Postgame Quotes

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2011-12 Virginia Basketball Postgame Quotes
February 18, 2012
#22/22 Virginia 71, Maryland 44

Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett

On his message to the team at halftime:
“I thought we played pretty well defensively in the first half and they had some talented perimeter players that made four tough, contested threes. We had our hands in their faces. They were contested. Seven of Maryland’s nine field goals in the first half were from the three-point line so we told them [Virginia] ‘Don’t deviate from the intensity and commitment on that end because you can win this one with your defense.’ I told them to just keep challenging them with that intensity from start to finish. I thought from that standpoint, that was significant.”

On Mike Scott:
“We wanted to get him some touches and move him around some. He certainly started out on fire with his shot, but it wasn’t just on the perimeter. I thought he had a nice mix to his game where he got some post ups with those outside shots, and he got to the line, which was nice to see. Everybody knows we need him to produce and he did.”

On Sammy Zeglinski’s offensive contributions:
“I thought Sammy did a nice job. He really guarded hard. Again, those shots in the first half were tough and Malcolm [Brogdon] did a really good job on [Terrell] Stoglin in the second half. Sammy has been playing a good floor game. I know that he has been struggling in terms of his shot, but his floor game has actually been improving in terms of his ability to get to the lane, to make plays for others and to guard against their perimeter leading scorers. I’ve been happy with all of those other areas. It’s just that he has been struggling with his shots so when he got a couple of buckets to go down, that certainly made a difference. Nobody is more pleased or happy for Sammy – well, other than him – than I am, because I know how hard he has been battling. He gave us a great lift, but it wasn’t just Sammy – it was everybody. Everybody gave their lifts tonight. Like I said, Joe was a bit slower with his release, but he got a few of those lined up as well.”

On the importance of this game:
“We prepared hard. We knew we’d have to ratchet it up or turn up the volume in terms of the intensity from start to finish. There wasn’t an option. We knew that being at home, we’d have the energy of the crowd. They were really terrific. They got behind us and I think the guys fed off of that, but they were really committed. We had two physical practices leading up to this. There was a little bit of time to prepare and we got after it as hard as we could. Again, they were cold after that barrage they had at the end of the first half, but also, our guys didn’t back down and that was important for the victory.”

On defending Stoglin:
“He hit those four threes. He can score in bunches really quickly, but we wanted to make him earn it. With great scorers, you have to make them earn it. You can’t give them easy ones, and I don’t think he had any easy ones tonight. On the ones that he made, he had a hand in his face or on the ball. We tried to also make him guard us a little bit and expend a lot of energy. When there’s a battle of wills, you have to be able to wear guys down on both ends of the floor.”

On what Mike Scott means to the Virginia program:
“Mike is having a terrific year. He is showing his versatility. He desperately wants to leave behind a successful senior year, and to leave a stamp on this program to help it in the future. I’m so proud of him – as much off the court as on the court – because I have seen him grow in terms of his leadership abilities. It kind of started last year when he was on the bench. To see the success that he is having as a player is exciting because he is doing things as a marked man. He has been an encouragement and I’m proud of him. I really am.”

Maryland Head Coach Mark Turgeon

On Virginia:
“I’ve watched a lot of their games lately and they were fantastic. I thought they executed, they defended their tails off, and they played with more toughness. They were clearly the team that wanted it more today; they are coming out of three of four losses and it showed. We had a two-point lead in the second half and then it was all them, total domination.”

Did travel plans mess up any training plans for this game?
“I’m not going to make any excuses after that, but it was hard. We left the gym Thursday night or Friday morning. I’m a rookie on this driving stuff, I didn’t know whether to practice there or here, we were going to do both, but got stuck in traffic. We didn’t get anything done last night. Our preparation wasn’t what it usually was. I don’t know if it would have made a difference today if we had two or three days because they were a pretty determined team and you could tell.”

Thought’s on Mike Scott’s performance:
“Yeah, he was great. I felt pretty good at halftime. Granted we made some crazy threes, but 31-all and he carried them. I thought he was exhausted, I really did. His shots started coming up short. They just didn’t need him in the second half they were so good defensively and we weren’t very good. We gave them some easy ones in the second half, we allowed him to post up to the basket, he got two second chance baskets. He didn’t make a jump shot in the second half I believe and I thought he was getting tired.”

