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Postgame Quotes vs. Central Connecticut
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Box Score Nov. 12, 2017
Virginia vs. Central Connecticut
November 12, 2017
Virginia Quotes
Coach Joanne Boyle
Opening Statement:
“It was a great team win for us today, especially on the offensive end. We really shared the basketball well. I thought there was really good chemistry on that end of the floor. I thought at times our defense was good, obviously we have a lot to build on when it comes to that end of the floor. On our man defense, we need to do some more things in terms of taking teams’ stuff away from them, but I was pleased with the effort. I was pleased with the team win. Again, it is early in the season, so there is always something to build upon.”
On Felicia’s improvement over the past year:
“She just has a fight about her. I think she has more confidence. She has put on 15 pounds of muscle, which has helped her confidence. We are really trying to go inside to her early and establish her position inside, which obviously helps our guards when people have to really focus in on her. She is really starting to come along. She works hard. She is coming to the gym to get extra work. She works a lot with Coach (LaKeisha) Frett. She really wants it, so I am really pleased with her growth pattern right now.”
On takeaways from the Mississippi State game:
“We needed to be in an environment like that. It was a game against one of the top ten teams in the country on their home floor. They were raising their Final Four banner that night, and there was a lot of great energy in that gym. It was loud. It was hot. So just to get in there and get that experience and exposure, for me, I would have done it all over again. It was a great game for us to play in to understand what it is like. To watch that team on film does not do them justice of how physical and how athletic they are. We did a good job for the most part in the first half. We lost our minds a little bit with about a minute left in the first half and it just kind of trickled [throughout the rest of the game]. We lost our poise, and we never really regained our composure that we had in the first half. I felt like we battled and we believed that we could go down there and win that game and compete. So again, just another building block going forward.”
On playing less than 48 hours after the Mississippi State game:
“It is just hard with non-conference scheduling and with how the men’s schedule is versus our schedule. We have two weeks of exams coming up, so we really have to get our games in early. I think it is a testament to the girls as to how hard they work that they are able to turn around and do that, and also to our strength and conditioning who have gotten them to where they need to be in order to handle this kind of schedule.”
On being able to put the Mississippi State game behind them so soon:
“It is similar to a tournament-style of play. We are just trying to get in good games, so I do not know how intentional it was, but it is something that we need to be able to do, and finding a balance in our schedule. It is really just getting two games under our belt going into Georgia.”
On what Coach Boyle wanted to see from the team today:
“We mainly talked about what our standard is going to be and not playing to the level of your competition. I think they are a great team and for us it was about deciding how we want to look after this game. It was really about setting our own standard.”
On facing Georgia and team’s tough schedule this season:
“We have experienced what we wanted last year and what we did not want last year, and so I think there is a hunger and a fight. We know we have to come in and battle every day. Every win is going to matter this year. For us, we wanted to put a challenging schedule together, the girls wanted a challenging schedule so they want to own this. They want to own this non-conference schedule. They are going to have a day off tomorrow and rest and get modalities done and come in and have two great days of practice.”
Sophomore Guard Jocelyn Willoughby
On chemistry playing with Dominique Toussaint and the growth of their relationship:
“This year, we are taking much more leadership. We definitely had great chemistry on the floor, and that is something we have been working on in practice. We are always together, always talking about what we can do better, what the team needs from us, and that definitely translated to today. She had some passes, to me, I had some passes to her, and just getting the whole team involved.”
On the status of her ankle injury:
“It is still a little sore, but at this point it is functional. It is strong enough to be able to handle being out on the court. Still doing treatment and therapy and everything, but right now my goal is to just be there for the team and do whatever they need me to do.”
On assuming the leadership role of captain:
“I do not think it has been too much of a change. I am more of a leader by example than necessarily using my words to dictate or recommend what should be happening. Growing vocally has been a huge part of it. I think the girls have respected me from last year and I just hope I continue to gain the respect and trust as their leader this year.”
Sophomore Guard Dominique Toussaint
On chemistry playing with Jocelyn Willoughby and the growth of their relationship:
“I would say for me, I really wanted to focus on bringing our first-years up into the position that they were in today, and getting everyone involved within our offense and defense. We were not necessarily looking at the points, but just the team chemistry that we had on the court.”
On playing aggressively and if the team will need that style of play moving forward:
“It is just the flow of our offense, really. I just take the open shots that I see. Today, we were more focusing on completing our offensive plays, but if I saw an open shot I was taking it. It just depends on what game it is.”
On the thrill of scoring 100 points:
“I mean, it was good to pass 100, but we were not really focusing on how much we were scoring, we were focusing on how much we could stop them from scoring because we really value our defense. That was just the focus, and our defense led to offense so I think that is what happened out there to get the 100 points.”