Postgame Quotes: Wake Forest at Virginia

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Wake Forest at Virginia
Feb. 3, 2011
Postgame Quotes

Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan
Opening Statement:
“I was really proud of my team’s performance tonight. I felt like we prepared well for this game as I felt we prepared well for the past several games, but tonight we transferred what we’d been doing in practice to the floor. We were able to get what we needed to get offensively and played very strong defense. We still struggled on the boards a little bit, but for the most part, I was pretty pleased with our performance.”

On the large margin of victory:
“We knew we were going to have a breakthrough at some point. We just really wanted to relax a little bit and have a good time. When we have a good time, we seem to play better. I was able to substitute liberally and give everyone a chance to play tonight, which is always a good thing. This was a great time to have a game like this.”

On the play of sophomore guard China Crosby:
“I was really pleased with the way she played. I thought she gave us good offense in there, and she gets us started with the way she controls the basketball. I thought she did a nice job of keeping us in the offense and then playing very good defense and forcing something to happen for us.”

On the momentum from the win:
“Anything positive that happens is a good thing. We’ve been in every game, but I’ve been waiting for us to show what we’ve been doing in practice for quite some time now. We just have not been able to get it transferred onto the court. You’re just looking for consistency in as many players as you can find it in.”

Virginia sophomore guard China Crosby
On her performance tonight:
“I just try to come out and be the floor general and try to be the facilitator out there – make sure we get into the fast-paced game that Coach Ryan’s been talking about. That was my mindset. Turnovers don’t make me put my head down or anything like that. I’m the point guard, so turnovers are going to happen. I just have to limit them and make sure I get the ball back on defense.”

On strong shooting:
“Coach Ryan always tells me that whatever comes, take it. My mindset was not to back down or be intimidated by what Wake Forest was giving me – just have a shooting mindset of just scoring first.”

On large margin of victory:
“It’s good to know that everyone on the team contributes, and it’s good to know that we can have a couple of people scoring in double-figures. On the defensive end, we did a really good job of getting a lot of stops. We really worked hard in practice, beating each other up and doing whatever we had to do so we could get this win.”

On difference between road and home games this season:
“We didn’t start the game as well in those games as we did against Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. We dig ourselves into so much of a hole that it’s too late to come back. I think the big aspect of our game today was the way we started.”

Virginia sophomore forward Telia McCall
On emphasis going into game:
“My main focus was just to be focused. In games before, I was timid and wasn’t playing my game. My focus was just to be aggressive and play the game the way I know how to play it. That’s what I had to do. In the past, if I missed a shot, I hung my head down. But that’s not good. I need to keep being aggressive and having confidence that I’ll make the next one.”

Wake Forest head coach Mike Petersen
On the caliber of play following Wake’s performance against Boston College:
“I was surprised. Not taking anything away from Virginia – I thought they played very well – we just flat did not compete this evening and we did compete very well against Boston College.”

On being in the game early with the score tied at 15 in the first half:
“It came down to if we were going to take a shot or if we were going to turn it over. If we took shots, we were fine. If we threw it to them, we had issues. We threw it to them too much. Down the stretch right now on the road we are completely married to our jump shot. When we make shots, we guard. When we don’t make shots, we don’t guard. If that’s the team you’re going to be, that’s what you’re going to get. We aren’t [that way] as much at home, its funny. But on the road we are so married to our jumper. If the ball is going in the basket we will sit down and guard and if its not going in the basket, we are a sieve.”

On China Crosby starting the game for Virginia:
“We didn’t know she was going to start, but we knew she was going to play. She’s a good player. She’s a little different [from Ariana Moorer]: a little faster, a little quicker, not as strong. It’s a little different, but they run the same stuff. It’s not like you have an option quarterback and a drop-back quarterback and they run two different things in football. They are running the same stuff. It’s just a little different personnel deal when you’re guarding.”

On the defensive game plan going into the game:
“I thought we could guard them tonight. I think we could have gone box and three and had problems. You can put as many of them out there as you want if you don’t play hard. We just didn’t play hard enough. When you don’t play hard, you’re going to get beat and on the road, you’re going to get embarrassed. We got embarrassed tonight. I’d love to sugar coat it, but there’s no point. Everybody watched it; everybody’s going to see the score tomorrow. We got embarrassed. Our effort wasn’t good enough.”