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UNC's Ven-Allen Lubin, Seth Trimble and RJ Davis after win over Pitt. #UNC
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it just felt great you know I think that
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something that coach are emphasizing you
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know for preparation for pit you know
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just to get the big guys involved in the
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offense just be able to for the guys to
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see me and just you know make those
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plays for me you know I think it was
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very huge for us how important is this
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win for you
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guys it's huge you know it's something
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that we can you know get ourselves
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rolling you know especially when we have
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a quick turn around for Monday playing
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Clemson you know just trying to get us
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on the right path and you know just get
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a head straight and move
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forward what was it like all week
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because you all had to Stew on that last
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L week so what
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was those just recovery you know
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recovery of our minds and our bodies you
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know just TR to get you know our mind D
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for you know game like this you know
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going to come out you know with a on day
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as well so we just trying to you know
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just prepare our bodies and our minds
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you know to be able to play as hard as
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we can you think you taking advantage of
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their switching early to get you some
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buckets that how that yeah 100% you know
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I think that's something that you know
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uh you know we try to really you know
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take advantage of whenever they you know
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teams plays like that you know just try
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to look for the big down low with the
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guards on them or for on the guards you
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know just taking on the big man so
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that's something that we found out early
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in the game and you you guys have been
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struggleing the previous two games
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against that had you worked on that a
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lot in practice we sure did this week we
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definitely you know emphasized it we
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worked on it you know all week you know
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just something that we really want to
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you know really exempt from the you know
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moving forward it was it was tight down
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the stretch I mean what was it like
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those last couple seconds of the game
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what was that like out there oh it was
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scary you know cuz you know we've been
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in these situations where it doesn't
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really you know end well with us so we
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just trying to just you know focus in
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just really trying to focus on you know
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not fing you know just trying to get the
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last shot you know for them to get the
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last shot and that make it and just you
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know trying to close it out how much of
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a relief was it to to get you know when
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the ball didn't go in there at end great
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relief it was able to breathe you know I
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could just feel like the whole gym you
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know like even myself just like holding
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our breath you know just cuz the ball's
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in the air just hoping for the ball to
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go in the ho so such a day was able to
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leave ourselves and enjoy this
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one from like a postseason res just from
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a team morale standpoint how much did
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you guys this game oh I mean this is
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huge for us we know we're in the uh this
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is kind of like the do die stage right
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now uh so you know we're not shining
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away from it it's not making us nervous
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but we're embracing it and we're just
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trying to take it one game at a time but
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we knew to to make this run that we got
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to make it starts with today so this is
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huge for us what made V so good today
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everything uh we got him his touches uh
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we didn't adjust during the game last
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week when we played them we didn't
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capitalize off of them putting their
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guards on their bigs but we did that
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today we were practicing that all week
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during practice uh and you know he
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really feasted for me I mean he got out
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right away I think he had like nine
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super early points and from then he was
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just incredible so then was H he was
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incredible what can a win like this do
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guys uh boost on morale boost on morale
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boost our confidence uh you know it's
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been a rough it's been a rough New Year
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it's been a rough 2025 since to since
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since the what am I trying to say since
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the season
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I'm I'm all over we've lost a lot of
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games recently we've lost a lot of games
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and we knew that we were trying to come
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on top in all these games and we were
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trying to do what we need to do uh just
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do the little things to get us out on
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top and it just didn't go our way a few
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of these games but to get this game was
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huge I mean we really needed this and it
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was a huge confidence boost the in the
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fashion you guys wanted too I mean it
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was it was a white knuckler all the way
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down yeah super tough we know these pit
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games uh they're always stuff that's how
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pit plays you know they they make the
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game ugly
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uh but you know we embraced it today and
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it worked out for us Seth you said this
