Postgame Quotes: Clemson at Virginia

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Clemson at Virginia
Feb. 12, 2012
Postgame Quotes

Virginia Head Coach Joanne Boyle
On tonight’s performance:
“It was one of our better games. We always say, play Virginia basketball for 40 minutes, and I thought we did that today. From start to finish, there were a lot of good things on both ends of the floor for us. We’ve been talking about getting back to our defense, our rebounding, finishing strong and our pace on offense. I think that our defense gave us some easy baskets tonight, where when we were down there we didn’t give up any easy baskets.”

On this week’s preparation:
“We had a couple of days off early in the week, and then we spent the first few days working on us. We don’t often get to spend two whole days working on our offense, and I think that helped us a lot. We didn’t worry about Clemson or about what they were doing at first, then used our last day to prep for them. I think our days were used very well.”

On Chelsea Shine:
“She had a lot of confidence tonight, especially on the offensive end of the floor. It was good to see. You want to be playing your best basketball down the stretch, so it was good for her to come out and be that aggressive with the ball.”

On tonight’s win:
“It’s momentum, it’s a confidence builder, and it’s all the things you talk about when you’re coming down the stretch. It impacts how the NCAA looks at you and how you finish your last 10 games. It’s all about really good games, good prep and having them in the gym getting shots up. They are really good about their prep days, and I think those days have made us who we are on game day.”

On a possible berth to the NCAA Tournament:
“I guess it’s up to the committee to decide. We will just do what we do: come out and play basketball every night. We have 18 wins, so we’re right there. We just have to keep pushing. We have four conference games left and the ACC Tournament. There is not a lot of basketball to be played, but there is a lot of basketball to be played. For us, all we can control is what we can control.”

Virginia Forward Chelsea Shine
On difference in game tonight compared to earlier this season:
“Yeah the good thing about this team is that everyone contributes in different ways. The scoring and offensive flow falls on different people’s shoulders on different nights and tonight I guess I was just in the flow and it was getting boards and going back and being successful on converting. The team overall did a great job of finding me and a great job of contributing as well. It was a pretty good stat sheet for the night overall.”

On importance of momentum:
“We have four games left and now all we are focusing on right now is Maryland Thursday night. I think we are going to have great preparation for them and then come out Thursday night very aggressive because you’re right, this is the last time we are going to play Maryland at home and same thing with the rest of these teams. So, just to be really focused and work hard these next couple days to get ready for them.”

On playing Maryland:
“There is always that little rivalry there with Maryland. We always play them twice every year so we are a little more familiar with them. That game never means anything more or less than another game. You never prepare any differently for one team than you do another team.”

Virginia Guard Ariana Moorer:
On possibly earning an NCAA Tournament berth:
“One game at a time is how we think everyday. We are not looking down the stretch, just looking at our next opponent.”

On mentally preparing for Maryland:
“We are not goring to change anything. We are going to continue to work on our defense as we do every practice. We will make a few adjustments here and there, but we are really worried just about us.”