Gary Williams Quotations

There are car wrecks on this road because there is nowhere to go. We need (wider roads).

We're in a tough situation right now. We'll find out what we're made of.

We're battling, and that's all you can do. This time of year, you can't make any trades, you can't pick up anybody. You have your team. This is what you do. You go play.

We knew this game was going to be close. Virginia Tech had played that way their first four games. We had to be tough. We weren't really sharp, but I was proud of the way the team came out at halftime. We played pretty well once we got going.

We know we have to play well. Georgia Tech is a young team that certainly has shown it can play.

We were aware of what he did last year. We knew he shot 70 percent from the 3-point line against us. But we're not defending anybody from the 3-point line right now, so he's no different than anyone else.

We decided last night to help inside because they're pretty physical. We knew they like to go inside so it was a defensive test for us, too.

We've been in the situation before where we've had to win some games.

We've seen it about 10 times. You have to be ready to play. Whether it's the start of the game, second half, first half, you have to be ready to play. I can't go out there and play. You have to be ready to play as a player. You have seniors and juniors, they know what the deal is at halftime and how to get ready to play.

We're looking forward to playing the remaining games, beginning with Clemson. They play with great intensity, and they don't back off.

We had a wide-open 3 to tie it up and we didn't make ours.

When I left here, I was a junior varsity coach at Woodrow High School in Camden (New Jersey). I realize where I've been and how great it is to coach here.

Shane is a great young man, and we wish him well in the future as a student-athlete.

No one feels worse than Chris about this situation, but you beat yourself up as a coach thinking there's some way this can be avoided, because I'm not used to this. It's something we certainly will continue to look at, and see if there are ways we can improve what we do.

Percentages can be misleading. We weren't good with the ball. We had 23 turnovers. You have that many against a team as good as Gonzaga and you're in trouble.

I was really upset that we didn't finish early, because we had a chance to really jump them early. ... When a team stays close at halftime, they think they can beat you.

I guarantee he couldn't have made that play three weeks ago. That's what playing a lot of minutes does for you.

If we had played great the first five minutes (of the second half), I think it would have been a lot easier. We got caught standing around on a couple of (their) offensive rebounds.

Carolina is playing better now than they were up at Maryland. We're playing about the same, and that combination was the reason for the outcome today.

But we'll have to see how that plays out. I say that with the idea that there will be a couple of teams that play well these last three weeks of the regular season.

Chris is very ambitious and he wants to play regularly for Northern Ireland and he knows he may have to move to achieve this.

Give Duke credit for their defense. We couldn't handle it tonight. We've handled it before, but we couldn't handle it tonight.

I don't think I've ever been involved in a game with 29 turnovers. It wasn't just the point guards; it was dropped balls in traffic.

If we played great the first five minutes, it would have been easier.

He works, don't discount that. He plays hard every play he's on the court.

He's certainly a great team defensive player. You don't get a lot of attention for that, but he makes N.C. State a very tough team defensively.

He got pushed around a little last year, ... I don't think he'll get pushed around this year.

There is no bottom feeding in our league. Everybody is really strong from top to bottom. They are all good basketball programs, and you don't have that four to six wins built into conference play like some leagues do.

What you have to try to do is put yourself in as good a position as you can put yourself into. Probably, we didn't get into a real good position this year with some of the things that happened. Hopefully, the younger guys on the team benefit from that and the seniors get a little different resolve as they leave.

Historically, if you get to .500 in league play, you're in a pretty good position. Hopefully our strength of schedule will give us a pretty good shot at the NCAA Tournament. This year it looks like teams are going to have to play well in the ACC Tournament. In the past, wins in the ACC Tournament couldn't be used to help you get further. Now, you have to play well there to help your chances.

Hopefully we learned a good lesson tonight. They made us pay until we got it turned around. I'll just remember we didn't play well in the second half.

Hopefully, we can go from there. That was a very good effort overall for us. If we can play with that intensity, we'll be OK.

There are no off days for the next 16 games, counting Temple. It should be interesting. If you're a player or a coach, you like these next two months.

