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Virginia Game Quotes vs. California
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Dec. 23, 2015
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | USATSI Photo Gallery 
Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett Quotes
On having the lead for only 32 seconds:
“You just keep playing. I want to credit Cal for how talented they are, how hard they played, and how well they played. We didn’t start well — we had a hard time. We were a little impatient offensively and were not dialed in defensively. We thought we prepared well for it but we were not. In the second half, we started scrapping defensively. We start really battling and getting stops, and then of course big plays were made. We were running harder offensively with our cuts and guys were attacking at the right time. I just kept saying ‘get a score, get a stop, score, stop, there is still time.” Obviously Malcolm [Brogdon] hit the big three and then we had a little action as a counter to that on the next one. If the three was there for London, great, if not, there was something else. I wouldn’t probably put a lot of money on that in that spot, but you know what, as long as you’ve got the ball, you’ve got a chance. We got it back, so why not? We were down two and I knew we’d get a good look at it.”
On the decision to call a certain play to Malcolm [Brogdon] at the end of the game:
“That’s why you always see me pulling out that card and looking at it and going ‘alright, what do we have?’ It could have easily been the wrong call but I just wanted to give him a clean look. He’s been a good player for us and he has some counters. We haven’t used it a lot. I’m glad we used it for this time and this game.”
On Virginia’s last time out:
“The shot London [Perrantes] got, he made the shot. It wasn’t like Malcolm [Brogdon]’s shot — he was wide open. There was an action where if you have a clean look, you can take it. If not, we had enough time to get something attacking out of it. There were two options to it, but he leaned in and he’s done that in the past. If you had a clean look, go for it and see if we can end this thing. If not, we’ll try to make a play in the lane. I’m glad that he did. We rode our guys pretty hard down the stretch. I thought Jarred [Reuter] gave us a great lift. Here’s a guy who hasn’t played much — we used him today and he was solid tonight.”
California Head Coach Cuonzo Martin Quotes
Opening Statement:
“Tough one down the stretch. I give those guys credit for executing down the stretch and making plays. I thought both teams fought, competed, executed and grinded the game out. It was probably a great game to watch from afar. It was a tough one to learn from and continue to move forward. I thought our guys did enough, but we just came up a little short.”
On the loss:
“I am not embarrassed or ashamed by losses, but when you lose after you have competed you have a tendency to sleep a little easier. But when you don’t play hard and you don’t compete, or even if you win the game, there’s a bad taste in my mouth. But I thought our guys fought against a very good team on both sides of the ball. [Tony] Bennett is one of the best coaches in the game. They are experienced guys who are battle tested. It was a tremendous environment. We came up short, but we will learn from it. I thought our guys did enough to win the game. But it was another lesson that down the stretch of the game you need to execute what you are trying to do. Just try and win the ball game.”
Virginia Junior Guard London Perrantes
On the defense on the final shot:
“It was not too clean, I just felt like if I had a little bit of daylight I was going to just let it go. I did not shoot a three all second half. I have been shooting the ball a little bit too well not to. I felt like I was the second option, Malcolm [Brogdon] was the first. I was coming off of it and I had that look, and I was going to shoot it.”
On if he felt he got fouled on the final shot:
“Yeah, I got hit, but you know, it still goes in, so I can not complain.”
On if he knew his shot was going in when it left his fingers:
“Well when I got hit I thought maybe it would be short, but I just put all of my legs into it. I was tired from the game. I used all of my legs and it went in. I did not know for a fact, but I have been shooting the ball pretty well as of late.”
Virginia Senior Guard Malcolm Brogdon
On London Perrantes’ ability to drive to the rim:
“I just think he is crafty. He is not the biggest, he is not the most athletic, but he is very skilled and he is smart, so I think he figures out ways to get inside.”
Virginia Freshman Forward Jarred Reuter
On his game as a whole:
“I’ve been getting more comfortable with the small minutes I’ve been getting, but with the minutes I knew could play well and I think I did.”
On the defense tonight:
“That is what we really pride ourselves on. It is what we work on a lot, so whenever we can show that we can do that, and all the work that we put in on defense pays off, it’s a great feeling.”
Virginia Senior Forward Anthony Gill
On California’s Defense:
“They are a really big team, and it was up to me just to find shots that I could take, within the offense and be efficient. Tonight I didn’t shoot that well from the field, maybe it had something to do with their size or whatever but I didn’t really adjust to it well in the first half. The second half I just decided to go out there and attack them and that’s what I did.”
On Isaiah Wilkin’s three-point play:
“I felt like we were about to get something big, whether it be an and-one or a three. He stepped up at the right time and he hit that shot and got fouled and hit the free throw. That was big of him and that shows the toughness that he has to be able to step up and really hit that free throw at the end. We really needed that. It was a momentum swing for us just to get us back in the game.”
On the bench stepping up:
“They were great. The guys that were playing and got more minutes in the past really weren’t doing what they needed to do. Jarred, hats off to him, played great tonight. The guys were joking around in the locker room about that that was the first time we had ever seen him dunk like that before. We were really happy for him and we really needed it tonight. Without him tonight I don’t think we would have won that game.”