No. 1 seed Virginia-No. 16 seed UMBC Postgame Quotes
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March 17, 2018
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FRIDAY, MARCH 16 | VIRGINIA INTERVIEW QUOTES
HEAD COACH Tony Bennett
Opening statement
“Well first, hats off to Coach Odom and his staff at UMBC. They played a terrific game. They thoroughly outplayed us. They did a heck of a job. Very hard to guard offensively and they defended us well. I was concerned with a four-guard or four-perimeter offense heading into this. We didn’t do the job. I told these guys in the locker room, a week ago we were cutting down the nets at the ACC Tournament and how good that felt. They had a historic season. They really did. I said that to Tracy [Wolfson] at CBS after the game, in terms of ACC wins and ACC Conference tournament championship. Then, we had a historic loss being the first one seed to lose. That’s life. We talk about it all the time. In the end, it was a remarkable season but we got thoroughly outplayed and that’s the reality of it. I hate for this team to lose like this. If you play this game and step into the arena, this stuff can happen.”
GUARD Ty Jerome
What was UMBC doing so effectively?
“They spread the floor. They made shots. I don’t think we defended well. We didn’t pass the ball well. We didn’t come off screens well. We didn’t really do anything well tonight, to be honest. Give credit to them, too. They played well. We talked about it all week that they were going to get up in us and be physical on the ball screens and physical in the gaps and just be strong with the ball and come off ball screens. Nothing really surprised us, we just kind of, I don’t know, we didn’t execute the game plan offensively.”
GUARD Kyle Guy
What was UMBC doing so effectively?
“Defensively, they were very quick and beating screens. Once we got down eight or 10, we tried to make home run plays because you don’t want to be in this position.”
GUARD Devon Hall
On how disappointing the loss was
“We lost by 20? We lost by 20. We lost by 20 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. That pretty much sums it up itself.”
On if the loss has sunk in yet
“I am sure I will be able to sit back and ââ’¬¦ We just lost. We lost 10 or 15 minutes ago. I can’t necessarily say it has sunk in yet. We just got off the floor. It hurts. I know that. I realize that was my last game I will ever play in this uniform.”
On what his time at Virginia has meant to him
“It has been amazing. I have learned and I have grown. I have been able to mature as a player and as a man. I love this team.”
FORWARD Isaiah Wilkins
On how well UMBC shot from behind the arc
“That was in the scouting report. We just got outplayed. That is all it was.”
On why the team couldn’t come back
“We just could not get stops. They were clicking. They are good. I do not know their point guards name but he was doing good things and was hard to stop on the ball screen. They were hitting shots and we were off today. I have to give them credit. They outplayed us.”
On what his team at Virginia has meant to him
“It has been special. Thank you to everybody who has supported us over the four years. It has been a great ride. That is all I got right now.”
FRIDAY, MARCH 16 | UMBC INTERVIEW QUOTES
HEAD COACH RYAN ODOM
Opening statement
“Obviously a historic game fir UMBC, unbelievable. I’m so proud of these kids, I take so much joy in watching them smile not just at the end there, but throughout the game. I think it’s pretty easy to tell everybody in the arena that these guys have passion. These guys love to play this game; this game means a lot to them. It was just a special, special effort.
“I thought our defense in the first half helped us out go in 21-21 at halftime after not shooting it particularly well. Obviously, Virginia has a lot to do with that. It gave our guys some life there, they felt like they could play with them in the second half. We continued to get stops and we began to run better than we did in the first half. And our spacing was tremendous and we were able to get some shots off in transition that would not normally be able to happen had we not been able to get a stop.
“Arkel, was tremendous throughout the game. Our big guys came in and did what they typically do and defended really well and rebounded. I’m so happy for the three seniors and Joe. Joe is getting ready to be a graduate here soon too, he’s getting ready to be a senior. The other thing I would say is Virginia had an amazing year. Coach Bennett is an amazing coach and their staff is unbelievable. I love Orlando Vandross like he’s my brother. Obviously you could see the pain after the game once it had settled in at the end there. And you feel for them, but it certainly doesn’t take away the happiness that I have for these guys right here. These guys have worked extremely hard to earn a moment like this and to have two back-to-back moments [like this]. [First] the America East Championship with our backs against the wall, down nine and to come back and win that game. Then to go toe-to-toe with the number one team in the country- unbelievable is all you can say.”
GUARD DANIEL AIKEN
When it clicked that they would win the game
“I think I had a feeling, 10 minutes left in the game. We were still up by like 11 and we just couldn’t miss. We were playing the best defense we had played all year.”
GUARD JORDAN GRANT
On the feeling of making history
“It’s unreal man. These last couple of weeks have been unreal for us. Coach just kept telling us to believe in ourselves. That’s what he’s been preaching from day one since we got here. Believe in ourselves. We did, we stuck to our game plan. They’re not the number one team for no reason. To do it in the fashion we did, it’s crazy.”
On being the first No. 16 to beat a No. 1 seed
“We just said we could be the one to do it. Every time we go into that huddle at practice we just believed in ourselves and believed that coach was going to put us in the right positions to pull it off.”
On when it clicked that they would win
“When they pulled Arkel’s shorts. I looked up at the clock and it was maybe a 1:30 and I just looked around and I was like ‘man, this is just crazy.’ We’re up 17 on the number one team in the country with a minute left. There are no words for it.”
GUARD JARIUS LYLES
On his parents being UVA graduates
“I think they wanted us to get the win most importantly, but I’m sure it’d be a topic of discussion for a little while.”
On when he thought tonight might be their night
“I think we had the confidence coming into the game. I don’t think there was a point in the game that we thought we couldn’t play with them, we thought we could play with them coming into the game. Tying up with them at half definitely gave us more confidence and like Joe and K.J. said, myself included we definitely went into the half with more confidence.”
GUARD K.J. MAURA
On when he thought tonight might be their night
“We started getting stops on a constant basis in the first half and that gave us the confidence to get going. The first half was a low scoring game, but we knew we were getting the shots we wanted, we just weren’t making them in the first half. The second half we shot the ball with more confidence and that gave us the win.”
GUARD JOE SHERBURNE
On when he thought tonight might be their night
“I think at halftime when we were tied at 21 and we hadn’t shot the ball particular well and made silly turnovers. We thought there’s no way we aren’t winning this game, we just have to hit shots.”