When they're on their game, they're very good because they play good defense, they can control the tempo of the game pretty well and when they make shots they're as difficult as anybody.

We made some mistakes, but we were tough enough to hang in there. We got a big win to bring us back to 6-6 in the ACC. Winning is what you have to do this time of year. It doesn't matter how you do it or how it looks, but you have to win.

He was on his way. Player of the Year as a sophomore. He was certainly capable, but who knows? It's easier to stop an inside player because you can put three guys around him in college basketball.

He is the best inside player in the country. Generally, nobody stops him.

Hansbrough deserves all the attention he gets. When they get the ball to him seven feet from the basket, they feel pretty good that they are going to score.

There are so many teams in the ACC that can go .500. You'd better be .500 (in the league). Nobody's backing into the NCAA Tournament. That isn't going to happen because of the expansion of the big conferences.

Just to get that thing to six at halftime took a lot of effort. I've seen that before. You're almost in a trap in a situation, where their best scorer (Grier) doesn't play, they lose a game probably everybody in Minnesota thought they should have won. ... Good teams come back after a situation like that, and we happened to be the next game.

It becomes very important that you have as many players as possible.

I thought we had a great stretch of basketball early in the second half. We played well enough to keep the lead. Hopefully this is the start of becoming a good basketball team.

I thought we had recruited a very good class.

I thought our players did a great job the way we started out today, with everything that's going on around this particular game.

I thought our defense wasn't good enough. Whether we doubled down or didn't double down, it just wasn't good enough.

I think we started pushing the ball and defensively kind of stepped up our pressure. Basically we just stepped up the intensity and were able to push the ball a little bit and get some transition buckets.

I think so. We got up 25 (points) there. We played pretty good basketball.

I see more cars stopped for speeding than I do trucks. They just can't stand to be behind a truck. They just gotta be in front of it.

I said coming into this game North Carolina is playing the best basketball right now. They have size, their guards do what they have to do, they work hard on defense and they attack the glass.

People aren't doing what they should be doing.

Our focus and our only focus is on Boston College. We have to do battle one game at a time before we can do any celebrating.

Playing well this week will help us. That's all you can do.

Our passing was excellent in the second half and we really executed. I was really proud of our team play, and we have to play that way down the stretch.

Sterling righted the ship. Without his contribution, I don't know how many we would have been down by at halftime. I don't think people realize that Sterling is 6-3, 200 pounds and, with his size, he can give people some trouble, especially on defense.

Starting games teams are more aware of him. We have to find ways to score, then the game comes to him. I was very proud of him. He was very mature.

I was very pleased the way we came out and the way we played. A lot of good teams don't do that.

It doesn't matter how you do it or how it looks, but you just have to win. As a home game, it was probably a necessary win. The NCAA is probably going to take six teams from the ACC, so we just have to stay in the mix.

I thought he needed another year because he was limited offensively. Just another year of basketball at the college level wouldn't have hurt him. (But) once we found out he was going to be a lottery pick, then for a player, you almost have to go. There really wasn't much of a decision there. For Chris, maybe that was his best time to go.

You don't expect it from a senior. Having been here for 3½ years, you know how the system works. But at the same time, it can happen. I look at this as a one-time situation. We have a lot of things in place that help our student-athletes ... but we also have to have people that are willing to do their part, too. This is a two-way street.

You don't expect a game like that going into it, and our guys did a good job of being ready to play but also being ready to play at the start of the second half. It was good to see, especially at this time of year.

You can blow smoke this time of year, ... Come March, you are what you are.

We were looking for a family boat. I was in construction with my father, and I began looking for a boat at some of the dealers after work. I was still dressed in my work clothes and when I walked into those places, I guess they didn't think I had any money to spend, so they ignored me.

We had more healthy bodies than they did, and it was probably going to be a factor in the second half.

We (had) a little lull there and they got some momentum. When you have momentum at home, that lead goes quick, and it really went quick. For us to hang on like that and win the game - that was big.

Travis was suspended because he was where he shouldn't have been, but you're innocent until proven guilty in this country.

