AUDIO: McNeil Jr., Williams & Breed After NC State vs. UNCG (transcript)

Paul McNeil Jr., Darrion Williams and Alyn Bred met with the media for their postgame press conference after NC State’s 110-64 win over UNCG this evening. You can listen to the audio above, and read the transcript below.

Box Score

Quick Hits

Will Wade’s Press Conference (Audio & Transcript)

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How do you guys feel about your performance, just overall, if you don’t mind?

McNeil Jr.: We felt great about it. We had a slow start, if you ask me, but we were in the locker room. We fixed it, had a couple of techs earlier in the game. We had to sort it out, calm it, get our guys settled.

Williams: Yeah, I think we did a good job towards the middle and towards the end. Just extend the lead and kind of just put it away. We’ve got to come out better as a team. We know that as a team, before coach even gets honest about it, we were all talking about it. So I think we got to be better with that.

Breed: Yeah, I feel like they got a good point. We had a couple guys down today, so everybody had to step it up. I feel like we did a good job doing that.

Alyn, first of all, for you, just being able to have that opportunity after what you’ve gone through over the last year, what did that mean to you to be able to step in? Obviously, it comes with Tre (Holloman) having to leave the game, but what did that mean to you?

Breed: It meant a lot, man. I’ve been with (Will) Wade for almost two years. He’s got a lot of faith in me, and I’ve got a lot of faith in him. I knew my time would come. I knew I had to step up for my teammates today. So I just made sure I went out there and I played hard and did the best I could.

And for the two of you, what did it mean to have him out there on the court doing what he was doing tonight?

McNeil Jr.: Man, it felt great because we know what A.B. can do. Honestly, in practice, man, he’s been looking great. You look phenomenal. He can put a lot of business forward. So when he was out on the court and doing his thing, it wasn’t a surprise to us, because I know what he’s capable of doing. He believed in himself, and we believed in him, so it was good for him.

Williams: Yeah, I think just the time leading up to the season, he was in the training room every day just trying to get better. The first few games, the minutes were the minutes, but he stayed ready. He never pouted or felt bad for himself. He stayed ready, and you’ve seen it tonight.

Darrion, you obviously hit some big threes there, but also Q (Quadir Copeland) was on the bench. There was a little bit of encouragement, but there also looked like maybe he was coaching you a little bit. What is your relationship with him like, and what does he bring to you specifically?

Williams: Q is one of a kind, I think. If you’re around him enough, you’ll understand that. His energy and relentlessness throughout the game. Me and him just talked about trying to bring the energy. I think the energy was slacking in the beginning, kind of what I said earlier. He just wanted to make sure, he didn’t start the second half, but when he was coming in, he was ready to go. He was trying to make sure we were ready from the bench.

For Paul and Darrion, career highs for both of you tonight. Talk about what that means for you all.

McNeil Jr.: It’s a blessing, if you ask me, man. We put the work here for it, man. Work is always going to show. You can never hide your work ethic, you know what I’m saying? That was our biggest mindset going into the game. Whatever the team doesn’t do, we’re going to do. For me, man, I’m just thankful for God for giving me the opportunity to play out here at this level. It was amazing for me.

Williams: Yeah, I mean, it felt good for me personally, but I was more proud of Paul just because of the work I’ve seen him put in, the work, the growth he has since the beginning of summer, when I first met him to now. I think when we were going to all the media stuff, everybody was saying Paul McNeil, and everybody was like, ‘Why you keep saying that?’ I think people are starting to understand it now. So I’m just really proud of him.

How much of a calming presence was Alyn at point? It seems like he’s a little bit different than the other core players you guys have.

Williams: I think he did a great job. He came in, like you said, controlled the game, got our rhythm together. I mean, it felt like we played together for a little while. Still got a few things we can fix, but I think him just being aggressive and him just being himself, I mean, that’s all we ask of him. I think he came in and just did a great job controlling the game.

McNeil Jr.: Yeah, Alyn, like I said, he’s a great player, man. He got a good pace to his game. I think it helped us get our shots also because he is a threat on offense. He can score the ball in a hot clip, but this game we had a goal, so he was another type of point guard. He’s just passing the ball to us and getting our open shots, but definitely, Alyn is definitely one of a kind.

Darrion, what was your perspective on, I don’t know what you want to call it, but what happened early on in the game with Tre? What was your vantage point and what happened? What did you guys sort of see?

Williams: I didn’t really see what happened, to be honest with you. It kind of just happened.

McNeil Jr.: He’s our brother, man, so if you feel like somebody’s messing with one of his brothers, obviously he will say something to him. I don’t think he deserved to get ejected out of the game. I think that was a little too much, but the refs made the call and did their thing. We’re not worried about that too much, so we’re just blessed to win the game.

Darrion, 10 boards for you. How important is your rebounding with this group in particular? And how important as far as the points of emphasis, has that been with your conversations with Will (Wade)?

Williams: Yeah, the first couple games I did a terrible job rebounding. I think I had like two or three defensive rebounds, and Coach got on me about that privately and in front of the team, so I just wanted to come out here and rebound. Get back to the old ways. Last year I took a dip in it, but I want to get back to where I was my freshman and sophomore year and rebound it.

This is for anybody. At NC State there’s been a lot of expectation. Do you feel like that’s a responsibility? And then the second question, at times when you guys are up 20, 30 late in the game, are you playing maybe not against the other teams, but playing against the scoreboard to keep up the standard?

Williams: Yeah, I mean we’re just playing to our standard regardless of the scoreboard, regardless of who’s in. So Coach made an emphasis on that. Whether you’re in late, or just throughout the game, no matter what, when you go in, you’ve got to be effective and play to our standard. There’s no lack for it. If we don’t play to our standard, we pay the price next time in practice.

To piggyback on what he said, just playing to our standards, doing what Coach wants us to do, that’s really it. No matter what the score is, no matter what situation it is, do our job, get the job done, keep it up.

Breed: Yeah, exactly what they said. Coach is on us hard no matter who we’re playing against. So, you know, we just have to play to our full expectations andbget the job done and not let up off the gas.