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UNC's Ian Jackson, Drake Powell and RJ Davis after the Tar Heels' win over SMU
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wasn't going for most of the first half
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but you were still bringing a lot of
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energy active getting a lot of rebounds
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talk to talk about how your game
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progressed um what not offensively you
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mean yeah um just understanding that's
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more the basketball than scoring um I do
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more in floor to score the basketball um
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the shots wouldn't fall in the first
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half but it happens you know shots going
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in shots don't and do something else on
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FL impact winning what you guys have an
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effort like this a lot of times there's
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something in practice that leads to it I
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mean was there anything that led to this
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kind complete performance you guys had
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um I just think we getting better you
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know it was nothing to individually and
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practice that kind of brought the side
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of us kind of as a team mentality that
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kind of brought us to this point um yeah
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I just think it's l improving do you
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think you kind of discovered the formula
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that you've been searching for in a way
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that you know allows you guys to win at
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a high level um I feel like we we're
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getting there you know um it's always
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room to get better in every aspect uh so
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we starting to get there but it's
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definitely room for us as a team still
1:00
get better but we head in the right
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direction Ian SMU came in as the top
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offense in the league you guys under 24
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points in the first half and 67 on the
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game yeah 67 on the game do you feel
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like front to back just sort of you know
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pigy backing on P question you like
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front to back this is your most complete
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game at least in a long r as a team yeah
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yeah absolutely absolutely I think on
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defensive end we did a a great job um
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towards the end we feel like we l f the
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gas a little bit and they scored they
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made some shots but I feel like as a
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team we we did a great job on defense we
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communicated we knew understood our
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assignments and we got stopped andu came
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out in the zone and played it a lot on
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and off just throughout the game you
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guys did a better job finding the soft
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the middle finding Le or the corners I
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guess what kind of improvements did you
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guys you know did you see on that front
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in terms of just attacking defense I'm
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just watching film you know uh film
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doesn't lie uh so we SE reatch them and
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we understood that the middle of the
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Zone was a weak spot and every time we
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got it there we should attack it and
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that's what we did I I know it's early
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and you probably have to looked ahead
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but uh your first chance at a rivalry
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game coming up on Saturday you looking
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forward to that n NC St your first
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rivalry game here here UNC I rivalry
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um N is a great team you know um every
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team in is a great team it's a hard
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conference but we just want to go out
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there and play our game you know we not
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we not looking into it a r we just want
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to go out there and win another game in
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conference play but they're great
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team so you're saying is
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a um whatever you guys want to
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you walked right into it you just I love
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I love it you got you got the the
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preface on how we handle that stuff
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that's funny um defensively like they
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had a lot of size and that's been an
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issue for you guys tonight I mean what
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was different in this matchup where that
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kind of didn't work in their favor
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worked in yours um we put a lot of heart
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tonight man uh Size Doesn't Really
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Matter us we go out there and compete
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each and every night um in tonight
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showed
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it you RJ's given a lot of credit to
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coach Paige for helping him develop um
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as a player the last two years and Mark
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has been on staff how has he helped you
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U just develop as as a player um just
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from his time being here and
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understanding what it looks like and
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understanding what it what it takes to
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be a top level player here at the
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University and the collegate level in
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general um just giving him insights
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watching film talking to him just
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picking his brain so you definitely have
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a lot yeah and it felt like nobody was
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really trying to do too much everybody
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was picking their moments well can you
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speak a little to that um we're a team
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you know um so when one guy got got it
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go and we find him um we just look for
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the best shot that shot that we all want
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and that's what I gu we did that a great
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job with that tonight how you like the
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dynamic with uh with Seth back and you
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playing four guards for a good number of
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minutes M how how did you like that
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Dynamic how do you how like it it was
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great man it was great uh it's always
