Following NC State’s 88-68 win over Syracuse, Senior Guard Quadir Copeland and Senior Forward Darrion Williams met with the media to reflect on the performance, adjustments made at halftime, and the growth of the team as conference play continues.
The Wolfpack’s victory pushed them to 6-2 in ACC play, their best start in 20 years.
The full transcript of their postgame press conference is below:
Was this a Meaning Performance for Copeland?
Copeland: Yes, but no. The plan was the plan, to go in there and win. My teammates helped me in every way possible. They knew how important this game was to me. They knew the things behind it. So this whole week, they just been letting me know they got my back. And today, shoot, I don’t get nine assists without them making shots.
2nd Half Adjustments
Williams: I think just being more solid on defense. I think they were playing a lot of one-on-ones, so we really had to sit down and guard, know who we can and can’t help off of. And…rebound.
Copeland: He yelled at us halftime to get his back going. He got on our butts. But, you know, that’s what we need, that push. Because if we don’t, you see, we’ll continue to play lazy. So that push and to get us back on track, we needed that.
How Quadir has Grown as a person under Coach Wade the Past Couple of Years
I think today showed my growth, to be honest. Because I didn’t let this game get to my head. I didn’t let this, and all the stuff I’ve been working on, my maturity, you know, trying to let things go and just be a better player, trying to be a better person, to be a better basketball player. I think it all showed up today in this moment. I didn’t let the emotions get to me and certain things like that.
So, I appreciate coach today. He’ll put you through the dirt to see if you’re going to come out and survive. But that’s what I grew up off of, and he knew that. So the tough love is nothing at this point. You’ve just got to know what it’s for, and you’ve got to just know it’s love at the end of the day.
What it Meant to Williams to Play Well at Home
It felt good to finally make some shots in here again. But, I mean, as long as we were winning, I was fine with the result. I should have made one more to get him his 10 assists, but that was on me. But, I mean, it felt good.
And I just want to thank the 15,000 fans that were here tonight. They made a big difference, and hopefully they keep coming.
How Much Easier is it to Play Point Guard When Williams is Making His Shots Like he Did?
It’s always easy. It’s easy being a point guard, because when he’s (Williams) this good of a player, it takes so much attention away from me. If you look at my past years, I wasn’t scoring as much, but having a player next to you that takes the distractions away and everybody has their eyes on him, it don’t matter if it’s a good or bad game, his shots are on. People have their eyes on him.
So, it makes everything so much easier for all of us, and I don’t think people realize that and see that. We’ve got players stepping up, but, if you look at shots we’re getting, he causes confusion without even touching the ball.
Having those pieces and having those threats, also Paul (McNeil Jr.). You can’t help off the corner and stuff like that on Paul. Having those threats, it makes the game so much easier. And just being a point guard, they trust me. I trust them, and they trust me. You know, good and bad games, they never get too down on me. They tell me what I got to do. But, you got a team that trusts you. You got a coach that trusts you. It makes everything easy.
Williams’ Fast Start Helped Counter NC State’s Tendency to Start Slow
A big emphasis this week was just coming out faster, because at Pitt we started off slow. Clemson, we did a good job offensively, but our defense was bad. So, we’ve just tried to start games. We’ve got to get better at starting games and starting the second half off stronger, and that’s what we worked on all week, and that showed today and I made my first few shots. So, it just got me going a little bit.
Darrion’s Assists Helping the Wolfpack Offense
Knowing where my teammates are going to be when I’m in certain spots of the court. I had five turnovers today, which was way too much, but, that was just a lot of miscommunication and a couple of times I just lost the ball. But, I mean, I was trying to find, Ven (Allen Lubin) and Musa (Sagnia)…who do a great job when we’re driving, getting to the right spot to dump it off to them and they’re going to finish it. So, they do a great job.
Like he (Copeland) said, you can’t really help off Paul, so that opens the gaps. I think Matt Able did good, even though he didn’t make shots per se in the trade. I think the whole team will be just learning what spots we’re going to be when I’m driving, or he’s driving, or if I’m posting up or wherever he’s going to be.
Did Quadir Want to be Matched Up Against JJ (Starling)?
I called JJ before the game. I called JJ last night. That’s my guy, though. He’s family forever. He knows that. I don’t know if you guys see it, but the love and everything after the game. It’s all love, no matter what. We’re family. We’re competitors. I competed with him for 365 days myself, every day since the summer. When you already build that bond, you build that connection.
We didn’t see each other in two years. The first time we saw each other stepping on the court against each other, we knew the fire was going to come. We were having these conversations since yesterday, like I said.
But it was good to see him doing good, seeing him develop, seeing me develop and just us getting older. We were sophomores when we were just playing together, not knowing what’s going on. Now us being seniors, you know, being like the OGs of it all and it being our last year, it was good playing against my whole team.
Urgency to Rebound After Giving up 51 to Pitt
Copeland: Oh, my God. Yeah. Y’all know Coach Wade. I shouldn’t have to tell y’all too much. Y’all know him. You know how he gets.
They’ve got real athletic guys, so he definitely was really on that. That was an emphasis on this game. We’ve got a rebound.
It wasn’t really just rebounds. It was being tougher than the other team, you know. If you’re tougher than the other team, you’re not even going to let them go get the ball. So it was just being tougher and things like that.
Getting Straight Line Drives to the Basket
Williams: Q did a great job getting downhill. So, yeah, let him do his thing.
Copeland: Finding the mismatches. That’s what it was. You know, finding the mismatches. We know when it’s a little guard on me, we can set triggers and get D5 to switch it. Or if it’s too big of a guard on me, and I’m quicker than him, he’ll get the switch on me. So, we were just playing that two-man game, and finding the mismatches every time. That’s what basketball comes down to.
Growth of Musa Sagnia
Williams: I think he’s just getting more confident and more comfortable. He’s in there every day with Coach Howard. We worked out together this morning. He’s constantly in the gym. I think as his confidence grows, it’ll help us out a lot as a team.
Why Williams was More Physical Against Syracuse
I had a phone call with a family friend yesterday. They just told me I was playing really soft this whole season. So I just tried to play harder, be more physical with other guys until other guys brought me off my spot.
Thanks to him, but I don’t know. I just tried to be more physical with guys, especially with guys in this matchup.
That’s it.
