Postgame Quotes
3/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2004
Wake Forest Coach Skip Prosser
The better team won tonight. When you allow a team to shoot 61% in the second half, you set yourself up for defeat. Give Virginia credit, they made the plays.
We have to learn to guard if we're going to continue to play. We were horrific (on defense).
It's team defense, not one on one. It's collectively. It doesn't help either that they shot better from the field than we shot from the free-throw line.
(Devin) Smith made a great play at the end. I'll have to see the tape to see how open he was.
My way of thinking is that Virginia is one win away from the NCAA tournament (if) they go 7-9 in this league, with three wins over the top 15.
Virginia Coach Pete Gillien
I thought it was a tremendous game. It was fitting that it came down to the last couple of seconds. The shot went up and it was a chance for overtime, but thank goodness it didn't go to overtime. Wake Forest can really shoot the ball, they are tough.
I'm proud of our team. They played with great courage. It was a great team victory. We got a lot of great minutes, as a lot of guys stepped up and contributed. Derrick Byars gave us some good minutes. Devin Smith, again, 15 points in 19 minutes without practicing. I just can't say enough about him.
It was a terrific game and we are fortunate that the last shot didn't go in.
On maintaing the lead in the final minutes:
It was big for us to keep the lead. Wake Forest plays with great poise and confidence. It was good that they tied up or we were up one or two, so we didn't start doubting ourself. Our players felt that they could win. I thought we could win too, but I knew we would have to play hard.
On the play of TJ Bannister:
TJ has been steady. I can honestly say that he's been putting in a lot of time and doing extra. He's been doing extra shooting and dribbling drills. He's quick and strong and has a big heart. With 12 assists tonight and one turnover, that's terrific.
On the last possession of the game:
We knew that Wake Forest would not let Todd Billet beat them. We ran the play and we swung it. We knew they were going to trap so we tried to get it to the other side. We got it to Devin (Smith) and he drove and made the three-point play.
On the last two weeks:
We go day-by-day. We've been very fortunate. It's a great tribute to our players' character and heart. We have good talent, but I think we have bigger heart-more guts and character that's been able to get us through. We're beating great teams and our heart and determination have been the determing factor.
I thought we played our best game tonight. We met a team that was playing very well and we put everything together.
