Postgame Quotes

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Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett

Opening Statement:
“Not much to say in this one. They outplayed us. From a tangible standpoint, and an intangible standpoint, they got to us. I told our guys to compete as hard as they competed on Saturday and battle. To come out this flat was really frustrating. We have 48 hours to turn around and it will be a gut check playing against another tough team. But from a defensive standpoint, to get beat in transition like that and have our starters give up offensive rebounds, to not play team help-oriented defense – those are the things we work on a lot and those things were really exposed and lacking. That hurt.”

On Maryland’s win:
“We were a step behind just trying to beat a simple pin-down screen. [Maryland] played well. They shot well and [they’re] certainly a well-coached team. They run their stuff hard and they had something to prove after their tough loss, but they won. Any category you want to put up, they got it, as far as positive categories.”

On Greivis Vasquez:
“We didn’t guard a simple up-screen. It was 18 to 25 at the half. He had his way. We didn’t make him earn it and the couple times we did he would just rise up and shoot it … I don’t think we were helping near well enough to guard a player of that caliber. Even if we did, they got a second chance with a transition basket. It was a breakdown in almost every area.”

On instructing his players in the huddle:
“It’s the little things. You get down like that – I think it was [between] 21 and 24, and then the flood gates opened. Then you get down and it comes down to the little things. It really does. You have to be willing to put a body on someone to block out a defensive play. You have to be willing to jump the ball, help a player out, and make the extra pass. Just share the ball. I think we got a little panicky. We tried to get it back too quickly. We lost our mentality of trying to battle possession to possession. I think it got out of hand.”

Junior forward Mike Scott

On his mindset toward getting back on the right track:
“We just need to play better defense and play more intense.”

On how frustrating it is to have a lapse in defense:
“Very frustrating. They did everything they wanted in the half court set.”

On how tough it is to stop a player like Greivis Vazquez when they get going:
“Very tough. He was doing everything. He basically controlled the whole game.”

Sophomore guard Sylven Landesberg

When asked if he thought the team got tired:
“I don’t think so. I just think we all need to get on the same page.”

On the first half:
“Coach kept saying we weren’t sticking to our principles defensively, and that’s basically what happened. We weren’t doing what we were supposed to do like help defense and we let them get easy baskets.”

On what the team needs to do going forward:
“We just need to build off these games.”