Postgame Quotes

Story Links

2011-12 Virginia Basketball Postgame Quotes

November 18, 2011

TCU 57, Virginia 55

Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett

On Virginia’s first half against TCU:

“They were physical and they pressured us, but some of our turnovers were brought on by ourselves. It wasn’t that they chased us into them. Some of them were very athletic plays on their part, but too many of them were just miss communication and poor decisions. That was discouraging when you turn the ball over that many times.

“Then late in the game you can’t leave that many points on the board be it missed layups or at the free throw line when you have a chance and you’re trying to claw back into the game. Or have a silly turnover. And that happened, we didn’t execute. There’s a mental toughness that you have to break through in those settings and we couldn’t do it. They came up with a big offensive rebound on a free throw. It was physical and we couldn’t quite get there, but we made an effort at the end to get at least back to a chance with the ball to perhaps win it.”

Did it seem remarkable after the turnovers and missed free throws to have a chance to win it?

“Yes, it would be a good feeling right now, but we struggled. We did. We even played good stretches of defense for 30 seconds on the shot clock and they battled and then the last five seconds, whether it was Thorns making some big plays, and you need guys to do that just take over, or we just couldn’t finish the possession out. That is certainly a lesson to learn. It’s intense out there and I thought some guys got discouraged too easily if it was a missed free throw, a turnover and we got back doored a few times. It was a hard fought game, tournament basketball, and we didn’t play well enough to get that one.”