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VIRGINIA 87, SHEPHERD 52 (ex)
November 9, 2008 John Paul Jones Arena
Virginia Head Coach Dave Leitao
Opening Statement:
“This is the first time we’ve had the opportunity publicly to start the process of evaluating and figuring out our group. Obviously I still have to watch the film to get a complete understanding of what was good, what was not, and what we’ve got to work on. For me, my mindset has been that we have to do a better job defensively at every stage, all season long, beginning with today, and I thought we pretty much did that. I thought by and large that there are some things we still have to work on, but at the same time we did a better job then I thought we would do, especially at this stage. We’ve got a long way to go and we’ve got to figure some things out with some people and lineups, but we’ll take it as a step forward and learn and grow and try to get better.”
Have you seen improvement from the beginning of preseason practice to today’s performance?
“We’ve had two opportunities [to evaluate the team], last Saturday in a closed scrimmage and today, and if I was looking at those two dates I would say yes to that. From where we started out, just going back to the summer or even going back to August and the practices then, I think we’ve made some strides, even on the defensive end. Still, we have a long way to go. We still have a lot of growing to do, but based on those two performances I would say we’ve made some progress.”
On what he thinks the team needs to improve on:
“Continuity. I think we have to continue to learn, not only from each other, but what we’re trying to do out there on both ends. There are some core values defensively that I think we still have to understand; things that are acceptable and not acceptable. It’s emotion. We’re running around and I think that sometimes we’re running around without a purpose. I think we’ve got to become more purposeful in what we’re doing and then put the whole thing together.”
Virginia guard Sylven Landesberg
On his first college game at UVa:
“They said this wasn’t even a big crowd, but I felt the energy out there. At first, I was a little anxious and I had some jitters. Then it all wore off and my teammates were behind me, helping me out the whole way. It was just great.”
On college life at UVa:
“I couldn’t have made a better choice in coming here. There are just a lot of good people here. I’m always with my teammates and they’re great people to hang out withthey’re funny on and off the court. I just love it.”
On what the team needs to improve on:
“Coach Leitao tells us every day that we need to talk more. So that’s basically the number one thingwe need to talk to each other during the game.”
Virginia guard Jeff Jones
On his new leadership role:
“Coach said that everybody on the team has got to act older. If you’re a sophomore, you have to be a junior, if you’re a junior you have to be a senior. So I definitely feel myself stepping up out there, being a leader, being aggressive and just communicating on defense.”
On Sean Singletary’s departure:
“We have some big shoes to fill and we all know that. We all feed off each otherif one guy makes a shot, it gives the other guys energy.”