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Nov. 12, 2006
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
VIRGINIA COACH Dave Leitao
“On a night like this, I couldn’t be any prouder to be the coach of this basketball program and the guys that are in it. Believe it or not, it’s been a very trying few days, just trying to focus in on the game in what was an event. It’s hard to keep the guys focused, particularly because we went through so many things from an adversity standpoint physically.”
“After halftime, you can talk about Mo and Jason responding, J.R. toughing it out. Sean’s got cramps, and he turns it up to a higher level than I’d seen him play before in terms of speed and just making things happen.”
“I didn’t anticipate a 93-90 game, but obviously I’ll take it. And again, I could be wrong, but I think we played one of the very best teams in the nation today. They’ve got experience, they’ve got versatility, they’ve got skill, they’ve got athleticism, and we hung tough and gave ourselves a chance. “
“We didn’t play a great defensive game. Obviously, offensive rebounds are something we have to work on, and transition defense. But we did a really, really good job of just stemming the tide at the right times, and obviously at the right times making big plays offensively.”
(End of first half) “At the under four-minute time out, I told the team that if we can try to win these last four minutes, cut it to somewhere around 10, it would be manageable. Arizona is a high possession team. They don’t work the shot clock, so if you don’t lose your patience, I thought we were going to have enough possessions to make a run. Obviously, we came out of the gates [in the second half] quick and made a couple of big shots, but it [the halftime deficit] was within striking distance.”
(On Sean Singletary) “Playing 37 minutes and cramping up and only turning the ball over once – it speaks to who he is. And to only have 11 turnovers for the game as a team. You can’t keep turning the ball over. They’re too good and they make you pay. That I thought was a big key to the game.”
Virginia Players
Senior Forward Jason Cain:
His thoughts on the game:“We came out sluggish, but towards the end of the second half, everyone just came together and believed in each other, and that is what pretty much brought us back.”
On his individual performance:“I feel like I did enough to help my team get the win, and I feel like I can get better and play better. I’m just glad we came up with a victory today.”
On Virginia’s team chemistry:“It’s pretty evident from the second half that everybody decided, it started late, but everybody decided to come together and trust one another, and good things happened for us.”
On what was said at halftime:“Pretty much we were killing ourselves, and you can’t let another team come in on your home opener when you do all these things, all these big events, and score 100 on you. You got to come down and just buckle down on defense.”
Sophomore Guard Mamadi Diane:
On the meaning behind his performance:“It’s great. We just went out there with the desire to win, and we knew what we needed to do and have done it every day in practice. We came out sluggish, but in the second half, everyone picked it up and everyone contributed. We played hard, and it’s a great win, but we still realize it is only the first game of the season.”
On what allowed him to have this kind of performance:“I have been working really hard all off-season just like everybody else. We have all been working hard, but tonight I just happened to be in the right places at the right times, and the team kept finding me in open spots.”
On his changing role as a second year:“It is definitely different and I am now taking one more of a teaching role. I’ve been telling guys, ‘This is how it is supposed to be done,’ and [their position] is the same position I was in last year. It is kind of odd looking at it from the outside, but I am glad to be able to help and I am trying to make their transitions as easy as possible.”
Junior Guard Sean Singletary:
His thoughts on opening up John Paul Jones Arena:“Well, it was exciting opening up the Arena; excitement with the announcer (Michael Buffer), Earth, Wind and Fire the night before. It was a storybook ending kind of. We just played our hearts out, and I give a lot of credit to Arizona. They are one of the best teams in the country and we played them to the wire, we just came out with three more points.”
On facing down Arizona Guard Mustafa Shakur:“He is one of the best point guards in America, which is obvious from how he runs the team, shoots the ball and penetrates well. He’s got size, and he is a good player. I give a lot of credit to him, he tries hard, and he gave it all he had.”
On his growing leadership role:“I now have year under my belt as being a leader, and it’s coming to me pretty naturally. We got guys that listen, and this is a family atmosphere, and I am like a big brother to my team. It is my job to lead them and guide them in the right way, and they really listened well tonight. They listened all week, and we had a great week of practice leading up to this game. We knew we were going to get the win because of the good week of practice. When guys are on the same page, you usually get the win.”
On the tempo of the game:“This year we are going to play up-beat. We are going to push it at them, and whenever they score or we get a rebound, we are going to push it right back, and we did a good job of doing that today.”
ARIZONA HEAD COACH LUTE OLSON
“Obviously this is a great building. It’s going to be very helpful to Virginia, I’m sure, in a lot of different ways. The crowd was really into the game and no question they helped Virginia get back into it.”
“In the second half we just put Virginia in the bonus situation. And the fouls-we need to learn how to play defense without fouling. I think they scored 20 points off the line in the second half. We just need to do a much better job with the foul situation.”
“I thought [Ivan] Radenovic played extremely well; he played like a senior should play. He did a nice job in all phases for us. So we had some positive things. Tough game to open with, but I’m sure we’ll be better off from what we can learn from watching the tapes. “
“Diane is a good player. We knew that he could shoot. He’s a good athlete. Five-of-6 from the three-point line, you don’t expect that he’s that good a shooter. Some of those were taken under pretty good pressure, but other times he had open looks.”
“Singletary is very, very quick. He makes a lot of things happen with that team because he can shoot it outside. What really hurts you is his ability to get the ball to the basket and when that happens there are going to be some people open.
Arizona Players Quotes
#15 Senior Guard Mustafa Shakur
On losing the lead in between the first and second half…“It’s a learning experience for everybody. Hopefully we’ve learned that we have to come out the same way and play two halves.”
On the loss…“It’s very disappointing. I’ve lost some games like this; Ivan has; Jawanna has. It’s disappointing for that reason. Being an upperclassman, I couldn’t help my team as much as I wanted to and do some more things to help us get the win.”
On the match-up again Virginia’s Sean Singletary…“He did great; he did great for his team. He provided a lot of energy and leadership for his team.”
#5 Junior Guard Jawann McClellan
“They didn’t beat us; we beat ourselves. They got a lot of offensive rebounds. I take the blame for it being an upperclassman. We just didn’t share the ball like we should have in the second half. We just have to come out and play all the time. Like I said, I take the blame for this loss; I’m an upperclassman. We’ve got to be better prepared. The coaches did their best job to prepare us, and we need to come out and know that we have Arizona across our chests. Just because we were up by 13 or 20 points in the first half, doesn’t mean they weren’t going to keep coming.”
On what went wrong in the second half… “People weren’t where they should be. We work on this time and time again in shell drill everyday. It’s a team effort, and everybody knows we need to come out and play at all times. We just look forward to doing that Wednesday night.”
On Virginia’s Sean Singletary…“He means a lot. Without him, I don’t think they’d be the team that they are. He gets it and goes. You can tell at the end when they were icing the clock, even when they hit the baby jumper at the end, it’s because of his creation. He’s a good player; he’s undersized but he has a shot at the line and a lot of people don’t have that. He showed that tonight.
#3 Sophomore Forward Marcus Williams
“I don’t think it was us getting shut down. We just have lapses on certain little things – cutting off the drive or help-side. Rebounding was really big this game; I think we got hit hard on the glass. We came into the gym, and there’s nothing you can do but learn from it and move on. You realize the feeling you’ve got right now in the locker room; you never want to feel like this again.”