NCAA National Championship: What UNC is saying about Villanova

Saturday night the North Carolina Tar Heels had a tough act to follow; they had to face Syracuse in the Final Four just 30 minutes after Villanova completed the most impressive, one-sided win in Final Four history (over Oklahoma by 44 points).

But UNC showed they are a worthy adversary in Monday night’s title game (at 9:19 p.m. on TBS) handling the Orange by 17 points.

With the clock ticking and tipoff looming for the Heels in their 11thNational Final (in contrast to Villanova’s third), here is what Roy Williams and his team are saying about the upcoming matchup.

Kennedy Meeks on how to beat the Wildcats:

“Villanova is a great team. They’re coached by a great coach. They do some similar things as we do.

“Our main goal is to play a similar goal to what we played tonight, get the ball inside, really try to pound it in there and knock down our free throws.”

Joel Berry on Villanova’s defense:

“I think they do a great job of taking pride on the defensive end. As you saw tonight, they won by I don’t know how much, 44. But I think they did a great job of taking Oklahoma out of what they wanted to do.

“We just got to be able to move the ball. Do what we always do, get the ball on the inside, play inside-out, everything else will be good, so…”

Brice Johnson on Villanova’s hot play:

“Those guys are a very good team. They’re really hot right now. They held one of the best players in the country to little or nothing today. They all play together. They space the floor. We’ve just got to go out there and play.

“We’re going to have the same attitude that we had tonight in Syracuse. They have a great shooter in Kris Jenkins. We just got to go out there and just play our game.”

Roy Willams on whether he knew about Villanova’s big win Saturday:

“I did not watch one second of Villanova-Oklahoma game today. Even after we got here in the arena, I told them, Give me a place where there’s no TV. I read the Syracuse scouting reports for times 61, 62 and 63 because I thought that was more important to me.

“One of my coaches, either Coach Robinson or Coach McGrath had Villanova. Coach Davis had Syracuse. So I know one of those guys had it. They’ll give me a scouting report early tomorrow morning before practice and we’ll make out a practice that will help us do some things and get to know them a little better.”

Williams on facing Nova:

“I know Jay Wright. I love Ryan, the way he plays. Kris Jenkins. I remember going into Nate’s home, recruiting Nate, really liking him. Even telling someone that if he didn’t sign early, I might try to see if we could get that undersized four man that I thought was going to be a big-time college player, and that was Kris.”