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VIRGINIA BASKETBALL
Postgame Quotes
Virginia 68, Maryland 63
Virginia Head Coach Dave Leitao
Opening statement:
“I just told the team that when that 3-pointer went up the first thing I said was poetic justice’ and two, that god works in mysterious ways.’ There was no better way to finish off one’s career and season. Obviously we needed Mamadi’s performance it was timely and I think that not only Mo, but the rest of the team talked about the need to play with a higher energy level and I think we did that for the majority of the game.”
On Mamadi Diane’s performance after his frustrating season:
“As I said, not everything has been easy. It’s difficult for anybody to have a tremendous amount of success and then struggle for any number of reasons. I can’t remember a time though, even this year, when he stopped coming in the gym. He handled not playing and frustration as well as a young man can. He has been forthright and honest. There has never been an issue as far as that goes.”
On the defensive plan:
“We practiced against [Maryland’s] flex offense for a couple of days before the game but I felt more comfortable with the zone.”
On giving Mustapha Farrakhan more minutes:
“Mustapha has been energetic. This whole group hasn’t given up on the process. When some teams are in the position we are in, they will cash their ticket in, but no one on this team has come close to doing that. It was like that for Mustapha, I didn’t know whether he would play well or not but I felt comfortable with putting him in.”
On the team’s reaction:
“They’re extremely happy for Mamadi. They genuinely feel for him through good and bad. The one thing about this group, we could win or lose and come back in the gym the next day and I really couldn’t tell whether we won or lost.”
On starting and then continuing to play Mamadi:
“I told him yesterday that I was going to start him because he has had some tremendous moments and I wanted the fans to honor him, and then I said we would take it from there. The amount of minutes he would receive would be based on what I thought would be the best group of five to help us win the game. When he came off that screen after shooting the long shot for our first two points of the game, he was comfortable and confident. Whether the shot went in or not, my eyes told me he was ready so he got a longer rotation as a result. He was the one guy at the beginning that applied more pressure so he got more time.”
On the disparity between Virginia’s play earlier in the season versus now:
“From the first time we played Maryland on January 20th to now, we’ve played differently. It hasn’t always resulted in wins or great performances, but we’ve played differently. I have to look at our play with some level of optimism as we move forward to the ACC tournament.”
On Assane Sene’s injury and how he will move forward:
“Two things happen when you get injured this late in the year: one, you have to rehab; two you have to get your psychological edge. In this case, it is Assane’s ankle that has cost him a great deal of playing time, but as I told him before the game, I couldn’t use this game as a proving ground to see if Assane got his edge back it wasn’t fair to him or to the other guys. I tried him and I think his ankle feels pretty good, but that is what practice is for.”
On finishing the season with a home win like this one:
“We’ve been through a lot, our team, our staff and most importantly our fans who want us to be better and do better but it didn’t happen like that. It just proves that you have to keep plugging and good things will happen. I think people are happy about it since our opponent is only two hours up the road and I think it gives us some momentum moving forward.”
Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
Opening statement:
“They made a nice run in the last part of the first half to get back into the game and then they took it to us a little bit to start the second half. I thought we made a good effort to get back into the game. We had a shot to take the lead, but that didn’t go in for us. They hit some great shots, which you have to give them credit for. It is a game where you look at the start and almost think it is too easy. We weren’t moving real well in our zone offense and it hurt us. I was proud of the comeback we made, we could have given up there but we didn’t. It was a tough loss, but we’ll be ready to play down at the ACC tournament.”
On Diane’s great performance on Senior Night:
“I thought it was a possibility that Diane would play well on Senior Night, but I’ve seen it go both ways. Some guys get tight and don’t get out of it during that game, but [Mamadi] was tough. He made some big shots and that is a nice way to end your senior year.”
On Vasquez’s possession after Diane’s three:
“I had him run a screen and roll play. Greivis has been a great player for us all year. We’ve won a lot of close games this year and we didn’t get the shot we wanted there, but it isn’t all about the last play there are 39 minutes before that.”
On what he said to his players after the game:
“I said we go home and get ready for practice tomorrow.”