Quotes From Gary Williams' Monday Press Conference
1/10/2005 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 10, 2005
Head coach Gary Williams:
On yesterday's practice:
"It was good. It was a long day yesterday because we had to watch the North Carolina tape before practice, then we practiced and moved on to Wake Forest. The players did a nice job with it."
On playing consecutive games against Top 5 opponents:
"You have to have pride in what you do. We're the team this year that opens on the road against No. 3 and No. 4. No other team in the country does that. But, you also have to keep everything in perspective, in other words, we play three home games coming up and we're 1-1 in the league. If you put too much emphasis on any win or any loss, that's where you get into trouble. You have to prepare for the next game, and obviously with Wake Forest, it's a great basketball team. They're very similar to Carolina in that they have ways to score inside and outside. They're very quick in the backcourt while being very strong and physical up front."
On sophomore Ekene Ibekwe:
"He's important to us. Against a good Wisconsin team he had a very good game when some other guys didn't play particularly well that night. You have to remember he is a sophomore. He played last year, but now he's a key part of things. I'd like to see him have a strong game tomorrow night."
On the quick turnaround between games
"I always like that part of basketball. It's hard sometimes when you have a great win to play again this quick. It's probably better to play right away after Saturday's loss. It's a good experience to play at this level. They are up there, at No. 3 and No. 4, for a reason. You can't look at it like we've played at North Carolina and Wake Forest already, so it will be easier when we go to Virginia and NC State. It doesn't work that way in our league."
On the team's chemistry:
"Guys get older and have different feelings about basketball. Some guys really pick it up and show how much they care about the game and the team, other guys get other interests. Those things happen with every team, not just ours. Chemistry is interesting, everyone always talks about good chemistry. You can be good, but you don't have to be the same way as everybody else. We have to be the best team that we can be, as a group of people."
