Postgame Quotes

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2011-12 Virginia Basketball Postgame Quotes

February 11, 2012

#5/5 North Carolina 70, #19/20 Virginia 52

Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett

On early foul trouble:

“We certainly got in foul trouble and we were scrambling and had to play four guards. We certainly had some inexperienced guys out there, but all you have to do is look at the stat sheet and they had 23 offensive rebounds and that’s too many. There was a stretch in the second half where we lost our way and couldn’t get them off the glass and had some breakdowns defensively. We didn’t execute. For us to have a chance in a game like this we have to do a better job on the glass and for whatever reason, we struggled. We certainly tried to work at it while we prepared for them, but it was alarming at how many second shots and third shots that they got on a possession.”

On the matchup with Evans and Marshall:

“Kendall (Marshall) did what he needed to do. I thought Jontel (Evans) certainly made some good plays and he kept us in it when Mike (Scott) got in foul trouble. He got in the lane and he battled. Jontel did some good things, but Kendall let it come to him and when they needed something he got it done for them. I thought Jontel had some good moments, certainly.”

North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams

Opening Statement:

“Needless to say we feel a heck of a lot better now than we did three or four days ago. Mike Scott is really a load, I was happy to have him a bit in foul trouble. It would have been cute if that three would have counted right before the half to give us an eight point lead. Wish that traveling call would have been Wednesday night-I’m talking about in our practice right before the game.

“You know it was a big-time game and Tony [Bennett] has done a great job with his team. I just think Jontel [Evans] was awfully difficult to keep out of the lane, really difficult to keep out of the lane today. Mike Scott is good, he is a load because he can go out and shoot the ball. There are not many big guys that feel good about shooting, and his quickness is really good inside.”

“You know [Joe] Harris didn’t make any shots in the first half, and came out early and made two baskets for six points really early in the second half. I thought we have to make sure to guard everybody. And then they score two baskets in a row and one of our guys in the huddle next time said ‘remember Wednesday night’ and I said ‘no don’t remember Wednesday night, let’s just play today.’ I think that was important for us.

“I was really happy for Z [Tyler Zeller], 25 (points) and 9 (rebounds). Ecstatic for Harrison [Barnes] with 11 rebounds, we’ve been trying to get more rebounding out of him. You look down there I think one of the biggest keys to the game was [Justin] Watts and Stilman [White] and James Michael [McAdoo] gave us some things off the bench. It doesn’t have to be scoring, but of course James Michael with 9 points, 7 rebounds in 18 minutes is big. I would like him to give us a better percentage than 3-for-9 but I thought that was good. Watts gave us an offensive rebound and did a good job defensively. I thought Stilman did a good job and gave us a little more of a breather for Kendall. It’s been hard to keep playing the number of minutes he has been playing. I thought all those guys really gave us something off the bench and make up for losing P.J. [Hairston], not having him today.”

“Other than that both teams would like to have shot better today and I thought rebounding was the biggest key, which was a big plus in our favor.”