Story Links

Jan. 5, 2017

Recap | Final Stats | Notes

Virginia Head Coach Joanne Boyle
Opening Statement:
“It was a very tough loss. We are just trying to learn from our mistakes and not keep repeating them. We have had a theme in the second half of these last two games not taking care of the ball and rebounding at the crucial time. We just have to value possessions and help them feel more confident when teams are pressing. I think the second half when people turn it up on us is where we lose our confidence.”

On opponent’s offensive rebounds and turnovers:
“Those are the two biggest categories for us. Obviously with the offensive rebounding, you have to have a will to win at the end of a game. I feel like we are stuck in mud and our feet aren’t moving. I don’t know if we are becoming lackadaisical because we are turning the ball over. We just have to clean up both ends of the floor. They play their hearts out. I have no problem with their effort. They honestly believe that they can win these games. I think we get rocked with a couple of mistakes that can be cleaned up. We let it snowball and don’t stop the madness soon enough.”

On Louisville’s two scorers fouling out:
“We lost Jocelyn (Willoughby) and then Lauren (Moses), so we were losing a couple of people with size as well. I think that group that was out there is not a typical group that we run a lot together. Lisa (Jablonowski) was playing the five. We just have be able to put them in different situations.”

On seeing more resilience to force overtime:
“We were down six and came back and obviously Dominique (Toussaint) hit that three. I felt like we were definitely grinding to get back in it. We weren’t hesitant to shoot the ball. We were aggressive going to the rim. We still have to shoot the ball better, but I don’t feel like we were questioning that piece. We have experienced enough of losing the same way. It is now time to step up, everyone take responsibility and help each other out. I think we just need that one win to get over the hump.”

On Louisville missing free throws in regulation, hitting in overtime:
“My thing is to control the controllable. We can’t control if they are going to make free throws or not. For me, it is let’s take care of us. The goals are to cleanup these two categories in particular. I keep telling the team we have to value possessions better. It could be an offensive possession, defensive possession, a rebound so they don’t shoot a three at a very crucial time. It could be anything. If you are in a game and you take a possession off, it could cost us. I anticipate we are going to be in more close games.”

Freshman Guard Dominique Toussaint:
On mindset at the end of games:
“There’s no doubt that we can beat these teams. Honestly, it’s just within ourselves that’s keeping us back. We have just got to find that thing that is holding us back and just crush it because these games are our games so we have to do better from now on.”

Junior Guard Aliyah Huland El:
On the string of six straight turnovers against the press:
“In terms of what it’s like, it is obviously frustrating. It is something that as a player and, I consider myself as a leader, but as a leader it shouldn’t happen. It’s not like we haven’t drilled it in practice. We’ve done it since the beginning of the season, making sure that we are executing in a press break because every team is going to press in the ACC. At this point, it’s just executing our PO and making good decisions.”

On gaining experience in close games:
“Obviously we have been in a lot of competitive games that were close and we haven’t come out on the winning end. But all of our first years are very competitive and they are all aggressive and they all want to win. At this point, we have been in positions where we’re that close and we just haven’t gotten over the hump. I think they are eye-opening situations, but our younger players are learning on the fly and we’re teaching them as veterans as well.”

Print Friendly Version