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Feb. 17, 2007

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Virginia Head Coach Dave Leitao

Opening comments…
“This time of year winning games is paramount; you’ve just got to win. One of our focuses coming into the game was not to lose two league games in a row. We did that once before early in the year. We don’t want to do that, particularly at this time of the year. We play it day by day and get as many wins as we can. I don’t think we played our best basketball, particularly offensively where we left a number of points out there on the floor, and we were still a little shoddy defensively. I don’t think it was our greatest game of the year obviously, but again you find different ways to get things done. Sean was really, really energized today, and as a result he kind of gave other guys that weren’t as energized more energy and allowed them to make plays.

“Obviously Adrian and his shots – the lift fake for the three was huge, the timing of it, and the confidence he took it with. Tunji was big for most of the game. Will gave us some solid minutes, especially defensively in the first half guarding Thorton who by my estimation, and I don’t know if he will get player of the year and I won’t talk about our two guys, but sometimes it goes to how well your team has done. Without Toney Douglas, he is carrying a heck of a load and I think he is a special, special player. He’s got a lot of positive ingredients that he brings to the court, and he’s got a lot of energy in his body as evidenced by what he did in the second half to us. Really, he’s such a tough guard for anybody and even tough for us, but fortunately we withstood his great second half to win the basketball game.”

On Virginia’s play against Florida State’s Thorton…
“We did an admirable job. What we were talking about with him is work; he’s going to score some points. There were times he got offensive rebounds and kind of bullied us a little bit just getting to the basket, but that’s what he does against everybody. But I thought for the most part they did a decent job and again he is terrific, and I don’t know what will happen. But as I told his staff, I don’t know that I want to play against him when we get to Tampa, but obviously we are going to play against whomever we have to. He’s a terrific, terrific player – 16 rebounds which speaks as much to his energy as his skill and athleticism.”

On Virginia’s low number of fouls against Florida State…
“We have been talking for the most part during the season, but particularly in preparation for them, to defend without fouling, defend without fouling, don’t get them into the bonus and those kind of things. Obviously there are going to be situations in which fouls are created, but I thought we did do a good job of not fouling them and making sure they settled for shots that were contested. I think we missed a lot of different assignments, but for the most part I thought we did a decent job at that.”

On Adrian Joseph’s play…
“Particularly in this game because early J.R. didn’t make shots and Mo didn’t make shots today early or late, so you need somebody else. The other guys that can make shots weren’t getting as many minutes, so you need somebody else. Again, as we get deeper into the season, scouting reports catch up to you. Sean doesn’t have the openings that he had earlier in the year; J.R. as well, so you need guys like that. I don’t have a whole lot of doubt that as long as he has his legs underneath him that Adrian can make a ton of shots if he takes good, balanced shots.”

Florida State Head Coach Leonard Hamilton

Opening comments…
“First half, I thought that we couldn’t get the necessary stops on a consistent basis and I think Virginia had some good looks, the shots just didn’t go down. I thought when we came out the second half, they scored about three or four baskets in a row, and we dug a hole for ourselves. I was proud of our kids for fighting back; it’s kind of tough to do on the road against a team of this quality. We came big out of that 12-point deficit, but we could only cut it to one and could never seem to get over the hump from that point. I thought we had some guys step up and give us big efforts, but the type of team we have now, we need to have everybody playing very well for 40 minutes. I thought we had a five or six minute stretch at the beginning of the second half where we just couldn’t get the necessary stops and I thought that made a really big difference in the game. Once we got in that hole, we dug out, and cut it to one; we just couldn’t get over the hump.”

On Adrian Joseph’s play…
“We have always had tremendous respect for him. If you give him those looks, he’s going to knock them down. You end up giving Reynolds and Singletary so much attention that when they penetrate, and they are quick enough to get past a guy who is guarding them. Even though I thought we did a decent defensive job, they did get into the lane, and you had to respect that, and then they kicked it to Joseph on a couple of occasions. He scored once in transition, and he hit two shots after pump fakes; he hit two threes and that’s difficult to do – to catch the ball while a guy runs at you, pump fake, and then knock it down. That’s a very difficult shot to execute, and he hit two of them. That just shows he’s an outstanding shooter with a high level of concentration.”

#30 Jr. Forward Adrian Joseph

On Al Thorton…
“He might be one of the toughest players to guard in the league, being almost 6’9″ and being able to do all the things he can do: shoot the ball off the dribble, be behind the arc and post up. So it’s really hard to guard him.”

Overall thoughts on the game…
“We slacked off a little bit in the first half and tried to pick it up in the second half and towards the end of the game. That was a big part of our win.”

On being 9-3 in the ACC…
“It’s a great feeling to be in a position like this right now. We’ve just got to get in the gym and work on what we do best, then head over to Miami and work to get the `W’.”

#21 Jr. Center Tunji Soroye

On starting the past two games…
“It’s been bringing up my confidence a lot. I’ve been working hard, trying to get over my injuries and stuff, but now I’m feeling 80 to 90 percent better.”

On his offensive game…
“Every day, every minute, I’ve been working on it.”

On coming out in the second half…
“We just had it in mind that they’re not going to beat us. We came out [in the second half] with a lot of energy and that was the key to our win.”

On his free throws…
“It wasn’t good today, but it was one of those days, you know? I work a lot at my free throws, but I didn’t come through today.”

Florida State Player Quotes

#25 Jr. Guard Jason Rich

On his team’s missed opportunities today…
“It seemed like they went up, we fought back and there was one possession where we needed to take the lead. They found a way to hit a big three or get to the free throw line. It seemed like we just couldn’t get over the hump.”

On whether or not his team still has a shot at making the NCAA Tournament…
“I think so. This is a very strong league. We have key wins on our schedule. We have a lot of positives but it isn’t going to be easy. We are going to have to take it. We have to let these last four games go. They are over and done with. We just have to step up, it isn’t anything more than that.”

#3 Jr. Guard Isaiah Swann

On guarding Virginia’s perimeter players…
“It’s tough. They have a good group of guards. You can contain one, maybe J.R. [Reynolds], and then [Sean] Singletary beats you. You have to do both. You can’t do one or the other. And if you contain both of them, they have [Adrian] Joseph to step up and hit a couple big threes.”

On rallying back in a hostile environment without Toney Douglas…
“I think if we learn from this we will be fine since we are learning something in a loss that is so close. Every possession counts. You have to play your butt off every possession or you will be in trouble.”

#12 Sr. Forward Al Thornton

On his team’s performance today…
“We made a couple miscues . We cut it to one and then lost it. It was an uphill battle the whole day. It’s tough to come in and beat someone on their home court.”

On Virginia’s J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary
“They are great guards. In my eyes they are pros. You can’t contain both of those guys.”

On what his team can take from this game…
“Well this is a good Virginia team. They are tied for first in the league and we were right there with them. Our miscues are correctable. It’s not a talent or ability issue. It’s just correctable miscues and that is a positive we can take out of this game.”

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