Postgame Quotes

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Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett

On the small lineup:
“We’ve gone with four guards in the past. There’s a risk that you take on the boards, but sometimes it can give you an advantage offensively. Fortunately for us it worked today.”

On trailing by 10 points:
“Our guys showed some real resiliency, especially when we were down by 10 points, and they fought back hard. They got some tough stops on defense and made adjustments on the other end. They wanted it so badly, and they were so tough mentally.”

On his ACC debut:
“I didn’t come into this game with any expectations. One of the reasons that I came to Virginia was because the ACC is a huge draw. This was a tremendous opportunity for us and I’m glad that our guys made the most of it. When you go on the road in the ACC you better be locked in.”

On Sylven Landesberg:
“Sylven has been under the weather. He’s been sick, but he locked in and made plays for us today. He has a knack for making special plays. He’s really becoming a big-time player.”

On Virginia’s poise:
“They didn’t get rattled. We’ve had some games where we’ve come back, so we’ve been there before. They stayed poised and composed and made plays, and that’s big.”

NC State Head Coach Sidney Lowe

Opening statement:
“Our lack of mental toughness was a disappointment. To get a lead and let down mentally was very disappointing. We just didn’t play well. Our main three guys didn’t play well today.”

On the offense:
“We really bogged down. In two cases during timeouts I told our guys if we didn’t get a lock to back out and reset the offense. Both times we didn’t do it.”

On Virginia going small:
“It changed because it brought Dennis and Richard out on the perimeter. While we let them make some plays on their end, we didn’t take advantage on the offensive end. This was an opportunity for us to go to the paint and get a foul.”

On the play of Mike Scott for Virginia:
“We didn’t play good defense on him. We didn’t fight him down in the post. We weren’t good on defense at all in the second half.”

On missing free throws
“It’s disappointing again because that’s what we’re doing in practice. We need guys to step up under pressure and make their free throws. We’ve got to get them in tomorrow and shoot more free throws.”