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No. 18 Virginia @ NC State postgame quotes
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Feb. 25, 2017
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Mark Gottfried Quotes
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Virginia 70, NC State 55
Opening Statement:
“First of all, Virginia is a pretty good basketball team and they shot the ball pretty well today, so you have to give them credit there. I thought that a couple things were the difference. I thought our inability to make an open shot – obviously they are a really good defensive team – but I also thought we had a ton of wide open shots we couldn’t make. That makes the game really hard, especially in a game that’s got fewer possessions. The way they play and the style they play, the open shots you get, you got to make some of them. We just seemed to miss open shot after open shot after open shot. We got it down to eight points and then I think they hit five straight. I think (Kyle) Guy hit a three and a two and that was a big turnaround right there. It went from eight back up to 13. But, our guys played really hard and you’ve just got to make some shots throughout the game at critical times and we weren’t able to do that today.”
(on Virginia’s making 11-of-16 three-point attempts)
“I thought they stepped up and made some big ones. I though (London) Perrantes made one or two timely ones and then I thought that Kyle Guy did as well. Like I said, it was an eight-point game there in the second half and he hits a big three. He hits one off of a pump fake, one bounce dribble kind of play. They made threes and we didn’t. I don’t want to take anything away from their defense, they’re good. But, we had a ton of wide, wide open shots. You look down there and they make 11 and we make seven and of ours that we made, I thought we had a lot more open ones than they did.”
(on his emotions walking off the court)
“I’m not really thinking about that honestly. It’s just disappointing. I just wanted us to win today. I just want to win. We’ve got to go play at Clemson Wednesday and then we’ve got the tournament. Great things still can happen for us. Our fans have been great. Everywhere in town I’ve been it’s been great. People are so positive and appreciative and all that so I just hope we can somehow so some more positive things like we did in Atlanta a couple nights ago.”
(on when he decided to start BeeJay Anya)
“I think maybe last night. I think it’s the right thing to do for him. You know I’m not usually the guy that does all that for senior day, but I think BeeJay is different. I mean he is our shot block leader in the history of our school and I thought he did good today. He gave us some good minutes so I thought it was the right thing to do today.”
(on Coach Gottfried’s relationship with Beejay)
“I think BeeJay is a great young guy and I’ll always be pulling for him. He knows I’ve been frustrated with him and his conditioning and his body and all those types of things. I hope he knows, and I think he does, that’s part of the business side of what we do. It’s different than the personal side of what we do. It is what it is now, and again, I think he did a nice job today. Really nice job.”
(on Virginia’s shooting today)
“A couple of those were pretty good looks, but I thought they earned them, too. On our end, honestly, I thought we had a lot more open shots than they did, and we had more wide-open shots, and couldn’t make them. Sometimes that’s the game, especially in a game like this, and this style of game, and slower paced game, you got to make some of them. You aren’t going to make everyone of them, I know that, but you know we missed way too many great looks and wide-open shots. We had more wide-open shots than they did, trust me. We didn’t make enough of them, and they did.”
(on BeeJay Anya’s college career)
“Our people should always appreciate BeeJay. You know there’s a frustration there obviously too, because of his conditioning. But I hope he gets his degree, graduates from NC State, that’s my number one hope for him. I hope our fans appreciate him and the contributions he’s made over the last couple of years because I think he’s made a lot them, a lot of really good ones.”
(on summarizing Dennis Smith, Jr.’s freshman season at NC State)
“Well, we’re not done yet, I know we’re done in this building. You know I think he’s had a marvelous freshman year. Sometimes the expectations are so high, and I’m guilty as anybody for putting it on him. He had those expectations coming in, regardless of that. Sometimes you don’t really appreciate how good somebody is every night. And I’ve said this many times too, and I’ve been around athletics a long time, not only is he a freshman, but he’s a freshman who missed a season of competition last year with a torn ACL. Those guys sometimes it takes a while to get back. You know a lot of times it may take another half a year to get your confidence back and really play at a high level. You look at him and what he’s done coming off of that, I think it’s pretty spectacular. You know hopefully again we got a lot of basketball left one way or another in us, but I think he’s had an amazing year this year.”
