ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2021

Day'Ron Sharpe

North Carolina Tar Heels

Postgame Press Conference

North Carolina 101, Notre Dame 59

Q. A big performance from you tonight, obviously, and I know it was a lot different of an experience than you thought it was a couple years ago when you thought about playing in the ACC Tournament for the first time. But I'm kind of curious on what it was like for you to finally experience playing in Greensboro in the ACC Tournament. And kind of building off of that, how important is it for you guys to kind of put this big win behind you and switch the focus to Virginia Tech ASAP?

DAY'RON SHARPE: I feel like everybody already focused on the Virginia Tech game. It's a tournament you play every day. Once you win, it's on to the next. Right after the game, we was all focused on and ready for Virginia Tech.

Q. Roy said that he challenged you and Armando and Walker when it looked like Garrison was not going to be able to play. How did you process that and kind of what was the key for you coming into this game getting off to a hot start?

DAY'RON SHARPE: Losing Garrison was a big part. He's our leader. He's way more vocal on defense than anybody, but me, Mando and Chris knew it was a win or go home situation, and we've got to step our game up.

Q. I know it's difficult when a game is such a big blowout like that and you can take real lessons from it, but after performing like that, is there anything you guys are focusing on going into tomorrow in particular?

DAY'RON SHARPE: We're going to keep it the same as we had this game, play defense the same way, deny the passes, play hard, open threes, open looks for the shooters, feed the bigs, inside out game, get our guards into it. Same thing we did this game, we'll try to bring that to our next game.

Q. It seems like this team has peaked a couple times this season after Louisville and then the loss to Marquette and then a big win versus Florida State and then loss to Syracuse. Seems like you guys have now had a couple games and got some momentum with Duke, and now today versus Notre Dame. How do you continue that momentum into Virginia Tech and kind of finish your season?

DAY'RON SHARPE: I feel like everybody has to stay locked in, stay focused, and get ready for the next game, keep the same energy. We can't be inconsistent, win one big game and lose the next game. We've got to keep it going.

Q. Just what you can say about in this game almost 60 total rebounds and just shy of 60 points in the paint. How much fun it is on a team like this? Armando was talking about how you all challenge each other.

DAY'RON SHARPE: I thought it was really fun playing with other guards that can play in the paint that's just as good as you. It challenges us to be better every day at practice. We all compete versus each other and just seek to be better than each other.