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great being being able to be take the
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floor with with great players um and not
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up is something that we've been testing
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out over a few games we seen it a little
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bit in UCLA um we didn't get chance to
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see it recently cuz I was injured but
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it's been great um it's been working we
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got to keep getting better at it and
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keep
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going in a row now I think that was a a
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big win over Notre Dame and uh I think
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we just started out from the jump
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against SMU I think that's what um just
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propelled us
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to do you feel like you guys kind of
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discovered what you've been searching
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for as far as like a formula to kind of
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play like you guys need to play to win
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um not yet I thought I thought you guys
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um were able to see like a little
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sprinkle of it tonight but um yeah we
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just want to continue to grow as a team
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how about you with your shots it looked
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to me like it was kind of like you're
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like getting comfortable with the shots
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you're getting in a game and you look
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really confident at least from my
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standpoint yeah um just my coaches keep
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telling me to be aggressive um and just
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um just to let the game come to me had
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know it felt good to see those few first
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few threes going to what were you
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thinking early did it um it felt great
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and just uh just to keep shooting um my
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teammates were able to give me the ball
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as well how much were those early threes
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just a factor you guys attacking the two
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three Z you had some pretty good off the
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outside I thought it was great I thought
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it um established our identity early in
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what we were going to um you know how we
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were going to you know be the rest of
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the game and um yeah I thought it was
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great some of you guys have talked about
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the inconsistency with energy this year
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the energy was there from the start
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until late there was a little
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dropped off but the energy was there the
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first 30 minutes of the game when you
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guys basically put them away yeah yeah
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um I think like that little lapse that
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we had I think that was just attention
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to detail just um we just thought the
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game was over but we wanted um just to
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continue to you know be down on team but
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you guys had the energy up to that point
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to where that laps didn't hurt you they
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cost you a game where it's cost you
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games of times yes sir it has was that
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something that was a point of emphasis
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from Hubert or cuz you guys had energy
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Saturday in South B too we did we did a
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lot more than I would say consistently
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at Louisville and some of the other
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games yeah what is what has kind of
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flipped that switch for him I think um
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just our communication in the locker
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room and on the floor and um uh I'd say
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attention to detail as well and
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defensively I'm sure there were a lot of
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things on the bulletin board with them
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because they do so many things well what
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were some of the key things that you
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guys wanted to do defensively and that
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you did do uh we definitely wanted to
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shut down their green light Shooters um
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number 33 and uh
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but um you know um their point guard
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number two he was pretty good and um we
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just wanted to to limit we just wanted
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to limit them like the way we played
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together uh we shared the basketball we
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was going from good to great shots um it
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was getting good stops uh defensively
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and that was allowing us to get a
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transition bucket so uh I do believe we
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took a step forward kind just build from
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L Dame game and then tonight's game
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because s was a good team um but I think
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we just came play ready to play today
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what what happened there at the end he
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just took from uh I had yeah I mean I
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kind of stood my ground a little bit and
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reached in and then his head um kind of
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just like face plant into my nose so
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that was disgus but I'm no I'm known for
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like nose bleed so I got a lot of no
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beds and then the the baked in three
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tell me about
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that um while I was com put he kind of
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like put me in the bad spot uh had like
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the seven foot on me was like two
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seconds left so I just had to like just
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heave a a prayer and hopefully went in
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so it did and on the way bag tell me
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that was
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BS AR I was expecting you to look a
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little more bloody out here based on
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what we saw in the court what happened
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um I just got hit in the face his head
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uh kind of face planted into my nose um
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I have a sensitive nose I bleed a lot
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but uh thankfully it's not broken
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anything so I'm good was this just like
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you're was pretty quiet 26 or whatever
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ended up being for you is that just kind