Thoughts on UVa’s play offense:
“What they did is they came out in the five-set motion which they haven’t done a lot lately. They were very active. That first possession we had Terrell on [Zeglinski], I don’t want to screw his name up, and they ran him around like crazy. They were hard to guard.”

Is this the low point for you and your team?
“Yeah, this reminds me of Puerto Rico. We were much better in the first half than we’ve been. I thought we looked disinterested in terms of being tough on defense and rebounding and our execution was poor. Give them credit; they guarded the heck out of us. They were so intense, their on ball defense was really, really good.”

Thoughts on Stoglin’s play, and if it seems like a lack of trust for teammates:
“Today it did. He made some shots early and kept us in it. But yeah, it’s tough. He’s frustrated too because no one is finishing. There’s a lot of frustrating things right now.”

Virginia senior forward Mike Scott

On the message before the game:
“[The message was] not to panic. We’re fine. At Carolina our defense didn’t hold up. At Clemson, we turned the ball over. We’re just paying for our mistakes. We’ll be fine. Don’t panic.”

On ACC career high:
“As long as we win, I don’t care about high points. It doesn’t matter as long as we just got the win.”

On Virginia’s game:
“Akil rebounded and everyone played their part. We shut down Stoglin in the second half. He’s a very good player. For us to do that is very good. “

Virginia senior guard Sammy Zeglinski

On Virginia’s defense:
“We emphasized playing 40 minutes of our defense; ‘imposing our will,’ we would say. I thought we did that because it is a 40 minute game, and they were hot in the first half with threes. I thought if we kept imposing our will and wearing them down, they would start missing some shots and we would turn it into offense.”

On Malcolm Brogdon:
“He’s shooting the ball well and he’s playing with a lot of confidence. On the defensive end, he did a good job on Stoglin when he was matched up on him. He had a complete game tonight. He shot the ball well. He’s going to continue to do that, and it’s good for us to have him out there as a freshman being so confident.”

On crowd:
“Our crowd was great tonight. All night they were loud. I thought we kind of used their energy for our defense, especially in the second half to ratchet it up a little bit. We were able to get some stops and convert into offense.”

On a win going into Virginia Tech:
“It just means it’s a quick turnaround. It’s just a whole different team. We know that they stole one from us here earlier in the season, so we’re excited to go in there and give them 110 percent.”

Virginia freshman guard Malcolm Brogdon

On Terrell Stoglin:
“He’s a very good scorer, very versatile. It was a team effort. We locked down the second half and got it done.”

On turnovers:
“Personally, I was frustrated with myself at Clemson. I had four turnovers. That’s four too many. One of my main goals tonight was to win it by eliminating turnovers.”

On the losing streak:
“It was down for a little bit, and then once we got back on the floor, Coach Bennett picked it up and we followed his lead. He picked up the intensity. We had two hard practices and we came to this game ready.”

Maryland Senior Guard Sean Mosley

On team’s miscues:
“We just couldn’t get into our offense throughout the game. In the first half, we made some tough shots and we were getting shots that we usually make to fall. In the second half, we couldn’t execute, we couldn’t get a stop, we couldn’t get it rolling as a team.”

On difficulty matching up against Virginia:
“They run a lot of motion. They run a lot of time off the shot clock on offense. Defense-wise, they were just pressuring the ball. The game was tied at halftime. Coming out in the second half, it was a brand new game for us. It just seemed like they wanted it more in the second half, and that was the outcome of the game.”

On Virginia defense:
“We’ve played some great defensive teams. It was just another game on the road. It’s tough winning games on the road. It’s never easy to get a road win. They were playing at home. They had a lot of energy and excitement here. They fed off that and came out in the second half with a lot more energy than us. It cost us.”

On Virginia forward Mike Scott:
“He was just getting his shots. With a guy like him, you have to crowd him when he catches it. You just have to be physical with him. He’s a great player. He was getting his shots in rhythm and getting to the basket quite easily in the first and second half.”

On mood in the Maryland locker room after the game:
“It’s quiet. A lot of guys are upset, but we’ve still got a lot of basketball to play. We can’t let this loss affect our season.”