Postgame Quotes

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2010-11 Virginia Basketball Postgame Quotes

March 5, 2011

Virginia 74, Maryland 60

Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett

Opening statement:

“It was a hard fought game. In the first game we played against them this season they really imposed their will on us, especially in the second half. I was happy with what our guys did. I told them that we have won three of our last four games coming in and take what we learned from that. We had to go get this one from a defensive standpoint. Offensively, we handled the pressure a lot better, especially the three-quarter court and full court pressure. Different guys stepped up. When you have Sammy (Zeglinski) knocking down shots like that, Assane (Sene) giving us 15 points and Mustapha (Farrakhan) making plays it’s really a difference out there. I thought our defense was good enough. When we get some baskets we can be an effective team.”

On the ball control and limiting turnovers:

“The past two days there were two specific things that we worked on and we really worked on them hard. We didn’t really run that much five-on-five we did a little five-on-seven and forced our guys to find a way to make it work. You could see at the end of the Miami game how Maryland can get teams to turn the ball over. I’m thankful that our guys didn’t look like they were on their heels. We were able to break the pressure and that’s something that Maryland did a lot in the first game. We broke the press and we didn’t let them score off of turnovers and we had a lot of points off of turnovers.”

On not allowing points off turnovers:

“That’s how you win. You limit the second chance points. You don’t give them easy baskets. You don’t turn the ball over and don’t let them run the fast pace especially a fast team like Maryland.”

On Sammy Zeglinski:

“He had a good rhythm. He was really flying off of screens. We were nailing some screens early and really stirring the pot. We have to be mindful that Sammy (Zeglinski), Joe (Harris) and Mu (Mustapha Farrakhan) are all three threats. Sammy was getting his feet set and you could see he was hitting his rhythm and we needed that. When they started stretching us out, we looked at some of the dump downs and offensive put backs.”

On finishing games:

“That’s a good step. I think we had a couple of games where if we had made our free throws or done some little things it could have been the difference. We just needed to learn from those other times. We handled the ball well and didn’t give up second chance baskets. We were solid enough to win a game like this. It was a hostile environment and our guys had a presence about them that was good. They didn’t get rattled and we handled the pressure they gave us. We really only had five turnovers and that’s a good outing for us.”

Senior Guard Mustapha Farrakhan

On Maryland’s game plan to press Virginia:

“We did a good job preparing this week for them. We followed the game plan and it worked well for us. We really focused on just looking in the middle and not sitting back on our heels in the press. We worked on playing an aggressive game.”

On Assane Sene’s block on Maryland’s Jordan Williams:

“He stepped up big today and played great. He’s a warrior as far as trying to block shots and sticking his nose in there. He puts his body up for the team and he works well for us.”

On the ACC Tournament:

“We just want to be solid and take the same mindset we had last game into this game and I think we accomplished that today. And I think we can take that same mindset into the tournament also.”

Senior Forward Will Sherrill

On breaking Maryland’s press:

“We really prepared on breaking the press. Coach put seven guys on defense and we had five. And with seven-on-five pressing us, we had to attack and move hard, and that preparation made breaking their press a lot easier for us.”

On Virginia’s 3-point game:

“As long as we execute and get good shots, we feel like we’re going to knock down our tough shots. And when we’ve struggled in the past, it’s not that we aren’t hitting our shots, but it’s that we’re not getting good shots. Today, we got a lot more open shots and drives to the basket.”