especially by losing because that's, I think that's all that matters at the end of the day.

THE MODERATOR: We'll let the players get back to their team and take questions for Coach.

ROY WILLIAMS: It's been frustrating, to say the least. At the start of the season we think that Sterling and Cole were going to be two guys in our top six, and they're not even here today, much less hurt, they're not even here. So that part has been frustrating, but those are also excuses because North Carolina still plays. And it's funny because it's a really young team. For a good portion of the second half we had Armando, Anthony, and Jeremiah in the game. So we've got three freshmen, with B-Rob and Garrison. And over on the sideline, I had Luke and Kenny. For awhile, I had Sam Perkins, David Noel. We would have been a lot better with those guys in the game.

But it's a shame because Garrison said it surprised on him. We worked on press offense yesterday. Now, it may have looked like it surprised -- it didn't surprise us here. It's just that we didn't go a good job of executing what we do. Very few teams in the past have pressed us. I think now every team in America that we play will press the crap out of us. But the older guys are the ones that made the mistake. Don't throw the ball in, and then I'm yelling at Leaky to go up, go up, and he goes all the way up, and he's in the corner and he gets trapped and we turn it over.

So, yes, it may have surprised Garrison, but just 24 hours ago we did work on press offense. But they needed to get something out of their defense, and they did. But I think they made their first three or four shots in the second half and we missed the first five, I think.

Q. Early in the second half you took two timeouts during that rough start. What was your message to the team during that time?
ROY WILLIAMS: It's not for public knowledge, but it wasn't very pleasant, because I didn't think we were competing. I asked them if they wanted me to go get their mama. I mean, come on guys, Jesus Christ, it's a basketball game, compete your butt off and play. Nobody's going to be killed. I hope. If anybody dies, it's probably going to be me. But you got to compete, and I didn't think we were competing. And, again, we worked on press offense yesterday, plus many times prior to that. And then we got them to miss one time and they got an offensive rebound and scored anyway. I think that first four or five possessions they scored every time. So it was all about competing. But a lot of teams, most of the teams I've had, I never worry because I think they can fight through these -- those kind of things. But at that moment I couldn't stand not saying something to them.

Q. Armando had three picks in the last two games and had the foul issues the other night. How much of what we saw today is partly growing process for a young guy, just having to play the minutes he is with responsibility he has here?
ROY WILLIAMS: Well, it's big because we need the inside guys to score. We're trying to throw the ball to them. We need them to come through. And going 3-20 hurts you. It hurts your team. So he's been taking it very hard. I thought he bounced back today. He did some -- he didn't play well. He had 15-12. That's pretty doggone good and that's what I told him in the locker room. No, I wasn't happy with your play, but you had 12-15. And went over and I kiss the -- Anthony on top of the head, because he played today. Armando did some good things to help us. We didn't shoot it a very good percentage from free-throw line. Jeremiah stepped up and we made some when it was tough. But at the end it was just to finish. But, no, it's hard for a freshman at North Carolina because everybody expects you to win every game and you start feeling that stress if you don't do it. And I tell them, just do the best you can do, just do what I ask you to do and it will usually work.

Just because Virginia wins the National Championship, I got to look at a Virginia shirt in the back of the fricking room? Jesus Christ.

Q. Roy, Mack Brown likes to tell us that the bench is the great motivator. You dealt with a ton of injuries this year, you still have some with Cole and Sterling. But with Jeremiah and Anthony coming back, able to play, I know they played majority of the minutes in the second half, is that a good thing for this team to have that kind of competition?
ROY WILLIAMS: We'll find out. I pointed at three or four guys in the locker room, and I said: Do you want to play? You didn't play much in the second half. If you want to play, play better. Anthony didn't ask me one time about, will am I going to get to play? Didn't ask me one question about playing time. The only thing he did is when I gave him a chance, he played his butt off. It's pretty simple. Head coaches have no favorites. Now, parents don't believe that, but head coaches have no favorites. I'm going to play the guy that I think helps me win. And there's some guys that have gotten to play in the past that I didn't like what they did the in the first half, so it's pretty simple. You if you want to play more, play better.

Q. Sort of on that same note, how surprised are you that this early on, I mean, you mentioned they only started playing two weeks ago, that Jeremiah and Anthony are doing that? Coming into the season, what was sort of the timetable you had in your head for that?
ROY WILLIAMS: Well, I try to never decide who is going to play how many minutes. I have never done that. But I was worried whether or not Jeremiah would -- and, guys, did you read Steve Kershner's notes? You should. 1,000 days between the last basketball game that Jeremiah Francis played in until the Virginia game. 1,000 days. So what do you think? Do you think I think he's going to go out there and get 35 in the first game? We had no idea, we're hoping. But every day in the weight room I saw him I got more encouraged, every day in the weight room I saw Anthony's toughness. So really, I'm not lying, it's been about two weeks is all it's been of full court practices. So on one the hand I'm stunned, but on the other hand I don't really think about those, just do your job. I've always thought the grass is greener where I was standing, so do your job. And the next day, maybe you'll get something good happen. Do your job that day and the next day something good things will happen. But both those guys have been as impressive as they could possibly be in the weight room.

Q. Jeremiah talked about how appreciative he is that you took a chance on him despite the two knee injuries. So what made you, what gave you confidence, what made you take that chance?
ROY WILLIAMS: It was an easy decision because I love him as a kid. He committed to us as a sophomore and when you commit to me that's a total commitment. And I do that to you. And I told his mom and dad, the first surgery, second surgery, third, I can't remember how many he's had, that he's still going to have a scholarship at North Carolina because he's, if you're in my family at one point you'll always be there. So that was never even a question. Never even a question. And again, I said that, you had no idea what he could do, but think in terms of that. If you guys were to stop your job for a thousand days, when you come back you would suck. You wouldn't know what a computer was or what e-mail was and think how much things are going to change. I'm serious. Think about how many things are going to change in a thousand days. You take a thousand days off and you tell me you're going to be good? Anybody else?

THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you.

ROY WILLIAMS: Happy holidays to everybody.

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