Dec. 20, 2008
Recap |
Box Score
Virginia Head Coach Dave Leitao
Opening statement:
"I'm obviously disappointed, particularly with our inability to play a game from start to finish that we prepared to play. Two things we emphasized were to execute a game plan and do it with a high level of passion. We didn't sustain either and it obviously cost us in the beginning, it cost us in the middle and it cost us late. We need to continue to work on those issues to one, get better, and two, win games like this that are going to be left in the balance."
On the Cavaliers' last offensive play:
"There were two options, one for Sylven (Landesberg) to reject the ball screen and see how far he could take it. Then Sammy (Zeglinski), if his feet were set and it was a quality shot then he could shoot from two or three, if not drive it in and kick it. He sprinted off and took the shot and I think it was a little bit untimely because there was a man there. There wasn*t that much time left either so maybe he felt like he had to take it."
On the first-half deficit:
"The same two things, the lack of execution and we played extremely passive. We were hanging around while playing poorly. We gave away possession after possession after possession. They finally realized it and got up on us before halftime. That was big because if we were able to maintain before halftime and then pick up the pace I think we would have been in better shape. More times today than I think any other game this year we got ourselves deep into the shot clock. We were making cuts just to make cuts. Passing just to pass. We weren*t looking to get the ball down low. We weren*t looking to penetrate."
On Assane Sene:
"It's just energy. He's not perfect, but he was from the start playing that way. He was the one guy in there rebounding and battling. He got caught with a second foul but he was able to be a presence in the second half with his energy, his length and his rebounding. There are other guys around him that we need to have the same kind of energy and passion from."
Auburn Head Coach Jeff Lebo
Opening Statement:
"It was a tough, hard-fought game. Our first half we did a great job defensively. Our quickness bothered them and offensively both teams struggled the entire game getting the ball in the hole. Our team showed some toughness in the end when we lost the lead and in the last two minutes gained it back. We didn*t shoot the ball particularly well. Virginia made the run in the second half. (Sylven) Landesberg played terrific and we put him on the foul line a little too much. We made big plays at the end."
On Virginia guard Sammy Zeglinski:
"We made a change and went big. We put (Lucas) Hargrove with a bit more size on him because that's where they were hurting us in the second half. DeWayne Reed had the great play on Zeglinski's 3-pointer at the end. In the first half, keeping Zeglinski under control was a key. He's a big part of their team."
On Auburn's 44-30 rebounding advantage:
"We're down two guys, Frankie Sullivan and our 6-10 post guy (Brandon Knox) is out. So we typically have a bit more depth in the backcourt. That's an area where we have some depth. And that's an area where they don't have the depth. My teams have been small at Auburn. We shoot a lot of threes and they ricochet out. Quantez Robertson did a good job of gathering some long rebounds to get us second shot attempts."
On the final four minutes of the game:
"We had plenty of time left in the game. We play a little game called stop, score, stop. We practice those situations."