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is the Do or Die type you know situation
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for your team or portion of the schedule
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and you said you're not shying away from
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that what does that look like I guess
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embracing that and knowing how important
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each uh each of these last few games are
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uh I think taking every game with a
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desperate approach taking every game
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with you know if we don't win this game
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we don't get to feed ourselves type of
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thing we win this game we don't get to
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see March you know that type of thing it
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may not be true it may be true I don't
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really know I don't know where we are in
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it but I feel like if that's the
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approach that we can take with it uh it
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just gives us that that that extra
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effort and that extra just that extra
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motivation do you feel in the in the
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last maybe five games or so or even six
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if you count today did you feel that was
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like kind of Weighing on you guys of
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like each game is that more important
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like do you feel that was way more yeah
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definitely definitely whether we lose
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four over last five or three last four
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yeah so every game we lost it was man
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this next game we really really need we
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really really got to get so just to get
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this one was huge you seem like you
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haven't been able to get your shot since
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you came back missing a few but it kind
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of came back today does it it feeling
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good now absolutely absolutely it felt
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really really good today uh I've been
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working working my tail off each and
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every day just to get back in Rhythm to
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get going from three again uh so today
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was a huge step for me the second I shot
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my first one I knew it was good
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those yeah I just felt like this week
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off was really good for us um it was
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huge for our Spirits obviously Los for
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the last five games is hard and um
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especially when it's like you know one
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posession game so I felt like this week
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off was really keen on our Mak sure our
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spirits and our energy was good and I
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think Drake in setad when do for the
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ball kind was a prime example of our
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energy um and just that I want to say
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desperation but just that energy the
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extra effort to get the ball because we
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w win uh just shows how much like um Di
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and we were especially last kind of
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possession of the game um pull out with
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wi how important was it for Luben to
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step up just this whole game yeah I mean
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van play extremely well he was huge for
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us um you know we asked him to do a lot
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but his presence was felt today the way
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he was able to kind of just set the
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screens and then roll out of the pocket
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and finish um it was huge and uh he had
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a lot of great plays towards the end of
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the stretch of the game um where he was
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able to get a another possession after
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misso with his hustle and then just kind
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of just being a force down low um and
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just making it hard for low the fans
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over him so uh V played extremely well
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I'm proud of him what was the
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desperation like in this gate you guys
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the desperation
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um we just wanted to win I mean that's
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just one thing about us and I just felt
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like our energy was just there uh
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sometimes it was a little bit um we was
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in cruise control a little bit in the
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second half but I think we picked it up
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the last two minutes of the game uh just
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just because we didn't want to uh lose
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the game and um the game was In the Arms
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Reach of grabbing and we was able to
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kind of just make the extra plays that
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was needed to win this is a 10th one
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possession game does that make it any
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easier N I just think at this point we
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just like nail biters and so it seems
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like these games they have the ball at
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the end yeah every single time it's like
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we score and then it's like uh now we
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got to play defense to see if they're
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going to make the game win or not got
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someone going in the lane and just crazy
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stuff how did you guys pull this how why
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did leg miss that shot uh just grit and
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um just kind of just making it hard for
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him we played uh 15 just switched on and
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off the ball uh and kind we knew he was
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either going to go to low or leg low was
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at the game out the game at that time so
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they went with is so it's kind of make
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the his you know his last shot um tough
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so they have about 13 seconds left they
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inbound ball in front of their VCH same
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spot BC did two weeks ago you guys made
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the play there then steps up makes it
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here but then there was all that chaos
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what what did you see from that chaos
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and what was that like to be involved in
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all that uh we just couldn't get to grab
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the ball I think um Seth and uh is I
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think they both Dove and I think like is
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like hit his head or it fell in his head
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and Drake had the ball in his hands and
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it slipped out so um that was my point
