Postgame Quotes

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Virginia head coach Tony Bennett

On their strategy on NC State’s final possession:
“I thought Akil [Mitchell] did a terrific job of taking [Lorenzo] Brown out of the play. We just played our
ball‐screen defense, and he was quick with his slide. He didn’t let him turn the corner and let us get into our defense. We had to string it out wide as the clock was ticking, and then we made him take a tough shot. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much time or they might have gotten a 19th offensive rebound. I thought Akil did a good job of bodying him up and making him take a contested shot.”

On what determined the tempo of the game:
“In the first, we were poor defensively. To start the game they were more physical and quick to the glass. They really took it at us. Thankfully, we were hitting shots. It was a little bit of a role reversal. Our offense kept us in it the first half and gave us the lead where our defense let us down. In the second half, I thought our defense was better, not great, but better, and our offense struggled. We had some costly turnovers. We gave the ball away at some inopportune times. That led to some baskets for them. When you’re on the road, you try to steal one, and that’s what we did.”

On the Cavaliers’ poise down the stretch:
“It was a festive crowd. It was a big crowd and they were certainly loud. I think the experience of being in some settings on the road and having some veteran guys certainly helped. Crowds can take you out of the game. Going back to our Virginia Tech game, their senior kind of responded in that situation.
Hudson, he wasn’t rattled by the crowd, and I think that while for the most part our seniors didn’t have
a typical game, Sammy [Zeglinski] had a great look at the end, and they made their free throws. I think they were used to that.”
NC State head coach Mark Gottfried

“We had a lot of good looks that we really wanted to make, but we missed a few too many open shots. I feel so bad for our players, because of the way they played. They’re hurting right now. The guys never quit, they never let down, they played with unbelievable desire. We had some great shots at it, but they just didn’t drop.”

On Howell’s rebounding:
“Richard’s rebounding was just sensational. We had so many plays, thinking back, when that ball was in
the air around the rim, and guys put an unbelievable effort into securing it. That’s the reason we were
able to hang in there tonight without the shots falling, because the guys put a tremendous effort into
hustling after those rebounds.”

On final play:
“We wanted Lorenzo to be able to turn the corner. We put Scott on the baseline, so they wouldn’t be
able to help off. I thought he might have gotten bumped pretty good there.”

On Scott Wood:
“Most of his were shots that he’s been making. I told him during one of those timeouts, don’t worry,
keep shooting because one of them’s going to fall when we really need it, and he stepped up and made
a huge shot for us to get it to one right there at the end.”