UVA Basketball: Tony Bennett on win over Notre Dame

On De’Andre Hunter’s performance:

“I thought [De’Andre Hunter] made some really good plays in the high-post and low-post. [Notre Dame] was mixing in some zone and some man-to-man. We were trying to get the ball moving, stretch the zone and then get [De’Andre Hunter], or anybody really, touches in the high-post. A lot of times when you touch the high-post, they would match up and play man. That’s where, depending on who’s matched up, [you want] to be aggressive and try to make the right play. Certainly, De’Andre did that. He’s very good in that high-post, whether it’s a one dribble pullup or a hard drive, and we needed that. When you don’t shoot the ball particularly well, and we got some really good looks, that challenges you when people are packing in a zone or doing what Notre Dame did. [Notre Dame] played so much better than when we played them the first time. They were scrappy and competitive and they have ability guys that can make plays. They’re coming off of an ACC win so they challenged us in that regard.”

On Virginia’s offensive movement adjustments:

“We just moved the ball more. Definitely flash and get in there. Again, at times they were going man-to-man and they were matching up, so you needed to move some bodies and overload. But, initially, we just wanted the ball to move top-side, stretch it, and then get some flashes into certain areas that were scoring areas and then play from there. I thought we had a couple beautiful possessions in the second half of zone offense. So, it was a little more of the ball, but, whenever they did go man, then it was trying to move the bodies around.”

On the close-game at the end:

“It’s a credit to [Notre Dame]. You never apologize for a victory in a league like this. And that was good play on their part. [There were] a couple of turnovers, a breakdown or two defensively, but we made enough plays and made the free-throws. We were up by 10 with five minutes left and you would like to have gotten a shot every time and have made them earn it – they made a couple plays. But, concern, you want to clean that up and be better. We did enough against a team that was playing very solidly.”