March 3, 2001
Clemson head coach Jim Davis:
"We were a little worried about that basketball game. We had lost two
very fiercely competitive games against North Carolina, and we felt like
it was our turn. ... I just thought that we defended so very well in the
first half - and really in both halves. We allowed Juana Brown to catch
and shoot on us in both games before. She only got four three-point
field goal attempts (today). So that was huge for us."
"Erin Batth means so much to our basketball team, and she was limited on
her playing time today. I told her and I told the team that this proves
this is a team game. We were able to pick her up on a bad day, and
tomorrow may be her day."
"We did a great job in defensive transition. Second-chance points -
that's huge for us. And we did a very good job making contact boxing out
and aggressively going after the ball. I thought we did a good job of
putting pressure on the ball. Marci (Glenney) and Nuria (Forns) -
they're two small forwards, and they're in there battling 6-5s and 6-3s
and they just fight their hearts out. So all those things combined
limited their points in the paint."
Clemson forward Marci Glenney:
"What is real important to this team is rebounding., and more than any
other time this season we were focused. You could see it in warm-ups.
Everybody was ready."
Clemson guard Chrissy Floyd:
"We have really been focusing on rebounding, and tonight we outrebounded
them and limited their second-chance points. We really worked hard in
practice on boxing out and jumping to get the rebound. ... After losing
to them twice by one, it was just something that everybody had on that
minds."
North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell:
"Well, the bottom line we knew was going to be rebounding, and which
team was the most physical. That was it. Both shot percentages were
almost identical. They did go to the foul line a little more. Of
course we fouled some there at the end. But we knew the rebounding was
going to be major and make the difference. They got 15 offensive
rebounds and they pretty much manhandled us."
"When you get to tournament time, usually it's the team that's the most
physical is the one that's going to advance. That's pretty true to form
for this game. I think that Clemson has an excellent chance of winning
the whole thing, to tell you the truth, for that one single reason.
They play good defense. They're extremely physical, especially under
the basket."
On the rivalry between UNC and Clemson the past three years:
"It's really funny that the last three years, we've developed a pattern
with Clemson. Whoever wins the two regular-season games loses to the
other in the tournament. That's happened this year. Last year, we lost
to them in both regular-season games, then beat them in the tournament.
The year before that, we beat them in both regular-season games, they
beat us in the tournament. So we've set a three-year pattern. I guess
it's better not to win the regular-season games."
On preparing for Clemson:
"Clemson wins because of defense and rebounding. It's not their
offense. We didn't start off strong offensively where normally we would
put up some points quickly. I credit their defense for lot of that.
That's why we always have such battles with them, especially come
tournament time."