NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 2, 2005

Raymond Felton

Sean May

Roy Williams

Jawad Williams

COACH WILLIAMS: Well, we're elated. The first half, I didn't think it was North Carolina out there. We didn't compete the way we have all year long. We didn't rebound the ball, we didn't dive on the floor, we didn't take charges, we didn't do all those little things that make a difference, especially when you're a talented team, which we are. I challenged them at halftime. We were four down against Villanova, five was nothing if we went out and played. You just got to look at these youngsters up here and realize how hard they competed in the second half against a big-time Michigan State team. Again, we're just elated.

SEAN MAY: I think they're totally different from when we played them, especially last year. Watching them today, I watch college basketball all year, they distribute the ball better than any team that I think we've seen. Coach pulled out a clip one time where they just moved the ball 15 times with, you know, no dribble. You know, they have three really good guards. They run. They can play halfcourt. They shoot the ball really well. For us, you know, it's probably going to be the same thing that we've tried to do all year, attack inside out. If we compete like we did in the second half, we'll be fine. But if we play like we did in the first half, like coach said, we have no chance.

JAWAD WILLIAMS: I didn't know he said that. For me, I just went out there and played my part. We have a team where guys' roles can change at any given time. Tonight my role changed.

JAWAD WILLIAMS: The only thing I really went through was people trying to make excuses for me. I never made an excuse and I never will. Tonight was a great win for us, and that's all I really care about.

SEAN MAY: I told him at the end of the game, I went over and told him, "The reason why we won this game is because you had heart and you wouldn't let us fail." He carried us in that first half. I didn't play particularly well. Raymond didn't play his best game. Rashad stepped up and made some plays. Coach told us in the second half, the game is two halves, we have an opportunity to go back out there, we have a chance to win this thing. I went over to Jawad and told him, the reason we won this game is because of your heart. He's a totally different player than what I've seen the last four games. He was that old Jawad Williams, dunking on people, rebounding the ball, making the big plays, doing the little things it takes to win that he probably doesn't get enough credit for.

RAYMOND FELTON: The message was basically just go out and play hard and play better. We know that we didn't play our best basketball. We didn't play Carolina basketball. We just went out, played hard. Coach told us that. He said if we want to win this game, we got to go out and play it like we want it.

RAYMOND FELTON: How animated was it? He got the point across, let me put it like that (smiling).

SEAN MAY: That was the difference in the game. I think, you know, the first half I definitely think they kicked our tails. You know, they did everything that they wanted to. We didn't stop them from doing anything. Coach said if you guys compete -- the thing, I didn't play well in the first half. You know, tonight I only had seven rebounds. I didn't do my job in that aspect of the game. Coach, you know, he just said, "You guys have a chance if you go out there and compete." I think everybody did their part. Jawad, Marvin had big rebounds, Rashad was in there battling. I think that was the difference in the game.

COACH WILLIAMS: Jawad, don't think I ever give you up, regardless of what they say.

COACH WILLIAMS: You know, it's one of the match-ups, to be honest with you, concerned us because he plays a lot at the four spot, he has ball-handling ability, the ability of a perimeter player. It means that Jawad and Marvin really did a nice job on him. But at the same time it wasn't a good night for Alan. He's a big-time player. Things just didn't go as well for him tonight as it had been. But yet you look down there, Ager had a big-time game. The three that he made over Rashad down the stretch there was just unbelievable. But Alan is a great player, and I grabbed him at the end and said, "Don't make this let you lose sight of what a great year you've had."

COACH WILLIAMS: I didn't hear him say exactly that, but I will tell you that I did say to you guys that he hadn't been as productive as he has been in the past because he's been hurt. But your question to him, you said I said in a nice way that he needed to get going. I just said truthfully that his production hadn't been what it was. But Jawad is about winning. He's a senior. He's gone through a great deal of tough times, yet the last two games in Syracuse at the end of the game, he was sitting over there, and Marvin was in the game, and he handled it marvelously. I think what I do to motivate Jawad, is we just look at each other and talk because I have a great deal of confidence in him. When he is healthy, he can really play. He hasn't been as healthy as we wanted him to be. But if the only thing I have to do is motivate Jawad, I've got a pretty easy job, I can tell you that.

COACH WILLIAMS: Not necessarily. I mean, I didn't like what we did in the first half. We took 12 threes and we talked about trying to get the basketball inside because with Paul Davis out, I think that their next guy is not quite as good as Paul. I thought it could be an advantage for us. For us to take 12 threes in the first half is more than I want us to take, even if it's Jawad, Marvin, Rashad, Raymond, and Melvin the guys that can shoot them. Again, I haven't been that extremely worried about Jawad. I just want him to get healthy. When he's healthy, he's a big-time basketball player. It did make me feel good, there's no question about that, when it went in. He made those threes in the first half. I don't think he made any threes in the second half. To be honest with you, our game was awful in the first half. I wasn't thinking too much about him making threes in the first half.

