ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 8, 2023

Earl Grant

Jaeden Zackery

Quinten Post

Boston College Eagles

Postgame Press Conference

North Carolina 85, Boston College 61

EARL GRANT: Give North Carolina a lot of credit. I thought they played well. Today made a lot of shots. Kind of got us down pretty early. Thought we showed some fight back at the end of the first half.

They had another quick run in the second half that kind of got the game out of hand a little bit in terms of the margin. But really proud of our players. Not so particularly just talking about this game, but just for how hard they work to try to move this program forward.

Q. How much of tonight was you guys not playing up to your ability, or was it just UNC talent all around playing one of the best games of the season?

EARL GRANT: I think it was a combination of we put a lot of energy over the last week and a half to put ourselves in position to finish the season strong. Guys have worked really hard, and then we had a big win yesterday.

I think for us, we didn't play our best game, but we had just exerted a lot of energy up until this point. I think North Carolina -- I think they played one of their better games. From watching the game today, being a part of it and just studying them on film, I thought they did a lot of things well.

Q. Jaeden, Caleb Love and RJ Davis combined for 40 points. What was the challenge of guarding them?

JAEDEN ZACKERY: Honestly they were just hitting a lot of shots today. We had a game plan to block in on Bacot double him and then just contest the shooters and hope they missed a few shots, but they came out and shot their best today, so that's what made it difficult.

Q. Quinten, obviously battling ankle injury, you come back, how did you get ready for today's game.

QUINTEN POST: I think it had been a day-to-day type thing for the whole weekend this weekend. I didn't feel ready to play at all. I was in a boot.

Yesterday I made the split time decision not to play, hoping that we would win. Also just because I wasn't ready. I couldn't run on my ankle too well.

Big shout out, big credit to our staff for getting me ready. A lot of massage therapy, a lot of ankle stability work. This morning I felt a lot better. Swelling had gone down. Still some pain, but I felt good enough to play.

Q. You all mentioned the energy that was exerted over the last week and a half even getting to this point. Just from a season-long standpoint and dealing with whatever the injuries you dealt with and everything this year, how challenging was it to get through health-wise to get to this point and manage the roster over the course of the year? Coach, I know you've mentioned it a couple times.

EARL GRANT: The first thing I'll say is the fact that Quinten even played today, how he looked the last two days, give him a lot of credit for showing toughness because I wasn't sure he would play in the tournament just from watching him from how he was moving around.

But overall, this is one of the best seasons I've ever been a part of. We saw everything. We saw every setback, every disappointment, every injury, every adversity, and the way the players handled it day-to-day says a lot about their character. Because we had some really, really tough patches early in the year trying to play games with three or four guys out.

You know, I'm sure Jaeden Zackery can talk about it more than me because he went to be the No. 1 option, top of the scouting report every night for like 10 games in a row, and he could feel the pressure.

I know the pressure mounted, but he handled it well, and our team handled it well. I thought we really grew this year and we built strong character for the future.

Q. Over the course of the year, Quinten, how hard was it for this team battling through the injuries and kind of what did it teach this team just to get to this point, especially down here down the stretch?

QUINTEN POST: I think our guys dealt with so much adversity throughout the year. Obviously for me personally, it was such a big blow to kind of hear that I had to sit out for the first part of the season.

Just proud of the guys for adapting, adjusting, and then also grateful for the coaching staff and the guys to kind of accept me back into the rotation and have me be a part of honestly an amazing season. I think we're moving the program in the right direction. Just so proud to have been a part of this season with these guys.

Q. How will you use this heading into the off-season as motivation to get ready for next year?

JAEDEN ZACKERY: I feel like we're just going to use it as motivation, kind of see all the adversity we've been through and what we're capable of doing. We know this loss hurts, but we had one hell of a year beating some top-ranked teams. I know our record is below .500 but I felt like doesn't really express kind of how great we played this year. So we've got to use this and realize that we're capable of beating anybody in the country.

QUINTEN POST: I think obviously like you're striving for a year like healthy. I think this just built so much character. We played a lot of freshmen this year. We were a pretty young team. I think for those guys this is so big. Yeah, it's just experience.

Also for Coach, for the whole staff, getting to know us, getting to know how to utilize us properly. I think towards the end of the year we were really running good, good offense, and we were locked in on defense.

I think what we did, what we built upon from last year is we built an identity, so that was big time, and I think that's big time for the program to move into next year.

EARL GRANT: Yeah, you just keep working hard. Obviously we wanted to see growth and progress this year. We saw growth and progress. I think when we reflect and look back on the season and really take a deep dive in it, we'll realize how strong we got from the adversity and be proud of the efforts that everybody put into moving the program forward.

Q. Building off of that, and this is probably a better question for the players as well as for Coach, but just from a respect standpoint, I know that everyone talks about Boston College gaining respect and working their way back. Do you feel that last year, this year, the last couple of months has now kind of sent that statement that BC is on its way back and started to earn some of that respect back?

EARL GRANT: Yeah, you know, again, we all came here for a reason. We came here to be respected. We came here to build a great program. We're striving to get to the NCAA Tournament. We're going to continue to strive, and we're going to take this into the off-season, learn from it. We've got a 4 and 2 in August and we'll be excited about growing and developing the team as we try to move into the next phase.

JAEDEN ZACKERY: Yeah, I feel like they have no choice but to respect us at this point. These last two years, I know the record is not all the way up there like some of the teams, but when you come play us, you know you've got to fight hard and it's going to be a battle, so I feel like that over the last two years feels like we've got to deserve respect.

QUINTEN POST: I think Jaeden said it perfectly. I think towards the end of the year we were really a team that other teams kind of didn't want to play. I think they knew that they were in for a battle regardless of the final score. That's just big credit to the coaching staff and to our guys for just staying with it and building that identity for ourselves.

Q. Quinten, I know the game just ended, but have you thought about your future with the team? Obviously you're a senior so that question comes into play.

QUINTEN POST: I would have to have a conversation with the coaching staff after the season. I haven't really had that. Shortly, but kind of see where their mind is at and then go from there.