Postgame Quotes: Virginia vs. Wake Forest (ACC Tourney)

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Virginia vs. Wake Forest
ACC Tournament Postgame Quotes

Wake Forest Quotes
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Couple quick introductions. Pleased to welcome Wake Forest Head Coach Mike Petersen to the podium as well as student‑athletes Brittany Waters and Sandra Garcia.
Coach, when you’re ready, opening comment.
COACH MIKE PETERSEN: I just thought, in this league, it’s just such a fine line between winning and getting drubbed sometimes, you know. And we got on the right side of that line in the second half.
Our effort and our energy was very good. And when you’re on the right side ‑‑ when we get especially ‑‑ I can’t speak for anybody else. When we get on the right side of that line, we’re pretty good. You know, in the second half, when they had to come and guard us man, and all of a sudden we’re cutting full speed and running our stuff, there’s a reason we shot whatever we shot in the second half, 60. Wow, 60’s a big number.
There’s a reason we shot 60 in the second half. We were on the right side of the energy line. We were on the right side of the execution line. We executed in really good shots. And then kids made some really big shots for us.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Brittany, just wondering what the difference was playing this time than from the first meeting when you guys played.
BRITTANY WATERS: I definitely think we came out with a little bit more energy. Coach stressed we should play with more pace. Definitely, this game we came out with more energy, and we kind of fed off each other and kind of just kept the momentum going.

Looked like a big play kind of changed hands a little bit, tied at 51, and then Douglas hit a big three‑pointer to put you guys up by three. How important was it to take back the momentum and then the comeback?
COACH MIKE PETERSEN: Yeah, it was big. That kid’s made a couple big shots in the last week or so. She banks in a three to get us to overtime against State, and then she makes two threes to start overtime and get us the lead, and she makes that one.
It was big because as coaches we all want to think our defense isn’t affected by our offense. They’re separate. No, they’re not. Everybody plays better on defense when shots are going in. We’re human, you know. And so I think as much as anything, as much as giving us the lead, I think it energized our defense a little bit. All of a sudden, everybody’s power fisting and high fiving and getting in the stands and slapping the floor and looking like they want to play D.
That was a pretty big deal both from a scoring standpoint and a defensive standpoint. I think it helped us on both ends.

This question’s for Sandra. Just talk about your matchup with Duke tomorrow, another team like this team that beat you pretty bad last time but you were able to come back today.
SANDRA GARCIA: I think tomorrow we’re going to have a lot more energy. We got film today. We’re going to see our mistakes and the positive and negative things we did. And we’ll come out tomorrow ready, and I think our team as a whole is going to have a lot more energy when we start the game.

Coach, I just wanted to ask you about Duke tomorrow, what your game plan is.
COACH MIKE PETERSEN: They’re really good. What do you want me to tell you? They beat us like by a hundred the first time, didn’t they? I blocked it out of my memory. I felt like Custer at the Little Big Horn. They’re good. But when we play good, we’re good too.
This league doesn’t make any sense. You know, the six degrees of Kevin Bacon game, you know what I mean? We beat BC. Didn’t BC beat Duke? So we’re separated by one game. So it’s ‑‑ again, we’ve been talking for the last two weeks with our group, and they’ve really responded well. It’s on us. You know what I mean?
If our energy is right and our effort is right and our attitude is right and our focus is right, the ball will take care of itself. And we’ve had those things correct here for the last several games. That’s why we’ve won three a row. That’s why we’ve beaten three teams that beat us the first go round. Why not tomorrow?

For the players, just wondering how, like what made you get on the right side of the line. Like what’s the difference between being on the wrong side of the energy and execution of the line and the right side? How did you get over that?
BRITTANY WATERS: Well, Coach said, well, to go out there and just right a wrong. So your mindset going out there is you want to fix something that you have a chance to fix. So that kind of channels your energy, you know, to fix it.

Question for the players. When you look at today’s performance, what would be one single thing that you’d take away that you definitely want to repeat for the upcoming game? And on the flip side, what might be something in your performance that you definitely don’t want to happen in the next game?
SANDRA GARCIA: Something that I don’t want to happen. I would say maybe our ‑‑ we had a stretch in the first half today we didn’t have as much energy. You know, we kind of had blank looks on our faces. I want the whole 40 minutes to have a lot of energy and be very competitive.
BRITTANY WATERS: For me, I think my team did a good job hitting shots, and that’s what you need to do to win the game. So hopefully we can carry over and do the same thing tomorrow. And one thing I don’t want to happen is, again, like Sandra said, just play the whole 40 minutes with a lot of energy and don’t have a stretch where you’re kind of lagging.
THE MODERATOR: Everybody all set? Great. See you guys tomorrow.

Virginia Quotes:
THE MODERATOR: Some quick introductions. Joined up here on the dais by Head Coach Debbie Ryan, Whitny Edwards and Ataira Franklin. Coach, when you’re ready, an opening comment, and then we’ll take questions.
COACH DEBBIE RYAN: I thought it was a tale of two halves today. We started the game off strong and built ourselves a ten‑point lead. We let them back in the game before halftime, which was not our plan at all. We just did not get a lot of consistency from a group of players today. We kept having to substitute and try to find some consistency.
Then in the second half, we just did not defend very well, and that was really the tale of the tape. We allowed them to shoot 60 percent in the second half, which is not going to win any games for anybody.
So credit Wake Forest. They came out with a lot more energy out of the locker room the second half than we did, and we backed down instead of standing up.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Coach, Telia McCall gave you some great moments earlier in the game and was a good defensive force for you throughout. Talk about her play.
COACH DEBBIE RYAN: I thought Telia gave us good minutes today. She really came to play on the boards and gave us good scoring in the post. We couldn’t find another post player to go with her that could score consistently or defend consistently.
I thought that they really got a lot of good play out of players that you just don’t expect.
I thought Walker really hurt us. Toward the end of the game, every time we turned around, she was scoring. I thought they had better balanced scoring than we did. Telia picked up her part of it for sure.

Coach, why don’t you think you were able to get Ariana going today?
COACH DEBBIE RYAN: I don’t know. She usually plays a great game. I just didn’t see it in her today. I don’t know why. She was penetrating, and I thought she took some shots that she had contact on and couldn’t get a call. So that was one of the problems.
But she got the ball in the paint a lot. She tried to score, but she just couldn’t put it in the basket today. That’s not usually her game. She knew we had to get to the ball to the basket, and she was trying to do that, but she just couldn’t get it going today.

Did it feel like every time you were getting ready to start a run, Wake had the answer?
COACH DEBBIE RYAN: Yeah. And Walker hurt us a lot in that one or they hit a three. We weren’t doing a very good job with the penetration. We did not stop penetration all day today, and that was really killing us because they were just kicking out for open shots. That’s what I thought we needed to do a lot better was defend penetration.

Ataira had another great game and a strong freshman season. Can you talk about what she did today and the whole season.
COACH DEBBIE RYAN: She had a rough start with the foul trouble and ended up on the bench in the first half. You can see that we really struggle when she’s not on the floor. She spent a lot of time on the bench today. I thought those eight minutes or those ten minutes that she normally plays that she didn’t play today really hurt us. We need her on the floor.
And obviously she’s had a great, great year. She’s our most consistent player. But, you know, we can’t put her on the bench, and she’s got to stay out of foul trouble.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you all.