Tony Bennett Quotes
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Virginia 70, NC State 55
(on how nice it was to see shots falling)
“Certainly. We talked about just keeping playing the defense to keep you in there and sooner or later hopefully we’ll knock down some shots and get some different kinds of looks. That’s what we’ve been talking about in all of these games. It got away from us against Carolina, but the other games we’ve been attached because, for the most part, our defense kept us in there. But to see Kyle (Guy) get going, and make some shots, and he really loosened it up. It was very important.”
(on not playing Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome against Miami, but what he was hoping to get from them today)
“I thought Ty and Kyle did a great job. That fifth foul on Ty hurt, but Darius (Thompson) was sick, couldn’t play. I was actually going to start Darius, but the plan was to definitely go in that direction, to get them more minutes and they were forced into it, and then again to loosen things up with Kyle and his shot, we wanted to get that. Once it started falling, you could see that was huge for us. I thought Ty and Kyle defensively, they came of age a little bit, of being smart, of being in the right spots. Sometimes Kyle was on Dennis Smith, I thought London did a heck of a job. Our defense stayed solid and then we made some shots. Still missed layups, still missed free-throws, not perfect by any means, but rallied enough and the young guys gave us a great lift, and of course, London (Perrantes) and Devon (Hall) gave us nice lifts. Jack (Salt) has a bad back and Isaiah (Wilkins) has strep throat, he wasn’t maybe going to play so we knew we were shorthanded, and we just had to play through it.”
(on if looking back at the Miami game, he wishes he played Kyle Guy more than two minutes)
“Yeah. We have a group of guys, that they’re different, but they’ve all helped us at different times, and I thought we had the Miami game if we made some free throws, which we didn’t. I thought we need it because the way they were attacking, a little more size and physicality on the perimeter. But, yeah if Kyle shoots like that, absolutely, that’s a good insight, I should have played him more. That’s it. For sure, he only played two minutes and you’re always when you get beat close, and though I thought we had it defended it well, you’re going want to think about that. That’s part of this team and evolving and certain guys play well in certain situations and certain don’t, but yeah that, that was important to see.”
(on his thoughts on London Perrantes today)
“I think early, you know, he just struggled. It’s like when you’re missing shots, you’re missing putts, whatever, how do you find it, but you just keep playing, you try to get to the line, draw a foul. You try to have your whole game be your strength, not just be identified, or to have your emotions go by if my shots falling. We’ve missed a lot of good looks, we’ve missed free-throws, we’ve done things that have cost us, and there is such a big to-do about it from the media and rightly so, I guess it’s covered that way. So you have to be able to put the blinders on and say, `I’m just going to keep plugging. Find different ways to impact.’ That’s why I liked him creating, him guarding Dennis, and then making the big shot. You just keep taking them if they’re good shots, without second guessing yourself, and that’s challenging, but that’s what you have to do.”
(on if the team playing again Monday gives them a look at what the turnaround will be like during the NCAA Tournament)
“You have to look at it that way. Scheduling is an interesting thing. We’ll discuss some things when the time is right with the people we should discuss it with, in terms of games and spacing and all of that. Some of this stuff is TV driven and I get all of that. Quick turnaround, you have to be ready. Absolutely, if you’re fortunate enough to get into the NCAA Tournament you win a game, you have a day of prep and then you have to be ready to play a great team. We know what Carolina is and we have to get back, get some guys healthy and come at it better than we did down there. We tried to come at the right way there, but we didn’t. We have to be ready and know what we’re going against and just keep moving on.”
(on London Perrantes and Devon Hall making big shots to keep NC State from building momentum)
“They are huge. You can play and play and play and the game comes down to can you go make a play. Sometimes you can execute and go make a play, but a lot of times when you look at all of these close games and how teams are winning or being beat, they are tough shots. We’ve been beat by guys making plays. The games we’ve won, we’ve made some plays. It always comes down to that or in some cases, can you make the free throws or get the big stops. It was good to see some of those finishes and plays being made to keep it not a one or two possession game.”