We need him to play like that (aggressively). But nobody's gonna get 33 every night. I don't want Nick to feel he's got to get 30 for us every night to be successful.

We didn't do it tonight, but it doesn't mean we are a bad basketball team because a lot of teams that were ranked higher than us couldn't get it done.

We didn't shoot well tonight, but we didn't execute well either. It's a team thing; everyone on the court has to take responsibility.

We're like a lot of teams this year on the road, and hopefully we'll have a good performance. A lot of that comes from your defense. You can't get into a scoring contest on the road and expect to win very often. Most teams play better offensively at home.

You look much better if your team wins.

We don't know what we have to win. And nobody else knows, either. Despite what all those people who get paid to act like they know, they don't know. The selection committee knows who's going to be in the tournament. Or they will know. They're the only people who really know.

Winning is what you have to do this time of year. Nobody says how you have to do it or how it looks, so that's what I was about today. I was going to try to win that game somehow, and the players felt the same way.

We really didn't give ourselves a chance to see if we could be in a competitive situation in that first half.

We knew their guards were good coming into the game. We didn't stop them in the first half; they scored at will. We were flat.

We knew it was going to be a tough game, even when we got up 18 in the second half. For us to hang on like that and win, that was big.

We keep telling him how good he is and what he's capable of doing.

Thornton's really tough to guard when he puts it on the floor. He's just a good player.

The players, they're responsible for the way we're playing right now. It's their attitude, their effort in practice that allows us to play like this at this point in the season. You look around and see some teams that have gone through some tough things that aren't necessarily playing as well right now.

The players are responsible for whatever way we're playing right now, because it's their attitude and their effort in practice that allows us to play like this. To the players, you can say all the right things, but if the players don't have the fortitude to get it done, it doesn't mean anything as a coach.

Well, he's a good player, number one. Number two, we're not defending anybody from the three-point line right now. So he's no different than anybody else.

We will press more this year. . . . We will run.

We had to dig deep and find a way to win.

We gave ourselves a chance with this game. I'm proud of us tonight and I think we'll get a good effort at Virginia. I feel like with our strength of schedule, we can get to .500 (in the ACC) and give ourselves a chance.

To get it to 11 was good. We worked hard to get there.

You have to be better than 27 percent. I thought we had some opportunities.

We might have worn them down a little bit at the end of the first half.

We have to develop effective programs that really do impact homelessness.

We scored runs. I'm not disappointed with the offense. I'm not disappointed with the bats. I am disappointed with our defense.

You go through periods where you start to rush and all the sudden it shows up. You have to work on it, get that under control and wait for the next thing to pop up. You think you can score taking shortcuts. You don't just take your time and run your offense and be patient. Patience usually leads to really good shots.

We did a great job early ? especially with our defense. We got the big lead but then we began to get a little sloppy.

We didn't make a shot. We had them but we didn't make them. That's the way it is. You have to make shots.

Bob is probably the most beloved guy out here. He is a fixture here. He really, really cares so much about this event.

Every team that gets into the NIT has different feelings. Some teams are very excited. Other teams are trying to get over the disappointment of the regular season. I'm sure our guys are disappointed; I'm disappointed. But I don't let that affect the way I coach.

Duke's done that for quite a few years now. Players know their roles. You don't have a lot of guys sitting on the end of the bench who think they should be playing.

During the season, there are different teams that get hot and for Carolina, it looks that way.

There's no bottom feeding in our league. Everybody's really strong. You don't have that four or six wins built in like some leagues do. Hopefully, everyone will look into how we did in pre-conference season and the competitiveness of the games now.

There's no pain, aching or inflammation. In fact, it's completely asymptomatic until a fracture occurs, and then the risk of subsequent fractures is very high,

There's more good teams out there now, so you have to do everything right to make sure you're one of those good teams. If you slip a little bit, you're not going to be one of those good teams. We have to do a better job of making sure we do everything right so when it comes time to play you earn the right to be a good team.

It was a labor of love, and it was the toughest ticket to get. Guys still talk about it and say that was one of their favorite events at this rodeo.

The season is so long, and you spend so much time with them, that the most important relationship you have is with your assistant coaches.