Postgame Quotes

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2010-11 Virginia Basketball Postgame Quotes
January 29, 2011
Wake Forest 76, Virginia 71

Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett

On the defensive breakdowns in the second half:


”We keep a stat where we talk about getting a gap, which means three stops in a row. I really challenged them in the locker room at halftime. Early in the game, we were hoping they missed, and then in the later part of the first half, I thought we were affecting their misses and really making them earn, and I said that you have to really fight to impose your will on them defensively in the second half, because they do have usually four or five who can get going. As far as that stat (gap), we had one in the first media timeout (of the second half) and did not have a stretch where we got three stops in a row (the rest of the game). It’s an important stat for trying to get momentum defensively. I can think of when there is miscommunication in transition, not blocking off. At the end, we were giving them a straight line drive to the basket and letting a guy post us up. There were a few breakdowns, that really as the game gets tighter, you’ve got to make them earn. If they hit contested shots and earn them, great, but a couple breakdowns of not helping on screens cost us. That was discouraging because we work awfully hard at trying to be in position, especially at those times.”





On losing a 10-point lead multiple times this season:
“We get up. We play stretches of quality basketball. Whether it’s a turnover or an offensive drought, and today it was a little more of a defensive breakdown, it’s happened. Yeah, I’m glad we get stretches of ball, but the ability to finish, to hang tough and not give up a lead, is not there. Both teams were very inexperienced. You could see that with some of the things happening. I wish I had an answer. We try to simplify things certainly late in the game so guys don’t have to think as much. Defensively we’re pretty simple. It kind of comes down to a battle of wills late in the game and we have some costly breakdowns. I told our guys that it’s alright if you’re walking a thin line and you can’t afford those breakdowns, but it hurts us maybe more than most when we have a letdown either offensively or defensively.”





On Wake Forest scoring 20 points off turnovers:


”That hurts. (We also gave up) 17 points off turnovers against Maryland. Especially in the first half, their points off of our turnovers really hurt us. That’s a stat that is crucial. I actually don’t know how they keep that, if there’s an offensive foul and they go down and score does that count, I don’t know. You know, again, points in the paint, they shot a pretty high percentage. We were just sort of exchanging buckets, and we have to make it harder for longer stretches. They won the better of that battle as the game wore on and made some plays.

Wake Forest Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik

Opening Statement:
“I want to thank our fans. We had a great crowd full of energy, and they were being very supportive of these young players. We really appreciate their support and their encouragement. Moving to the game, I’m really proud of my basketball team. They’re learning and they fought through adversity today. We knew we had to do a better job of contesting shots. We fought back, we didn’t put our heads down, and we executed out of some timeouts. We controlled the ball without turning it over, and I like that we had six players in double digits, so we really shared the basketball.”

On the inside play of Travis McKie and Ty Walker in the second half:
“It was huge. We get married to three point shots, and you can’t win that way. We made a conscious effort to go inside, and we wanted to keep the court spaced to get Ty (Walker) and Carson (Derosiers) to the rim. We also tried to post-up Travis because he’s clever down there, and once you get that going, it opens up things a bit more.”

On Ty Walker’s playing time throughout the season:
“We’ve had inconsistencies, and that is attributed to youth. Ty (Walker) responded well today, and he was able to get a couple of easy baskets, which gives a player confidence. He did an excellent job, in terms of scoring around the rim today.”

On the play of point guard C.J. Harris:
“We had a conversation a couple of days ago, and we talked about how different it is for him from last year to this year. Last year, he could just feed off of five seniors, and now he’s the so-called “old man” on this team trying to lead a bunch of young, inexperienced players. He has to play the point and understand that position, and once we get Tony Chennault going, this experience will really make C.J. a better player. To make free throws when it really counts is big time, and that exemplifies toughness.”