(on if he felt like today was a must win situation)
“Every game we want to win and is a must win. It’s an opportunity, but focusing on that wasn’t going to do it. I have no idea where we stand, in terms of projections, if we’re in or we’re out and all that stuff. I know we let some slip away and it’s frustrating. It was just can we play some quality ball because there are enough games left. I guess that’s our ninth win so we finish at least .500 in the league and we still have two more opportunities in the regular season plus the conference tournament. As far as quality of play, I thought we needed to have a better offensive shooting performance and hopefully that can help us. Knowing realistically what’s coming Monday, we have to be right.”
(on Isaiah Wilkins’ performance today when he didn’t feel well)
“We needed it. I don’t know if you guys could see Jack (Salt) wincing when he landed. It’s why he banked his first free throw because he’s never done that before. (He) didn’t practice yesterday. We thought he was a little better last night, woke up this morning, temperature was up — and Darius (Thompson) out of the blue, high temperature — we said, `Warm up and you tell us. Don’t need much, but you let us know.’ Darius was getting nauseous on the bench. (Isaiah) said he wanted to try it and that’s why we played him. We needed it all, and I thought he did a good job. We put him, at times, on a perimeter player, so we could keep going. I thought his smarts and his ability to be in those spots helped.”
(on what have the last couple of days been like in practice with five days between games)
“It was nice. I know a lot of people suggested we go bowling or do something, swimming. We worked. We got back, we worked. We took a day off and then we really worked hard on our shooting, our fundamentals, quality shots. We had three days prep, so we had a day off and then we just did a hard shooting, fundamentals, skill development on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday were abbreviated, shortened days, but heavy emphasis on shooting. It was nice to have that preparation. To breathe and not play the four games every other day, it was nice to work on some things and fine tune.”
(on Devon Hall’s play today)
“We played him as the four most of the game. You look at his stat line and almost a double-double, 18 (points) and 9 (rebounds). He’s been a key for us this season. We need the balance because we’re not dropping it inside and playing out of the post. We got some scoring from him. I liked his game, didn’t turn it over and was just efficient. He’s got some leadership in him. I see him and he’s trying to urge and pull and lead the team along with Isaiah (Wilkins) and London (Perrantes). He’s been very important. Marial (Shayok) didn’t have a very good game today and the other guys stepped up. Marial has had good games in the past and that’s part of having the balance and depth. That’s why we recruited that way.”
NC State Player Quotes
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Virginia 70, NC State 55
BeeJay Anya ( Sr ., F )
( On the emotion of senior day ):
“It was just realizing that I’ve been here for four years and that it’s coming to an end. I was also a little upset at my mom because she wasn’t there at the time–she was running late coming from home. It was an emotional day and hard realizing that it was the last time I was going to be playing at PNC.”
( On whether the difficult season made it more emotional ):
“No, I was more concerned about the fact that I was done. I think I’m the only player that’s stayed here for four years straight. Looking back on it and thinking about the times that I’ve had–the good and the bad–it’s been a roller coaster. And then Lennard (Freeman) cried and it made me sad.
( On friendship with Lennard ):
“It’s not a friendship, it’s a brotherhood. The only thing that could make it closer is blood. We’ve been tight since we got here. The four years that we’ve been here, we’ve created a bond that’s unbreakable. He’s probably going to be the best man in my wedding in a few years whenever I get married. We’re just inseparable. I love him.”
( On the emotion stepping out on PNC ‘ s court one last time after everything this season ):
“I got emotional. I don’t cry very much, but it came out today.”
( On Lennard showing emotion ):
“It meant a lot, because like I said, he’s my brother. Terry (Henderson) showed emotion too. And my mom was running late with my sister, so my team walked me out and it just got emotional and I just lost it. My brothers out there, those guys are my closest friends, my closest brothers. I didn’t have any brothers growing up, and having them has been like having brothers. I’ve been with them for four years, and our friendships will last a lifetime.”
