Everything Jai Lucas Said After Upsetting No. 11 North Carolina

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Jai Lucas wanted to make a statement, and he did.

He holds his first signature win of the season as the Miami Hurricanes upset No. 11 North Carolina, marking the beginning of the Jai Lucas era.

It is something to build on, and while they celebrate, they also know there is still more to do ahead of the final stretch of this season.

Opening Statement...

"I first just want to thank the fans for showing up for us, but especially the students. I thought the students section was electric. This is what I envisioned this building being and what we have to make it moving forward. I was glad that everyone came out and saw the team. They compete, they play hard, they're an exciting team, they're fun to come and watch. I think everybody got to see that tonight. I think they battled. They battled. Our guys battled.

They did a really good job. We had a bunch of guys log heavy minutes. I told them before the game that the game was going to be one on the glass and taking care of the ball. We really took care of the ball today and that was kind of the separator. It's kind of the thing I was saying all week and been saying to the team is everything that has gone bad for us has been self-inflicted. You know it hasn't been one team I've sitting there watch except for maybe the Clemson game where I said all right maybe something else but Cal turnovers, Florida State turnovers, Boston College, Syracuse even the ones we've won. The turnovers has hurt us where they should have been 12 to 15 point wins. They end up being six, but we took care of the ball. We competed on the glass and we kept battling. We kept battling."

On the moments at the end of the game and excitement with the fans...

"I didn't even really get to see it and really, I guess, enjoy it. I was just going through the handshake line, I saw it on the way out. It's exciting, I'm just happy for the guys. Ever since day one, they've just been here and been all in. And so for them in this moment, for everything we've talked about, to finally get there, it's not over. This ain't the championship or anything, but this is hopefully will get us down this stretch because we got a tough stretch coming up."

On what it says about his team that never trailed in the game...

"I think they're resilient. And I feel like they've shown that all season, all the close games that we've been in, you know, the Pitt game we were down and had to come back, Wake Forest. I think about all these games on the road where we battled and competed. And to finally get one over a ranked opponent, I think is our fourth one we played.

To finally get one over a ranked opponent feels good. But the best thing and the most exciting thing for me is we were who we were. We didn't do anything special. We didn't do anything different. You look at our box score and this is what it usually is, 46 points in the paint, 12 offensive rebounds, double them in free throws. This is Miami basketball. So that's what's exciting about it is just because it was North Carolina and it was a big environment and a great event, we stayed true to our identity and our standards."

On how the team started the game on both ends of the floor with the energy...

"We did a bunch of different stuff defensively, and so they did a good job of just adjusting on the fly. Now, it went better in my head than it did in person because North Carolina is extremely fast. So trying to transition into the zone early in the game, we gave up some 3s just because of their pace and their speed, and then once we got to it, we were able to kind of adjust and get through it, but the guys did a great job. And we played our game, you know, and the biggest thing is that they came out punching, and so did we, and then we kept punching."

On Ernest Udeh...

"Huge. Ernest is one of the people I'm probably on the most and he'll probably tell you that and the team would tell you that If I if you ask him and I had to get on him in a timeout because he was giving in to fatigue and he was getting tired. And then he came out and he got three huge offensive rebounds right after that timeout and he got the lob. He closed the game for us. His growth since he's been here has been amazing. There's not enough I could say about Ernest."

On holding North Carolina to 26 points in the second half after 40 in the first half...

"We did a better job guarding the 3-point line and just being there and contesting them. I felt like they hit every 3in the first half--7 for 13--everybody who came in hit one and then in the second half we we were kind of stuck in no-man's land and we kind of adjusted and our close-outs were better and we were just able to be able to there and contest them was the biggest difference."

On slowing down Caleb Wilson...

"Just give hi as many looks as possible. We trapped them, we went zone on his catches. We just did a bunch of different things to kind of confuse them. And then we wanted to put them in a bunch of the actions on the other hand, just to kind of wear him out. And it was a big part of the game, especially in the first half, with them making the 3s, but him not having a rhythm early. It kind of changed the game, because if he was having a rhythm and they're making 3s, it'd been a different game."

On the win giving them momentum down the stretch...

" I hope so. It feels like hopefully the guys feel like, they got over a hump a little bit of quality win or whatever resume. But like I was saying, we have six more Quad 1 games on the schedule. So it's not like the schedule gets any easier. We have got to go to North Carolina State next. It's coming off a big loss. So they're gonna be breathing fire. And so we have to enjoy this for now. 24-hour victory. And then when we get back in here Thursday, we have got to ready to turn the page and get ready for North Carolina State."

On having a sense of urgency in limiting turnovers...

"They'll stay the same. My thing has always been we have got to take care of the ball and just our attention to detail. All of our losses except for one have been in the margins and just little things have got us whether it's free throws, whether it's been our turnovers or so just the attention to detail and discipline that it takes to do that has been really the biggest thing I stress and I've told them taking care of the ball for us, if we can stay in single digits if we can stay 11 and under turnover, we'll be fine."

On Malik Reneau against double-teams...

"He took his time. He had been rushing a few games, he missed one bunny but he took his time and he made good reads and good passes out of it and kind of opened up some other things."

On Shelton Henderson's health status before the game...

"I don't know what that tweet was. He was never anything. He was always full-go but we have got a bunch of guys playing a bunch of minutes so no one's 100 percent. Everybody's a little banged up whether it's like a bruise here, a tweaked ankle there. My job is to be as smart as possible and try to get them where they're as close to a hundred percent as possible for games."

On Malik Reneau and Ernest Udeh's double-doubles and rebounding...

"It's huge for us because those guys are a big part of what we do and for them it's what I expect from them because I think they're that good. I believe that as a big combo there is not many that's better than them. So their impact and their stat sheet should look like this every night. I don't think the rebounding is just more effort than anything. Ernest in the second half and the last 10 minutes changed the game. That's something we have to do at all times."

On UNC not being able to create advantages on offense...

"I got good players too. We got good guys over there, Shelton, Trey, Dante. Timo's a really good defender with his size and his range. Salih is as physical as they come. He may foul a lot, but you're going feel him within the game. I like to say we wear on you. We wear on you for 40 minutes, you have to deal with it. You have to deal with us. And then eventually, you start to wear down a little bit. I think we saw that where we were able to get some separation a little bit late. We had some turnovers that kind of kept them in it, down the stretch with the press and stuff that we got to clean up because North Carolina State presses the whole game. So just little things, little details."

On Dante Allen and Shelton Henderson defensively with help from Tre Donaldson as a leader...

"It has been the benefit of having two freshmen who can play in the game especially early is that by the time you get to February you hope that they have developed to where they can play these heavy minutes and they have. Shelton's been consistent really since ACC play started where he was usually like 16 to 18. He got tired in the second half so he wasn't able to kind of get to the next gear and then Dante just impacts so much out there. He wins, he competes, he makes little plays, he gets a steal, gets a rebound, gets an and-1, just those things start to add up and I'm excited for them."

On the turnovers created being more timely...

"Great question. I have got to watch the film a little bit, but I did think that they were more engaged. And I don't know if that was from the zone or the man being able to play more gap principles in the zone. But I thought our activity with our hands, we have been preaching deflections for a long time. I thought our activities with our hands were really good."