Postgame Quotes

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VIRGINIA BASKETBALL
Postgame Quotes
Virginia 76, Longwood 57

Virginia Head Coach Dave Leitao

Opening Statement:
“We’ve been together for more than two years and this is probably one of the most uninspiring performances we have had. It’s obviously not acceptable and we’ve got a lot of work to do to get better and we’ve got a short time to do it in. So we have got to sharpen ourselves in a number of areas and when and if we do that, we’ll start the process of getting better. But now we’ve got a whole lot to get better at.”

On practicing during exams:
“You block out practice times. It doesn’t mean you practice less when you’re in the gym. You practice on specifics, and you practice at a high level. I’m only asking them for a couple hours a day.”

On the break between games:
“We’ve got a number of days until the 19th when we play. We didn’t play well on Wednesday after an eight-day break, so one could surmise that it’s a bad thing. But at the same point in time, back-to-back practices like we’ll have over the next week and half will probably be good as well, so it’s hard to say.”

On the play overall:
“I’m not looking at anything that I saw from a positive standpoint or an individual standpoint. If you have a flat tire on your car, does it matter if it’s shiny?”

On what needs to be improved:
“Right now, there are a lot of areas that we need to work on. The amount of turnovers is one of them. They shot at 28 percent, but I don’t think our defense is very good, so there are a lot of different things that we need to improve on right now.”

On their play during practice:
“This team is really hard to gauge. For the most part, after we’ve lost, we’ve at least played with some inspiration. We didn’t do that today and again, I think that any coach at any level of any sport, if they had the answers to controlling how their team could perform, is probably already in the Hall of Fame or on their way.”

Freshman Forward Mike Scott

On the Cavaliers win:
“It wasn’t the kind of game we thought it was going to be. We came out a bit sluggish and coach really got on us about not playing defense. We took too many shots. We weren’t taking quality shots. They were forced or contested. It was an ugly win but we did come out with a win.”

On adjusting to playing in the five spot even though he is a natural four:
“I played five back in high school. My natural position is definitely a four but we have Tunji [Soroye] out so someone has to come in. Someone has to take over while he is gone and I will do that. Hopefully when he returns I will be back in the four spot.”

On his eleven rebounds tonight:
“I’ve always had a niche for rebounding. Adrian and I battle before every game to see who can come up with the most rebounds. I don’t know how many he got but I am pretty glad I got 11.”

Senior Guard Sean Singletary:

On the disappointing performance:
“We didn’t really execute much. I am sure our guys have a lot of things on their plate with exams coming up. We struggled this time last year too. We just need to get back on track because we only have three or four games before ACC play.”

On the 12-day break before the next game:
“I think it will be good for us. We have some guys that are banged up. I’m a little sick, so we will get some good rest. But we are also going to practice hard.”

On Mike Scott’s play:
“Mike is growing. He is the best of the young guys. He is definitely coming out. He had the ankle injury, so that slowed him down. But he is playing smart and he is playing hard.”

Longwood Head Coach Mike Gillian

What were you thinking when your team was down by four in the second half?
“This is one case where I can honestly tell you, I had no idea we were down by four points at any time in the second half. I’m kind of surprised we got to within four points there because we scored maybe eight points in the first few minutes and then didn’t score again for five minutes because we turned the ball over five times in a row.”

What do you see in the UVa team this year with J.R. Reynolds gone?
“[Virginia] still has a leader. Sean Singletary is going to have a fantastic year. They are going to need other guys together to step forward and fill that J.R. [Reynolds] role….I think they have a lot of capable players that can combine to fill that role and much more. I think very bright things for them for the rest of the year.”

Junior Guard Ryan Bogan

On coming back from tonight’s loss:
“We’ve got to keep practicing and keep working together. We’ve got to keep depending on each other and good things will start to happen for us. We can’t just get down on ourselves. We’ve got to keep pushing for something better.”

On playing defense against Virginia’s Sean Singletary:
“You’ve just got to be ready. Everybody knows about the kid, so you’ve just got to be ready and do what you can do. You’ve just got to play him straight up and be prepared for what it is.”

Junior Forward Kirk Williams

On tonight’s game:
“It was a good outing for us. I think there are better games for us to come.”

On coming back from tonight’s loss:
“Practice. That’s all we’ve got to do. Practice. We need to become more of a team and once we do that, we’ll be really good.”