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of view from it it was chaotic but I
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just think those extra extra plays and
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effort plays right there just kind of
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kind of just summed up the whole
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game like the H in 13 seconds go you
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know one point game again yeah gam on
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the line we was just saying just to get
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a stop like um talk and communicate like
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uh HD was like um we're going to get the
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stop right now um they're not going to
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score and that was our mindset going to
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that last possession with 133 seconds
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left so it's like kind of a do it all
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you had the loose ball then had loose
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ball got to do it again yeah and I was
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trying to tell Seth and uh Drake to get
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up because they have any more timeouts
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left so land on the floor kind of give
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him a little bit time D for play um but
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I love the effort right there cuz you
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know that's what we need from what you
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seen from Ben today is that something
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new for this offense you think for Ben
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um yeah I just think we're just getting
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him more involved in our offense and he
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did a good job of kind of just making
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his presence be felt today um he set
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great screens and then he was able to
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kind of just finish and uh Vin was huge
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for us uh he's part of the reason why we
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won today he was able to kind of just
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make uh plays after plays throughout the
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whole game and definit confidence boost
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for him what it going to take to pull
8:33
this thing out Clemson on Monday night
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um we took care of business tonight and
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I know it's a quick turnar around so we
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just got to recover well uh prep for
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tomorrow and prep for Monday um but you
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know it's another away game against a
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really good team a really good team so
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it's going to take all 40 minutes all 15
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guys to really dial in and be consistent
8:51
throughout the whole game because uh you
8:53
know we got to go on the stretch right
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now yeah I mean you've been down to Clon
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a few times and everything it's always
8:57
kind of tough down there is yeah I mean
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100% I mean they're just a gritty team
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they play uh really well together
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defensively so they're going to make it
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hard so uh we just got to come ready to
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play our game Drake and Seth said you
9:07
guys were not desperate but you played
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like you were desperate and it showed up
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in that last sequence would you agree
9:12
with that how would you characterize the
9:14
level of desperation where you guys are
9:15
at right now I mean I I think our
9:18
desperation level is just more so just
9:20
wanting to win and knowing what's at
9:22
stake for us you know we got maybe what
9:24
eight or seven games left in regular
9:25
season so we trying to make one last
9:27
push and one thing about this team is
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that we're not going to go down fight
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and um I think we're all clear on that
9:32
we have the same message so our mindset
9:34
just to kind of finish a year strong and
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take it one game at a time and that's
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the best way you can look at the
9:38
schedule and then you guys missed two FS
9:40
of one in one seconds you you put
9:42
yourself in situation that have to have
9:44
something really go but and it wa yeah I
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mean I think that's I said I think if we
9:49
just like nail bodies at this point you
9:50
just like to uh feel the pressure and
9:52
just like kind of just let the game go
9:55
back to a game winner so um but I know
9:57
it wasn't intensely um Miss Fritos they
10:00
look good on my end um but you know
10:02
sometimes the B I don't know if um you
10:05
call them a rival but Seth Trimble was
10:07
saying we have a little bit of hatred
10:09
for them given the last how the last few
10:11
years have gone you've been here longer
10:13
than anybody how would you characterize
10:15
the battles you've had with pit the last
10:17
four or five years yeah I mean it's
10:18
always a hardfought game I mean playing
10:20
against them is just uh they're a really
10:22
great team they're gritty um and they're
10:25
going to make the game you know kind of
10:26
difficult for you to kind of just either
10:28
come off ball screens or make it hard
10:29
for you know to catch the ball so um I
10:32
remember just kind of just they got us
10:34
twice my junior year and then um playing
10:36
them last year and then playing them
10:37
again in the ACC tournament last year so
10:39
those games are always down to the wire
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and always you look forward to the type
10:42
of game because it's competitive so I
10:44
would just say it's more of like a
10:45
competitive a highly competitive game
10:47
when we play them when you get um Vin so
10:49
involved in the paint how much pressure
10:50
does that take off of you guys' guards
10:53
um it makes it easier for us you know
10:54
because they're playing two on the ball
10:55
me and EC so we're able to kind of just
10:57
find Vin um and he did a good job of
10:59
kind of just making himself available
11:01
and that was one of the key emphasis
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because we knew pit uh switched one
11:04
through four sometimes even 15 so we
11:06
knew like once they got a guard on Vin
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kind of just like punish him down in the
11:10
paint um and getting him in foul I think
11:12
we did a good job of doing that so we
11:13
got on on that subject the previous two
11:15
games you guys really struggled against
11:17
teams who are switching a lot what what
11:20
changed today because they stopped doing
11:21
it like after the second TV we weren't
11:24
um as stagnant we got the ball movement
11:26
and um our spacing was a lot better I
11:28
think um having this week off kind of
11:31
allowed us to work on that a little bit
11:32
because I felt like sometimes when we
11:33
did have a mismatch our spacing would be
11:35
like everyone was bunched up on top of
11:36
each other so there was no move to no
11:38
room to make a play um so our space was
11:41
a lot better and we was able to kind of
11:42
just make the plays for either ourselves
11:44
or for um one another R.J it seems like
11:46
you were shooting the ball better today
11:48
and same with Seth and it seemed as if
11:50
Elliot was dishing it better to you guys
11:52
um do you attribute that to the week off
11:55
how much did that play into that um I
11:57
think it's just team basketball I think
11:58
that's one thing that we just been
11:59
preaching going from good to great shots
12:01
and I think um I think Prim was that the
12:03
first half I know we missed it Seth
12:05
missed the corner three but um somebody
12:07
drove basine hit Kade and then hit me
12:09
and I drove hit Drake and then hit Seth
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so um that was just like kind of just
12:13
our um our message and our gist like
12:16
throughout the whole week is kind of
12:17
just play team basketball and play
12:18
together um so that's what's been
12:20
working work tonight so we're going to
12:21
keep going so mentioned a little bit of
12:23
hatred between and P at the coaching
12:25
staff down to the players I mentioned
12:27
last year's AC seminal two years ago in
12:29
this Center um how would you describe
12:31
that relationship you guys have some
12:32
close battles and some intense battles
12:33
the past couple years uh I'll would just
12:35
say it's a highly competitive game I
12:36
mean there's no hatred I don't really
12:38
you know have any hatred for any team
12:40
it's just more so I just um go out each
12:44
game is like they're the opponent and I
12:45
don't like them so at the end of the day
12:47
it's another team that's in stop of us
12:48
for trying to win games so they um
12:51
that's how I look at it
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