Opening Statement:
“I thought we played with a lot of heart today. I thought we had a good game plan going into [the game]. Credit to Coach Bennett and his team. They have a great team. They held serve on their court. They did a great job down the stretch finding a way to win. I thought we beat ourselves down the stretch. We fouled too much, put them to the line, and didn’t execute down the stretch. I thought those were the two biggest things of the game.”
On defense on Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome:
“I thought we let Kyle get lost. He got loose a little bit in the first half. Jerome makes plays, as you all know, late in games. [Jerome] finds his place and I think he does a great job of logging the game and getting his teammates involved as the game goes on.”
On the five-point play where Jerome hit a three-pointer and Kyle Guy drew a foul:
“[The referees] said that he was in the act of shooting as the off-the-ball foul was called. I didn’t see it so I don’t know. He got fouled. A foul is a foul. We’re a pretty good defensive team. You guys saw it. Our numbers say that. But you can’t foul all the time. When we limit our fouls and guard like we do, we can stop people. If you told me we were going to limit Virginia to 13 baskets, we’re going to be in a great place even on the road. But we fouled too much.”
On Kihei Clark’s defense:
“I don’t know how much he dribbled with his left hand anyway. When you’re a little point guard like that, we’ve seen so many over the years, the one way you impact the game is getting pressure on the ball. [We] didn’t turn the corner on him as much as we want. We’ve seen that before. [I] thought that he did a good job of messing up rhythm. When you can do that over the course of a 40-minute game, it affects you.”
On if the team is headed in the right direction:
“Yes. The one thing I’ll say about this team, and you see it, is we play really hard. I could be demanding on them to play hard or play harder and they respond. We have to play smarter. That starts with me. I have to be more demanding on these guys to log the game, to execute the game and the game plan especially down the stretch. St. John’s and this game, if we execute down the stretch better, those are two games we probably win or have a chance to win. UVA beat us today, and they beat us down the stretch, and that’s the sign of a good team. We’re trending in the right direction. I love this team. I think we work hard. I think we can work harder. I think we can be smarter. I think guys have to take more personal responsibility to finish games. If we learn to do that, we’re going to be better and better. That’s why the season is a long season and that’s why you keep coaching them up.”
On the crowd being a factor:
“I think the weather was to our advantage. Never thought I’d say that. I don’t think [the crowd] bothered the guys. Of course, the home crowd is going to get fired up late in the game when they get some big stops or make some big plays. I don’t know if that affected us. I think we hurt ourselves by fighting the game a little bit at the end. It was really a five-point game, a two-possession game. I thought we took two bad shots in a row. We have to execute down the stretch.”
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