Mustafa Shakur Quotations

If it's Carolina, it's always been one of the powers, especially with (Michael) Jordan and James Worthy coming from there and guys like that. It's always been one of the big time schools.

We survived. It's just day to day now.

I think we have to have better help defense. It's getting a little too easy for guys to get easy lay-ups and easy baskets, period. There isn't a lot of team defense down there.

We have to play our brand of basketball, no matter what they are going to do. They will slow it down, but we have to take control of the game so they can play our way.

We really came together and played as a team. Everybody had energy from one on down to 13. Sometimes it takes adversity for you to get in the right frame of mind.

Two or three hours later, guys were laughing and joking like nothing happened. I just wanted to get some key points across, say what I felt, and if anybody had anything else to say, speak now or forever hold your peace.

We all want to play for 40 minutes but can't get it done. Nobody wants to go out there and not play the right way. We don't like losing. But we have to go back and play like we left off.

We had to come back home on a good note. It was so important to get back in a rhythm again.

We had three pros in the last two years and I had a role to play, ... It was frustrating to be in the position I was in because I've always been a scorer. I was just trying to do what's best for the team. A lot of people didn't see that; they just assumed I couldn't score. This year, I'm going to have the opportunity to be more of an option offensively. I'll be more aggressive on the offensive end and hopefully I'll be able to show what I can do.

You have to have an open mind and try to learn the game. You might think you're there talent wise, but you have to learn the mental things that will make the difference between 15 minutes and more time on the court.

We tried to take away what we did wrong and what we did good.

We tried to get after them and we got them to make some turnovers,

We just need to play harder. We need to keep playing and play tough within the conference. We need to keep playing like we did in the conference, despite (Saturday's) loss.

I started off with a few turnovers and that kind of trickled down to everybody. I could have done a better job of taking care of the ball. Maybe my teammates would have been more relaxed.

This is a night where we really came together and played like a team. Everyone had energy from one on down to 13.

This is an opportunity to be around pros and watch Steve going around the court, trying to pick up some things.

They're a tough team at home, and they're looking for (another) big win. But we're looking for one as well, so it'll be a tough game.

It was a team win because, no matter how many points somebody scored, we played like a team. There was enthusiasm and everything. Whatever was needed to help the team win (was there).

It's tough to beat anybody three times in a season. It's not going to be an easy game.

Not being ranked is definitely odd. But we've been picking up at the right time, and people forget what happened in '97. All people remember is the championship.

I knew after that the game was over. I knew we had the momentum, the game was over.

I'm very familiar with some of their players.

I just told myself we're not going to lose. I just concentrated and did the things I always do as I walk up to the line. I didn't feel nervous at all.

In a game like this, every second counts. Every possession counts. That's the biggest thing you can take away from a game like this. You have to play with a greater intensity to win games like this.