Postgame Quotes

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2011-12 Virginia Basketball Postgame Quotes
December 21, 2011
#24 Virginia 83, Seattle 77

Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett

Opening Statement:
“First, credit Cameron (Dollar) and Seattle University. They came out with incredible passion. That is not how they have been playing, in terms of their style of play. I think they decided lets go after them and speed up the game, and trap them, and their kids really were aggressive. We weren’t ready defensively to start and they got easy baskets. They got second chance points and transition baskets. Without Mike Scott having that monster first half, they might have been able to separate to a point that would have been extremely difficult to get back in it.”

On Seattle’s offense:
“They did make some tough shots. I thought our defense got a little better in the second half, but then we couldn’t come up with a rebound. Then it sort of unraveled against the ball screen late in the game. They made some tough shots. They had energy. We were up 14 and it shouldn’t have come to that point where they came back, but that was turnovers against the pressure.”

On Seattle’s press:
“We worked on it a lot preparing for Oregon. You can never take for granted being strong with the ball and being alert against it. We worked on all of it. Our style isn’t easy to play, and when we are a little off, we can get exploited. Again, give credit to Seattle University. Those kids played with a lot of passion and almost pulled one out.”

On handling adversity:
“We do that in practice a lot. You know you are going to face adversity throughout a season, and on the road certainly. I probably could have called a timeout a little sooner, that might have been an error on my part. I like to save them. You have to handle adversity. We didn’t do a great job with it, but there is a point where you say as a coach we need to get some stops, got to take care of the ball and have to come together. It is either going to happen or it is not. It came down to those guys on the floor. I told them there is no trickery here. We are going to have to gut this one out or we are going home with a loss. They did enough to get the win.”

On Mike Scott:
“He was in a zone. His touch was great. He adds the versatility of going back to basket and post you up or shoot that mid-range jumper. He hit some shots and kept us in it in the first half.”

On Malcolm Brogdon:
“That was impressive that he made those free throws. But what I was equally impressed with, in Malcolm’s case, was he was one of our primary ball handlers. When he got open against the press, he broke the double team. He went and got it and usually made the right decisions. This is a new experience for him. I thought what he did down the stretch, how he handled the pressure, was good.”

On the long road trip:
“Certainly it draws you together. It is great to come away with two victories. It was our first true road games. I think our guys have to understand it is a challenge whenever you play, but when you are on the road, stuff like this can happen. You won’t have the crowd behind you and you might not get a whistle you agree with. You are going to have to play through a lot of things. I think it was good for us to experience that, because it is a great warning for us. That was a little uncharacteristic.”

On Virginia fans:
“A lot of those were Chelan fans. Joe Harris had over 200 people here. That was nice for Joe and he had a nice dunk. He is a young man that when he is around people they are drawn to him. It was nice to see the town embrace him and come here to support him.”