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Virginia vs. William & Mary
Tony Bennett Quotes
November 12, 2010

Opening Statement
“I don’t think I learned anything, what was reaffirmed was that they share the ball. They are an unselfish group. They’re a hard opponent to play with their system, with the Princeton backcuts and their ability to spread it, and the first half showed that. I saw the guys sharing the ball – I saw them defend a little better in the second half. But it was good to see our defense spark us a little bit in the second half, and certainly the guys got hot and got it going. You have to make some outside shots against their zone, but you also have to establish some inside touches. Mike had a better second half, and the inside-outside attack helped, and then we kept telling the guys to make them play over the top. It’s hard stuff to guard, that’s for sure.”

On James Johnson redshirting
“James and I talked about that and we feel like that’s the best interest for him. He could help us certainly, he’s rugged – but talking with James and sitting down, the plan right now is for him to redshirt.”

“James feels very comfortable with it. We sat and talked and it was a decision of what’s best for the player, and what’s best for the program, and especially the long range. It was a hard decision because I see some value, but I also see the value of him getting strong, developing, and getting comfortable.”

On Jontel Evans
“The thing I really like about Jontel is he sets our defense. He pushes our point of attack defensively. When he’s bulldogging or hounding the ball it really helps us. They can’t start their offense as deep, you have to be aware of him, and when we play really good defensive teams, when they put that kind of ball pressure on that’s so important and he did that. But he’s improved, he’s had a good offseason, and a good preseason in the fall. He really showed some steadiness and he could change a game with some steals and he gets us down the floor in transition so fast.”

On reestablishing a lead
“They were hard to match up. They went with four guards and then we put Joe [Harris] in there as our fourth guard. But we haven’t practiced a lot with four guards, so offensively we were a little out of sync just in terms of calling a set or trying to run. I felt like we were a little stagnant on the offensive end. I think that hurt us, but to come out the second half, I think that was good for us as an extremely young team to have some adversity and keep their composure. Again, guys hitting shots, however it happened, it ignited both ends of the floor for us. They didn’t turn the ball over as much in the second half, although they weren’t ball howking us, but there was a little better decision making.

On William and Mary
“It was kind of picking your poison with them. They are so spread out and I thought that at times we played some poor interior defense whether we got spun on or got lifted or cut. But you have to choose if you’re going to come off some of their guards or if you’re going to double the post you’re going to leave some guys out there. They make it hard, the way their schemes are designed to get into the post, it’s really spreads a defense out. Kitts is a really good scorer, but they took a couple of our guards down there and we said let’s try to make them score over the top and if they can do that consistently we will either make an adjustment or we will live with that and guard the three-point line a little better.”

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