/
.
Virginia-Miami Post Game Quotes
Story Links
Feb. 3, 2007
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
| AP Photo Gallery
Virginia Head Coach Dave Leitao
On tonight’s game…
Obviously in winning the game today, the most satisfactory part about it is our maturity off a very emotional night Thursday with only a day to prepare. We were walking into the building tonight and people were saying `congratulations’ from Thursday night and never said `good luck’ for today. That is what we were dealing with from a mental standpoint. So what we were talking to the guys about was maturity. If we can fight through that and dealing with success is as delicate as dealing with adversity and that was our chore over the last couple of days. I thought at the beginning of the game we responded well. We didn’t play our best game, didn’t play our best emotional game, but I give credit to them for taking care of their business. We saw North Carolina lose today, Texas lost at home today; Oklahoma State got beat by Colorado today–and the list goes on and on of upsets. We could have been easily upset and we’ve been in positions where we have been, but I thought we toughed it out more mentally today than physically and obviously Miami is a dangerous offensive team and our guys got the win so we’re real happy about that.
On being tied for first place in the ACC…
We need to try to embrace it. We’re not alone in first place so we have to continue to fight. We have a very difficult game on Tuesday so if we’re not successful there, then there will be three days where we’ll get to enjoy it. It’s something this late in the season that you can look at as an accomplishment, but the only accomplishment that we’re really looking for is the one that comes at the end of the season that means that you’ve had a really good year. This journey is long and arduous and we have to do it day-by-day.
On J.R.’s play…
I was on him earlier in the year for not playing the way he’s playing now in a lot of different aspects. My assistants kept telling me this is exactly what happened to him last year. We got off to a slower start and really kicked it in gear and maintained that throughout the year. Basically the same thing has happened this year where he didn’t play as well early and really locked himself in and understood what he needs to do to be successful on both ends.
On looking ahead in the season…
Given what happened the last game here against Maryland, that is our concern right now. They are going to be licking their chops and they play very well at home. It almost getting to desperation time for them and it’s a tough match up for us. We have to look at the rest of the season on a day-to-day basis. If we do anything else we’ll be unsuccessful.
Miami Head Coach Frank Haith
Opening comments…
“I thought our perimeter defense was poor tonight. Their perimeter guys completely dominated us on the perimeter – Diane, Singletary, and Reynolds. We really struggled keeping those guys from going where they wanted to go, and they got into such a good rhythm shooting the basketball, which made it very difficult for us. When we did not defend them and they made shots, we ended up fouling and putting them on the line, which made them very difficult to defend. You look at the stat-line; we make one less field goal than they make, but they make more free throws than we shoot. They’re a good team; their backcourt is probably the best backcourt in the league, with Singletary and Reynolds. Those guys completely dominate the game.”
On Miami’s shooting…
“I think we had open shots; we just didn’t make shots. I think we had good looks; we didn’t make shots. This game is all about making shots, and I didn’t think we made shots early. We missed lay-ups. We got in there, we missed lay-ups, we missed open Js, and they got separation from us.”
Virginia Player Quotes
#1 Fr. Forward/Guard Will Harris
On his increased minutes…
“It makes me happy. It makes me feel like the hard work is paying off. I’ve been putting in a lot of extra work lately and it’s showing.”
On his rebounding…
“I try to do what I can and rebounding is a big part of the game. Sometimes everyone can’t get the rebound, but I try to get the rebound every single time.”
On shooting three-pointers…
“I’ve got to keep on working on it and get more shots up. As long as I get more shots up, they’re going to start to fall in.”
On Miami’s increased physicality in the second half…
“They came into the second half down, so of course they’re going to try to be a little more aggressive. But we withstood it and pulled out the win.”
On ACC basketball…
“There aren’t any nights off. They bring it every night and that’s very different from high school.”
#44 Jr. Guard Sean Singletary
On preparing for the game…
“We just had to be mature about coming back and playing a good team. We just worked hard in practice and came out and played a good game.”
On his free throw performance…
“I was just off. I was off-balance and lost my focus a little. It’s something that can be fixed.”
On his leadership role with the younger players…
“I don’t have to be too hands-on with them because they’re really mature. They’re great players and they’re really hungry to play. You don’t have to tell them twice to do something, they don’t make mistakes, and that’s always good.”
Miami Player Quotes
# 32 So. Forward Brian Asbury
On what Miami can take away from this game…
“One thing we can take from this game is that we have got to be able to hit open shots when we get our chance to. We also have to play better perimeter defense like our coach had told us. We were playing horrible perimeter defense.”
On Miami’s preparation for Virginia…
“Basically, we tried to shut down their perimeter play, rebound, and stop them in transition.”
On Miami’s successes in this game…
“It’s hard to recall, because basically we were just trying to fight back and I can’t recall any of our main successes.”