Postgame Quotes

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2011-12 Virginia Basketball Postgame Quotes
January 22, 2012
Virginia Tech 47, #15/17 Virginia 45

Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett

On the strategy late in the game:
“We had our four-guard lineup in because we thought we had to open up the lane and we were trying to get some penetration offensively. Defensively that always puts you in a little bit of a tough spot. They have some bigger guards. I thought Sammy played pretty good position defensively, but he got called for the foul. But then he made a good play over the top. That is why we adjusted and put Akil in because they were trying to isolate that. As far as the three, it looked like a pretty tough shot and when we tried to close on them, that was a dagger.”

On struggling with shots throughout the game:
“We struggled to shoot the ball. We struggled from the three. We struggled from the free throw line. We even missed some layups. I told our guys, what else can you do but take those shots. They showed tremendous heart trying to get back into the game. Even with all of that cold shooting there were still opportunities for them to win this game. When you look at it statistically, it was obvious that it’s hard to be successful when shots aren’t dropping.”

On not capitalizing on the steals being made:
“A couple times we had some transition buckets. There was one pass behind, but usually we finish those and we come hard. But on a defensive session we did not capitalize and get transition buckets. When you’re struggling to shoot you have to find ways to get x-factor points. There were some points left on the table and that certainly cost us. They did a heck of a job. They played hard and they battled. It was a physical game. It wasn’t the most smooth or offensively executed game, but it was hard fought. “

On switching to a four guard lineup:
“Eddie was hurting us at the end of that run that they had at the end of the first half. They scored on four possessions in a row and he made some tough shots. He is a tough match up. He is really like a guard in terms of offense and how he plays. We thought that was a matchup, so we opened up the lane and went to it. We still have to adjust without Assane. We have to take a look at those things and look at our scoring drought, so we can get to the line and create some offense. I thought it was pretty effective for the most part.”

On Joe Harris changing positions
“Depending upon what we do offensively I think we can still use him in certain ways. He did that last year. But then again, sometimes your hand is forced. We are a little limited with our numbers so we have to figure out what is best. I thought we needed some guys to score in that spot, so that is why we slid him in. The matchups were OK for the most part.”

On Mike Scott having only two shots in the second half:
“They really sandwiched him. I thought he found some people as we were cutting off of him. We have to keep going to him, but he is really drawing a ton of attention. When that happens, we have to make the next pass and capitalize on that.”

Virginia Tech Head Coach Seth Greenberg

Opening statement:
“I’m really proud of our guys. Playing hard and competing is a hard process with as many young guys as we have. And we took a step forward in terms of playing through adversity. When they took the lead it would have been very easy for us to melt, but our guys did a terrific job of executing down the stretch. I thought we executed well throughout the whole game, really. It was basically two guys who had drawn a line in the sand, and not giving an inch. We played really good defense today and we pursued the ball. We played like our teams have played, and now they better understand who we are.”

On playing Virginia:
“Mike Scott is a terrific player. To me, he is the player of the year in the league, coming in. He is so versatile. We wanted to make it hard for those guys to come off curls clean, we wanted to play Erick [Green] as a help defender and run a second defender at Mike. We wanted to guard Mike, and we wanted to guard him early. He really is a special player.”

On Dorenzo Hudson’s performance:
“I’m hoping Dorenzo [Hudson] feels great about himself. He is an Energizer bunny coming off the bench, offensively and defensively. He gives us a little more physicality and some toughness. That kid has busted his tail. He is the first guy in the gym and the last guy to leave almost every day.”

On the first ACC win:
“It’s a relief any rime you get a win. Winning is a relief, losing is agony. That just is what it is. It gives us something to build on. This is just a baby step. Just as I told the team in the locker room, this is terrific. But we’ve got to understand how we did this. I told them in our timeout that if they play as hard as they can for the last two minutes, they will really feel something special at the end of this. Fortunately for us, we were able to come up with a stop at the end and finish the game.”

On the rest of the season:
“We are taking baby steps forward. We are not going to get discouraged. It’s easy to beat these kids down, but we won’t. Guys have new roles this year. We’re going to coach them every day and see what happens at the end of the season.”

Virginia junior guard Jontel Evans

On where the game got away from Virginia:
“We didn’t hit shots. Our defense was good so maybe if we had hit some of those shots we could have come out victorious. They hit some tough shots. Our defense was there. They just hit a lot of tough shots. It was not being able to make shots on the offensive end that hurt us.”

On Assane Sene’s absence:
“We miss him a lot. He’s a great communicator. He really helps on the weak side so it was tough playing without him.”

On Mike Scott’s dunk:
“When Mike hit that dunk, I thought we were going to make a run but then they called a timeout, came out and hit a shot so they were right back in the game.”

On losing an in conference game:
“We’ve been through that. This is a great conference with great teams, and anybody can beat anybody. We just have to regroup and refocus and play again on Thursday. That is the beauty of sports – you get to play again.”

On free throws:
“I had a bad night at the line. It happens sometimes. I just have to get back in the gym and practice, just get confident.”

Virginia sophomore guard Joe Harris

On Virginia’s shooting:
“It was just one of those nights when the ball wasn’t going down for us, but we are going to bounce back and regardless of the off shooting night, we are going to shoot the ball with confidence against Boston College.

On Virginia Tech’s defense:
“Credit to Virginia Tech. They had a great game plan defensively, coming in. They really stuck with us. They made it tough to get any inside looks. They were doubling up Mike [Scott] and their athleticism to get back on shooters when Mike would kick the ball back out and not give up any rhythm looks played a large part in our off shooting night.”

Virginia senior forward Mike Scott

On Assane Sene’s absence:
“It made a difference offensively and defensively. He’s such a great defender.”

On Virginia Tech’s defense:
“They were aggressive. They trapped and triple teamed me and did a pretty good job.”

On his emotions after a game like this:
“I’m frustrated. You don’t want to lose and you definitely don’t want to lose to Virginia Tech, especially at home, so it’s very frustrating.”

Virginia Tech Junior Guard Erick Green

On stopping Mike Scott:
“We were trapping him. We would trap him and get the ball out of his hands.”

On play in second half versus first half:
“I was attacking more. Instead of going out there, in the first half I was shooting threes instead of getting to the basket. I looked over at my mom, she was here telling me to get to the hole, so I did.”

On getting first win of the month:
“We’ve been waiting for the W, but honestly we’ve been right there. Nobody’s mad on the team, nobody’s down, I think the hardest thing is just that we’re hurt and we’ve been right there. I think it would be a different story if we were getting blown out, but we’re not getting blown out and we’re right in the game. We just have to learn to finish it and I think this is a start that we’re finally learning to finish it.”

On beating a ranked team in Virginia
“It’s a big win, big win. We’re going to go back and get ready for BYU, but we can soak this win in and as of tomorrow wake up and get ready for BYU.”

Virginia Tech Senior Guard Dorenzo Hudson

On feeling in locker room after the game:
“We’re pretty happy, we just beat UVa, a good team. We can’t be happier right now to get that win.”

On coming off bench versus starting games:
“Whatever coach decides, I’m here for the team to try and make the team better and whatever they decide to do I’m along for the ride.”

On slow start to senior season:
“I’m just trying to stay positive. There are a lot of young guys coming off the bench and playing minutes so I’m trying to stay positive for them and just let them know it’s going to be a tough run with everybody so I’m just trying to stay positive throughout the whole thing.”

On defense’s play
“I think we did a good job on Scott. We just tried to sit on his right hand and go right a lot and try to jab him going for a shot and I feel like the defense did a very good job of that.”