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of like you know you were experien as a
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score kind of showing how like Wily in a
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way you can put up those kind of numbers
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yeah I think I just did a good job as
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kind of is taking what the defense gave
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me tonight um was hitting my open shots
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uh was more efficient tonight um and you
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know I did a lot of good things other
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than scoring I was able to kind of uh
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penetrate and kick into the the when
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they were playing Zone find open
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Shooters and stuff like that so um was
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really just more about just kind of just
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playing my game not trying to uh overdo
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anything so I think I did it tonight is
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that the worst you've ever bled after a
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foul yeah usually like usually it's when
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you get fou that's what I'm saying
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usually like I like my nose bead like if
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it's hot in the room if it's hot on the
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court um but I think today was like the
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most blood I ever had because like it
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was all over my hands and I look down
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blood on the core so um by far yeah did
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start n because I I I had no bed since I
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was like seven so like this is nothing
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new you've been here 5 years have you
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seen the clip of hansboro when he got
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elbowed and he was saw I was talking to
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crazy he told me I should have um took
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off the towel and like threw it and
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started like in a crowd into it say like
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this is my there's a photo there's
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a photo of him in a little room I
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actually saw him after the game the room
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with the towel the towel is 3/4 blood
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he's just holding it just Dy n I'm not
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doing
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that it make you feel better do you
9:14
think you guys kind of found your
9:15
formula that you've been searching for
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the way you guys need to play to win
9:19
tonight yeah I think we did a good job
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of kind of just sharing the wealth today
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um moving the ball from good to great
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shots and I think I'm really proud of
9:25
our defense uh we was communicating um
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talking switches we had a low man today
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we had gaps um so overall our
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communication on the defensive end was
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great and that allowed us to go up big
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um in the first and second half so um
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what stood out for me today was our
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defense and that's we're going to need
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more of that moving forward and their
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their size like every we talking about
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you guys size all year they had it it
9:47
wasn't a problem was that does that give
9:48
you confidence you can do that going
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forward I mean yeah 100% I mean we know
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we're a small team but one thing coach
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Davis always talks about is heart over
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height like we know we don't have seven
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Footers um but we do have a heart and we
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have a gitty team so um we found our way
10:01
we sometimes we fired in the post we
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double team the post sometimes we left
10:05
our big men on the island because that's
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what they're capable of and we know we
10:08
have confidence in them for them to kind
10:09
of get stops and I think was Vin with J
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wit um JB when he came in they all did a
10:15
good job of kind of just um being
10:17
physical on the catch with the big man
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cuz they're that's a tough assignment
10:20
they're seven feet so um they did a good
10:22
job of kind of meeting them at the rim
10:23
and boxing now and he was able to go uh
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go convert on the offensive end quicker
10:28
do does communicating make you guys
10:31
defensively looks like you're a healthy
10:33
step quicker when you guys are doing you
10:35
have that yeah it feels like everybody's
10:36
like on the same string right so um one
10:38
guy talks it kind of just like a domino
10:40
effect and I think we did that today um
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it kind of just carried on from uh
10:44
practice after nor day I think we all
10:46
just kind of just use that as a way to
10:48
kind of just stay positive and get this
10:49
thing going and we see like when we're
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communicating we're talking like we're
10:53
able to get stops and when we're not
10:55
that's when teams score and they just
10:56
goore off our mistake so um yeah for
10:59
sure is that why there was so much more
11:01
energy it looked like the energy was at
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a much higher level early than we've
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seen in past games yeah 100% I think it
11:06
started another game like even the
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locker room mus I just banging the
11:09
lockers like playing music um that was
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definitely like um the most loud we ever
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been all year um nor d game and today
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it's just a lot of just communication
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going from you know the from inside of
11:20
the locker room from halftime out into
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the court and it carries on the long way
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what did you guys what did you guys tell
11:24
Vin about the NC State rivalry he he's
11:26
fired up already by what have you told
11:28
him about that
11:29
Hoots does a good job of every time we
11:31
have a a recruit or just somebody just
11:33
come in um as a transfer as a freshman
11:36
he always just talks about um the
11:38
Rivalry game just for us to be prepared
11:40
um because obviously NC State is a good
11:42
team and um it's always been a back and
11:44
forth this history before us so um I'm
11:47
glad Vin fired up and it's going to be a
11:49
great atmosphere going on Saturday so
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yeah and you're you're used to that
11:52
rivalry too I mean what what do you
11:54
remember about that rivalry yeah I mean
11:56
it just I mean I just remember playing
11:58
against DJ Burns for three four years so
12:01
every time he gets the ball The Crowd
12:02
Goes Wild um just fun matchups at the
12:04
end of the day you know they're up the
12:06
street and Raleigh and we're in Chapa
12:07
Hill so it's kind of just um know just a
12:10
lot of bickering going back and forth
12:11
but at the end of day is basketball so
12:12
I'm looking forward to it and I'm
12:13
looking forward to playing Tre so yeah
12:15
Drake had 17 tonight seems like he's
12:17
looking for a shot a lot more in the
12:18
recent games do you see the confidence
12:21
sort of building in him and what you
12:22
think is been the spark of that
12:24
confidence um we just been telling Drake
12:25
to be more aggressive like um we know he
12:27
can do all the little T things that he
12:29
does well for his team but um just being
12:32
aggressive when he has the ball um
12:34
whether that's you know driving to the
12:35
Rain knock it down threes which he did
12:37
tonight so uh when he gets the ball
12:39
don't be kind of just attentive just be
12:41
you and be be Drake pal so I'm glad he
12:44
did that tonight you can be a defensive
12:45
stopper too 100% yeah just with his
12:47
length athleticism he's able to recover
12:49
fast
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