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Postgame Quotes
Virginia 77, USF 75
November 19, 2008
Virginia Head Coach Dave Leitao
Opening Statement:
“Without playing particularly well today, we still were able to win. And were able do it a little bit gutty’. In the last five minutes, we were finally getting some stops that we weren’t successful in stringing together in the previous 35 (minutes). We had some timely plays on the offensive end and a couple of mishaps that we didn’t pay prices for. Those kinds of things hopefully mean that as we look at this thing overall, we can have enough experiences to grow from. If that’s the case then today ends up being a real positive day.”
On Calvin Baker playing at the end of the game:
“Calvin’s in a different role, more of a leadership role, as a captain. I have given him an opportunity, I trust that he’s a little more solid because of experience on defense to be in there at the end, and he was. Then to have the presence of mind to get into the lane, a couple of times, once to make that floater that bounced off the rim a bunch of times and then went in, and then to get fouled, and then to make that assist it just kind of shows that he’s got enough resiliency. Because obviously he didn’t have a great day, and I think when you don’t have a great day and you still can make plays at the end, it shows enough character that a coach can believe in you.”
On Sylven Landesberg being so comfortable so soon:
“I didn’t expect that in the first two games he’d get 28 and 21. But I never really worried about his presence. He’s got a quiet without cocky presence as a basketball player and I noticed that early on, and it’s just getting him caught up from an experience standpoint, but he’s got a very good mind for the game and a very good competitive spirit. Most good players that grow up in New York City have that by reputation and his reputation happens to be true. I’m not surprised by his mindset.”
On importance of win in terms of getting season started:
“Looking at our schedule, to play an opponent from a heck of a league, and play at home, then it becomes important that you win those games. We want to get off to a fast start, and we’re 2-0, and we need to take care of tomorrow in preparation for Friday. We’ve got some very difficult games ahead that we have to get ready for so you don’t want to give away home games at this point in the season.”
USF Head Coach Stan Heath
Opening Statement
“Had we won I would have said this was a fun and entertaining game. I thought both teams played well and the game could have gone either way. The free throws were the huge difference. We didn’t make ours and they did. That was the part we just could not quite overcome. I am proud of our guys and I thought we fought hard. We made some mistakes but we are going to clean it up so it doesn’t happen anymore.”
On Sylven Landesberg:
“It was hard to judge from the VMI game because of their style of play, but he was very impressive in our game. There are two things I noticed. He has longer arms than you think and has a quick step. If he keeps working he will be a very successful player for Virginia.”
On the second half:
“ We did not do much different. They drove it against us and we were a little late rotating. I thought both teams were aggressive and in the end of the day the numbers speak for themselves.”
On the new transfers:
“We will have two more weapons. Mike Mercer is a proven player and will take a load off the guards. It will give us a nice clean rotation and keep other players fresh. Augustus (Gilchrist) will give us some front line play and can rebound the ball.”
On Virginia:
“We respected Virginia coming into the game. They play in a great conference, as do we. I think the teams that finish in the bottom of our league can go into other leagues and finish in the top four or five. The same can be said for the ACC.”
Virginia Forward Jamil Tucker
How he felt tonight:
“I just felt good. When I have guards like Sylven (Landesberg), Calvin (Baker) and Sammy (Zeglinski) out there, I can knock down threes and I know they are waiting to penetrate.”
On his consistency this season:
“I try and work hard everyday. I am going to do my best whether it is VMI or USF or whoever. So far, I have had two good games.”
Virginia Guard Sylven Landesberg
How he felt about getting some big shots:
“I went out there with a lot of confidence. I had the support of my teammates. My teammates were screening people, which gave me the opportunity to take shots like [the game winner].”
On coming off the bench:
“As long as I am going to play it doesn’t matter whether I am coming off the bench or starting. The position doesn’t matter either I’ll play whatever position, whether that is the two, the three, or the four. It doesn’t matter.”
USF Guard Chris Howard
On UVa:
“I’m from this area. I paid a lot of attention to them. I came out of Virginia and I went to high school in Maryland. I remember days when they were really, really good and they were winning the ACC and they’re getting back to there now with the great young talent that they have now.”
On being the “brains of the operation”, pumping up his teammates:
“Definitely. It really came down to getting one stop, and for those guys to get a layup out thereit was kind of disappointing. But we fought hard and we’re going to learn from this and bounce back.”
USF Guard Jesus Verdejo
On the end of the game:
“It was all on Dominique [Jones] to try to score. We’ve always got confidence in him. He took good shots; those were two good shots. I think in the long run, when we play again we just need to be mentally focused.”
On team strengths:
“I think we executed our offense really well: a lot of motion, a lot of short cuts. Besides that, I think we ran our fast break really well. We just didn’t contain the ball like we were supposed to.”
USF Guard Dominique Jones
On the last two shots:
“I just needed to make them. They just didn’t go inlike a lot of my other shots. I knew we needed three pointsthey just weren’t falling in today. But there’s still another game, and another game, and another game, so we’re good.”
On defense:
“I don’t think we played good defense as a team. Along with us letting them score a lot and us missing shots, it just added up to a loss. The good thing we can take from this is with all the mistakes we made we still only lost by two.”