Terry Henderson ( Sr ., G )
(On the emotions from BeeJay):
“It means a lot for me. BeeJay is like my little brother. And seeing how passionate he is about it, that touched everyone. He’s going to remember that moment forever. He’s going to tell his kids about that. He takes great pride in NC State, regardless of how we’ve done. He’s been an NC State fan forever. He hosted me when I was a recruit, so I applaud him for everything he’s done for NC State.”
( On how he was as a host ):
“I mean he landed me, so he was great.”
( On what made Virginia difficult when they went on the 15-0 run ):
“They were just getting open shots–open threes. At one point it was 7-8 and it was back-and-forth. We were holding them to one shot, but those guys got hot and it hurt us. Trying to catch up to a team who slows you down every play gets tough. They played great basketball. We missed more shots than we do normally and that hurt us, but we have to move on to Clemson.”
( On the emotions walking off the floor ):
“I’m grateful regardless of the ups and downs. Not a lot of people get the opportunity to play for NC State or Division I basketball. So regardless everything, I’m thankful for the opportunity and thankful to be part of Wolfpack nation and NC State.”
Abdul – Malik Abu ( Jr ., F )
( On emotions from senior day )
“I mean, it was tremendous. You know, it was an era of basketball for a lot of people — BeeJay has been here for four years, Lennard has been here for four years, Terry has been here short time, but he’s a Raleigh native. It was an emotional night. We tried our best to seal the win but feel short.”
(On the feeling of knowing that some players may not return next season )
“We try not to focus on that. We have some games in a big tournament where we feel we can make a run but yeah, the team could be very different next year. You know, a lot of changes that have already been made but we’re still together as a family right now and we’re still focused.”
(on emotions at the beginning of the game compared to the end of the game )
“I mean, the beginning was emotional because the seniors walked out and you finally realized like, `Hey, some guys this is going to be their last time putting on the uniform for PNC and the fans that adore us.’ After the game, I just told me seniors that I was proud of them and that we have more games to play.”
(on how hard this is for the players)
“It’s tough losing, but we try and learn from every mistake, every loss and just look forward.
( On going into regular season finale after losses at home )
“It’s just the same thing, same mentality, we just got to go through and be prepared as Coach (Gottfried) has us every day in practice and execute, play together and stay as a family and hope for the best.”
( On if it ‘ s hard to believe they can win finale :
“No. I have a strong belief in my team and our staff, even the fans, they believe in us, too. I just feel like we’re waiting to get rolling and we’re just going out there trying to win every game.”
(on what would it take to get to that point):
“We just have to put it all together. I feel like we show flashes throughout games. I feel like during the Georgia Tech game we put it together. We played D and executed and stayed together. Here, we had some defensive lapses, we gave up a lot of 3s today but the effort was there, you know. Basketball is going to go either way, only one team is going to win, so we just got to go out there and play as hard as we can.”
( On if the team was expecting a breakout game from Virginia ‘ s Kyle Guy ):
“We definitely knew about his shooting ability and Virginia runs a spacier offense, you know, get their guys off flare screens, down screens, you know, they capitalize off the space and they let it fly.”
( On 15-0 Virginia run in the first half ):
“Defensively, they were just making some tough shots and some open shots, too. We have to do a better job of defending on the perimeter, especially through the flares and ball screens, but I feel like throughout the game our guys buckled down and did well and showed heart and tried to get as many stops as they can.”
( On how reflective this game is of the entire season ):
“It’s like the same thing I’ve been saying: There’s only one outcome that you hope for and that’s to win, but you know, only one team wins. One has to be disappointed and sadly that’s been the story for us this season. But we’re going out there with a little win and the belief to win and we’re never giving up.”
( On opposing teams excelling behind the 3- point line against NC State ):
“I don’t know. Teams are making shots and we probably have to do a better job of making them less comfortable around the perimeter.”