Gillispie: UNC not one-man team

Kentucky Coach Billy Gillispie did not see the continuing inactivity of All-American Tyler Hansbrough crippling North Carolina in Tuesday night’s game.
“Then they’re down to four or five pro players inside instead of of 6 or 7,” he said at a news conference on Monday. “I wish he was playing because I’m a big fan of his. It’s impossible to replace a player like him. But they have really good players.”

Here are other highlights from Gillispie’s news conference:

(UNC plays fast, VMI beat you in an uptempo game. How do you compare the two?)
They’re better than VMI. I didn’t think VMI was fast from one end to the other. They shot it fast. As far as speed and athletes, it’s not comparable.
They have one of the beset point guards. He makes it happen. The system is fantastic for it. It’s one thing to run, and another thing to run and make plays. . . . Speed in transition, I don’t think anybody’s done a better job in a long, long, long time. I’m talking about every possession.  They really emphasize it and (emphasize) instilling their will upon you in transition offense.
(Kentucky coming off loss to VMI)
We have to get better. Every single player has to be bewtter. We have to coach  better. I’m certain we will. We have inexperienced players who won’t make the same mistakes they made. I want to be aggressive, I want to be more organized. I want to carry out assignments better.
(what’s the point guard situation; the points had six assists and 12 turnovers against VMI)
That was just game experience. It’ll be a difficult sitaution with a difficult team to play against. Everybody talks about their offense. They’re really good defensively.
Michael (Porter) was a little bit nervous. I didn’t expect that because I didin’t see it all year. DeAndre (Liggins) going to need time. For the most part, they made pretty good plays, especially DeAndre. We didn’t help them enough. We understand. We’re going to have problems at that spot for a while.
(Gillispie also said Jodie Meeks will play just a little bit of point guard, but hardly any. They need his scoring)
(How did Patterson have only one post-up basket against VMI?)
The way the game was played (was responsible for) 75 percent. The other 25 percent was he didn’t get off to a good start. As a sophomore, he didn’t respond as well as I’ve come to expect him to respond. We’re not going to ignore him anymore. There will be times we miss him, but we won’t ignore him. . . . I’m not concerned about Patrick. I know he’s healthy. Anytime you’ve been out for six months, it’s not going to be easy. He’s worked his tail off. We have to do a better job utilizing him.
(UK’s defense gave up 111 points vs. VMI. What did you think of defense?)
It wasn’t very good. The biggest part was transition defense. It was as bad as I’ve ever seen. We didn’t communicate. We didn’t help each other. We were a little selfish out there defensively.
(whatdo you think of Zeller and Davis)
They’re great. Two fo the top, if not the top, incoming post players in the country. They have unbelievable hands. unbelievable knowledge of the game. . . .  They fit perfectly into (North Carolina’s) system.