'We're Making The Right Steps' - Seth Trimble On UNC's Bounce Back Week

After making quick work of Notre Dame, UNC’s come-from-behind victory inside John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday put an exclamation point on a week that saw the Tar Heels get back on track.

Finishing with 16 points, five rebounds and two assists, Seth Trimble earned praise from Hubert Davis as UNC’s best player against Virginia — and KenPom agreed, rating him the team’s MVP with an offensive rating of 182, the highest mark by any Tar Heel starter this season.

The Tar Heel senior captain joined On3 partner The Field of 68: After Dark on Tuesday to discuss Saturday’s win over Virginia, North Carolina’s season to date, and several bigger-picture topics.

Read some excerpts below… 

Coming Back Against The Cavaliers

Seth Trimble: “We had a rough first half. This was a game that we really really wanted and we wanted to feel some more momentum off of that Notre Dame game. 

“We didn’t have the first half that we wanted. In that locker room at halftime, we spoke about how we want a fight, but we weren’t throwing the punch, so we were talking the talk, but we weren’t walking the walk. 

“So that was pretty much the moral of the story coming out of that locker room, and it really amped us up. It made us realize, we’re right, we’re soft right now. We’re not throwing any punches, no matter how much we’re talking about it. 

“So it was time to go do it, and we played a much more physical second half, much more efficient second half, just everything was a lot cleaner. 

“That was a North Carolina performance defensively that we knew that we could give. So it felt really, really good to validate that we’re making the right steps, and getting back to that.”

The Point Guard Puzzle

Trimble: “I’ve always seen it, and this is how I’ll continue to see it for the rest of the season — Derek (Dixon) and Kyan (Evans) they’re my two point guards. 

They’re the point guards who I believe in. They’re the point guards who I put my trust in, and they’re the point guards that I’ve seen be great in practice, and I’ve seen work our team, and I’ve just seen be good for us. 

So those two are definitely my guys. We’re on the same page. I always see myself as somebody who can be a point guard, but I’m not with this team, and that’s completely okay with me, but it’s there. It’s there in case I need it, with those two guys being out.

“Those two, those are the point guards of the team, and they’re our guys, so keep rolling with them.”

Renovate or Relocate the home of Carolina Basketball?

Trimble: “You can’t move it. When you think of the University of North Carolina, instantly, what you think of is that gym. You’re taking the history, you’re taking the impact it has on the campus, you’re taking everything that it does for this university away. 

“So I think without a doubt, you can’t take it, plus Coach Williams has already come out. You’ve got to renovate, Tyler Hansbrough said it. So if they’re saying it, you just gotta listen to them.”

College Athletics Culture

Trimble: “On the players end… when you want to protect traditions and you want to keep what a former player has built, and you don’t have those four-year guys, you don’t have those guys that have came in here, have learned the culture, have learned the history, and you don’t have them to teach the other guys, it alters the program a bit, you know? 

“So a coach can’t do it all by himself — they can, but it’s hard to. But it always helps when you have those player led groups that can help carry that tradition and teach things that the alumni taught us and stuff like that. So as much as it affects them, I feel like it affects programs as well…

“If I could tell student athletes to just take their time. What’s right for them is going to be right for them through one year, but just not not to rush things. Especially with transferring, too, the grass isn’t always greener.”