Story Links

JMU 75, No. 14 Virginia 73
Dec. 6, 2009
Postgame Quotes

Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan
Opening Statement:
“It was obviously a really difficult game. I think that all of the credit goes to JMU. I thought they out-hustled us and out-played us in many aspects of the game. But, by the same token, we got 87 shots today. I don’t know how you lose a game you get 87 shots in. You’d have to try to lose that. We got 87 shots and 51 rebounds. I don’t know how you lose that game. Dawn Evans was just too much for everybody to deal with. Everything they do runs through her. Tarik is also a very tough player to play against because she’s so fluid, and she shoots the ball so well. I really felt like I was coaching around players today. I couldn’t get players to do some of the things they normally do well, and that makes it really tough. I just had to go with a small line-up, and it was not what we would really want to do in this particular game.”

On JMU’s Dawn Evans:
“She really doesn’t compare to anyone in the ACC. She’s such a different player. She’s got the 3-point shot from way, way out, and she’s so quick. She leans well. With an inexperienced team like we have, we’re not very good at trapping yet because we just have too much inexperience. I felt like when we did trap, and we got a good trap on her, we got the ball out of her hands. A couple times towards the end, we really did a good job getting the ball out of her hands. Then when Ari went down, we had the situation with her getting the three, and nobody even on her. I don’t care if all four players that were left on the court were on her, and they shot a lay up. I would have been fine with that. But, don’t leave her out there for a three. That just made no sense. We’re still a work in progress; there’s no question about that.”

On Telia McCall:
“Real good lift from Telia today. I thought she made some great decisions and some rookie mistakes, but you’re going to get that. I had to play her; I couldn’t find anyone else that was really lively enough to be able to switch everything. I could trust her against the guard out there. I had to play her and that’s why.”

James Madison Head Coach Kenny Brooks
Opening Statement:

“First of all, I’m proud of my team, of my kids of what they did. It’s a wonderful environment, a hostile environment, and they’ve done a really good job of sticking together. We’ve had some sticky situations: it’s our fourth road game in a row, and they’ve done a fantastic job of staying together. A lot of that has to do with the leadership that we have. And even though Dawn Evans is a six game junior, she is leading this team unbelievably. She is an extension of me out on the floor and I don’t have to be out there screaming or calling time out. She really rallies the team and puts us on her back a lot of times. I’m very proud of her efforts and what she’s done. But the rest of the kids: you know we’ve ended each game with two freshmen, unbelievably talented kids. To come in here and play against a Virginia team that’s well coached, athletic, has one of the best players in the country, and to still be able to come away with a win, this will go a long way for our team.”

On playing UVa for the first time since 2004:
“We fight, we try to get everyone to play us. We feel like we work hard, we are a very good basketball team. I don’t know if we’re a bad loss to anybody, maybe by conference affiliation. The NCAA has a lot of good basketball teams. Hopefully we’ll continue to win, it won’t be a bad loss for them, and teams will continue to play us. I read a quote from Coach Ryan and it makes a lot of sense. She can’t play everyone in the state every year. When it fits, it fits. We just wait, and when she wants to play us we’re happy to come across the mountains. I’m glad we had the opportunity.”

On the performance of Dawn Evans:
“Well, I’ve watched that kid, so I think she’s one of the best players in the country; and it is just a matter of her getting recognition. I haven’t seen anyone that really out plays her. So when she does something like this, like she did tonight, I see it everyday. I see her do this everyday in practice: so it doesn’t amaze me. She hits those shots, at Tech, at Georgetown, I saw her against Georgetown last year, she put the team on their back and scored 22 straight points. I’ve never seen that happen. That’s the type of player she is. So when she does something like she does tonight, I see it every day.”

James Madison Guard Dawn Evans
On keying the upset of nationally ranked Virginia:
“We brought a lot of energy; we knew we were going to have a lot of fans because UVa is so close to us. We knew it was a big game, Coach emphasized that the next game was the biggest game. Coming into this we knew that UVa was a ranked team, and they are an amazing team with an amazing personality, so we just brought the energy and played extremely well tonight.”

On scoring 38 points:
“They started playing a box and one, they put [Monica] Wright on me, during the very end of the game they were double teaming me. It was difficult, they are a great defensive team, so it was difficult. My teammates, Jalissa and Nichelle especially, they just kept saying, ‘Dawn, Dawn, run her off of me’ to make a way to get me open. They were there to help me out of those double teams, they made sure they picked up that slack and set screens for me.”

Print Friendly Version