COACH WILLIAMS: In the first half, I was so mad at Rashad and Melvin, and our guys not getting on the floor for loose balls and taking charges and boxing out. He's been so much more mature now, he's been handle everything. Made some big baskets for us. We tried to post him up a little bit more in the second half. I think he was able to score in there, get fouled. To me I think the biggest thing about Rashad is that he handles criticism in a constructive way, which I hope is about all I do. Sometimes I'm sure it's not. But he handles that well and bounced back. Again, he wants our team to win. And I screamed at him and Melvin one time at the end because they let Ager get open for a three in the corner. They were both pointing at each other like it's not my man. I said I didn't care, it's North Carolina's man, and that kind of thing. But I think he's so much more mature and he's a better all-around player as well.

COACH WILLIAMS: You know, I think a lot of times when you get to the Final Four as a coach, you think you know your team. Who knows what goes through the mind of an 18, 19, 20, 21-year-olds. The stage we have at this, the attention that we have. It was unNorth Carolina like in the first half. I did point that out to them at halftime. I said here, I don't know if it's this stage or whatever a couple days ago, the thing that's impressed me the most about our team down the stretch is our toughness, and the toughness was a huge thing for us today. Raymond and Rashad making shots, getting the ball inside to Sean, you know, we had a lot of things that were going good for us.

COACH WILLIAMS: You know, Marvin said to somebody the other day, "Coach is pretty intense." You know, I've been called things like that, and I love to compete. I think if you're completely focused, and you truly give a commitment, you can do a lot more than you can if you're not that way. And in the first half, we allowed the loose balls to go their way, we allowed the free balls up on the board to go their way. I wanted to be in the game. I wanted our players to be in the game. Sometimes if they happened to see that and can pick up all that intensity, that's great. But for the most part, I expect our guys to do it by themselves. I'm not a flyer child sitting over there wondering what the heck's going to happen at the end.

COACH WILLIAMS: I don't want to keep saying this, but it is the same thing. We competed. I mean, you go back and look at the tape. Every time there was a loose ball, they got it. In the second half, they didn't. And then, in basketball terminology, we continued to try to push it. As I said earlier, one of the questions, first half we shot 12 threes, second half we attacked the basket. You know, first half we shoot 41%, second half we shoot 57%. From a basketball standpoint, we wanted to attack and we didn't do that as much in the first half.

COACH WILLIAMS: When you say "some people questioned," that included the coach. We didn't play very well defensively in Syracuse. But we had three big-time days of practice, three big-time days of practice this week. The focus was going to the pit and working on the defensive drills, and we did that for three days. I think it helped us.

COACH WILLIAMS: Yes, I think they've shown throughout the course of the whole season. I mean, they're a three at the buzzer away from being undefeated, which to me would be almost unheard of in college basketball. They're a veteran team. They're very well-coached. They're extremely focused. I saw the T-shirts they were wearing in the shoot around this morning where it said, "Finish the job." They're a big-time team.

COACH WILLIAMS: I don't think I said anything specifically to Sean. It was more to our team. Well, I said a couple things specifically to a couple of other guys, but I didn't think that Sean had let his teammates down by not getting after a ball or something like that. But we did try to focus again on attacking and get the basketball inside. And I thought that 12 threes in the first half, again, were too many.

COACH WILLIAMS: No, I really don't think. Again, you know, who knows. Do you have children?

COACH WILLIAMS: How old are they? You're in for it. You got a hell of a life in front of you, I'm telling you (laughter). Who knows what 18, 19, 20, 21-year-olds go through. This is a stage -- Sean May, for example, is a college basketball fan. Watches games, knows players, all those kinds of stuff. But it's the Final Four. It's the biggest stage you can be in. Maybe guys go tiptoeing through the tulips. I don't think our guys were overconfident. I'm not sure that's where you're going. I don't think it was that at all. I don't think they were Prima Donnas, I don't think they were big-timing anybody. I think Michigan State hit them right in the mouth. We staggered a little bit and didn't now how to react. I hate to put it in that vernacular, but maybe that explains it better than I've been doing. They were the aggressor and we were not. And I don't think you can be the kind of team that can win at this level against these kind of teams if you're on your heels. I don't care if there is a Tar there or whatever, you can't do that. I wanted us to be more aggressive in the second half.

COACH WILLIAMS: Well, you're right. I mean, I've watched them as a fan. One of my assistants is in charge of them since the Final Four teams had won the right to come here. But I'll get more information on them. But, you know, Dee Brown, Deron, Luther Head, I mean, I know those guys. We did play them last year. Sean was right at one of our meetings this year, I took a couple clips from Illinois games and showed them to my team. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. I told them watch this. They moved it 15 times. I don't think the ball was dribbled a single time. Somebody got a wide open one. That's the way I think basketball should be played. I do think before Monday night, I'll have a chance to watch some tapes.

COACH WILLIAMS: Thank you.