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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: RALEIGHMarch 16, 2016Anthony GillLondon PerrantesMalcolm BrogdonRaleigh, North Carolina Q. For all of guys, you've had a chance now to, I assume, study some film. What can you tell us about your opponent? What is the scouting report? What do they do well? ANTHONY GILL: They are a fast-paced team. They like to get up and down the court. Get a lot of quick shots up and they crash the glass offensively. We have to be ready for that and be ready from the start. As far as getting back in transition defense and try to get quick stops. MALCOLM BROGDON: I echo the same point. They like to get up and down. They like to shoot a lot. Play fast-paced so we're going to try to slow them down with our back line and get back in transition. LONDON PERRANTES: Defensively, they switch up their defenses, man, press, zone. So we've been getting ready for all of those, so. Q. When you guys look at the roster, or if it was apparent you watched them on video, you guys have a significant height advantage of these guys. It's not something you see in the ACC, do they compare at all to anybody you remember playing in the course of your career? And what challenges does playing a smaller team like that present? We know what the advantages are. LONDON PERRANTES: Off the top of my head, I don't know of a comparison. But they do have the four-guard line-up. Chievous is a guard, basically, playing the 4 man, but with that small lineup we try to go inside with A.G., Isaiah and Tobey and try to take advantage of that as best we can. MALCOLM BROGDON: I agree. We're going try to take advantage of the inside. Because that's why -- that's where we can benefit the most. If we can get lay-ups. We can get easy buckets, get their bigs in foul trouble, so that's what we'll do. ANTHONY GILL: I agree with everything they just said. Q. When you guys saw, not only that you were a 1 seed but coming to Raleigh, did you feel that your season was validated, or were you surprised by the 1 seed this year? MALCOLM BROGDON: It was a pleasant surprise for us. You know, we played hard this season. I think we had a very good regular season, but that doesn't mean you deserve a 1 seed. We were thankful for the opportunity. You know, we're going try to take advantage of it as best as we can. Q. Anthony, I wonder if you -- maybe any of you guys have seen the video of Hampton's coach celebrating at the end of that MEAC title game. What is the closest Coach Bennett has ever gotten any kind of emotion, any somewhat resembling that? ANTHONY GILL: I've never seen him jump up and down on the sidelines like that before but in the locker room, he does kind of get a little dance step to him every now and then when we get a big win. He does the same dance every single time. You know, but that's just Coach Bennett. His style is a little different than -- he has a little bit of old school in him, so, you know, his dance moves are a little old school but that's about it. Q. For all of you guys, has there been a time in your basketball lives where you're the underdog and pulled a big upset? And if so, what are the circumstances of that? ANTHONY GILL: I think in a lot of ways, UVA is the underdog in a lot of things. We have the underdog mentality going into every single game. A couple years back when nobody expected us to do anything in the NCAA Tournament and we made it to the Sweet 16, when we won the ACC championship the same year. I think in a way we were underdog in that type of atmosphere. Nobody expected anything from us, especially when we took a loss that year to Tennessee by almost 40 points, so you know, I think in that way we kind of experienced the underdog kind of mentality there. THE MODERATOR: Malcolm, do you have an underdog story? MALCOLM BROGDON: I can echo the same story. We are a program that prides us as being underdogs and we, you know, we embrace it. We embrace the role of being the underdog. Whether or not people see us as the better team or the team that should be beat, we go in there and have a chip on our shoulder every game. LONDON PERRANTES: Nothing. Q. I'm curious with the seed disparity and obviously you are the favorite. You have a tendency to get off to a slow start this year. Is that something that's extra important to not give a team like this hope early on? LONDON PERRANTES: I think as of late, we've been starting off pretty strong. So I'm hoping we put that in the past, and just trying to move forward and keep starting the games off strong, especially after the last two tournaments, our first games we kind of started off slow and but we have lot of experience and we're trying learn from those two experiences and trying to get better. MALCOLM BROGDON: I agree with him. You know, we got to stay focused. We got to make sure we don't get off to a slow start. I think we've learned from that in the past, whether it's been the beginning of this season or in past tournaments. Getting off to a slow start hurts us in the game, in games that we lose by two or three points. You know, it's very important for us right now because it's do or die. THE MODERATOR: Anthony? ANTHONY GILL: Agreed. Q. This is for London: Can you go back to when you first went all of the way across the country to Charlottesville, and ended up taking over as a point guard. And looking back at that guy then, you know, how much gumption and bravado did it take to do that? LONDON PERRANTES: It's been a crazy experience. Coming all the way across the country, leaving everything I had, just going out and taking a leap of faith. This is what I wanted to do to be in these situations. That's why I came to the University of Virginia to be able to play in games like this and be able to play for a team like this. When I came to Virginia I really just wanted to come in and play some minutes just to help the team win, and I ended up getting a bigger role and just been running with it, and just trying to have the best experience with the team and now I'm here. So it was a big leap of faith but it's been working out well for me. Q. Malcolm, this week so far two First-Team All-America recognitions for you. Not from a personal standpoint, but what does this mean to the program that players playing in your style of basketball can win that kind of honor? MALCOLM BROGDON: I think it's huge. First, I think it's a testament to my coaches, to my teammates. We all celebrate things like that, individual accolades. But I think it's huge. I think a lot of people criticize the program, criticize our style of play and criticize Coach Bennett for how we play. You know, we're very methodical; we play a slower-paced game but this system can produce very good players. It can create guys that are as good or better than guys that, you know, at other schools that people really look up to or win a lot of games. So, I think it's huge for the program. I think it's huge for guys in high school choosing what college they want to play at because you can come to the University of Virginia and turn into a really good player. Q. Anthony, when you get a scouting report on your next opponent, how much of statistical analysis do you get nowadays? And what do you look for in the statistics? ANTHONY GILL: The main thing I look for is the rebounding category, because I am a big guy down low, and if there's a big that averages a lot of offensive rebounds, I know I have to really focus in on him and try to keep him off the glass because if he does get a lot of offensive rebounds, that creates a lot of opportunities for them to score. And the next thing I look at is their blocked shots. If they have a shot-blocker on the team, I just got to be aware of that and remember where he is on the court every time I get ready to shoot the ball. Other than that, I think the coaches do a really good job of giving us the gist of how the players play and we got to go from there. Q. How detailed are the stats that you get? ANTHONY GILL: They are pretty detailed. We get a sheet showing what each player can do and what their percentages are from everywhere on the court and everything like that. So they are pretty detailed. Q. Anthony, by now, you probably heard or been made aware of the fact that a 16 seed has never beaten a No. 1 in this tournament. How do you process that information? ANTHONY GILL: You know, that's a crazy stat. You know, it's something that we can't take for granted at all, because if you guys remember in the Coastal Carolina game when we were No. 1 seed and they were 16, it was a really close game for a minute and they really gave us a run for our money. We have to be ready from the start. It's just something that we can't take any team lightly. That team is just as hungry as we are to try to win the national championship or go as far as we are. Q. Malcolm, you addressed this a little bit on the individual question, but do you get the feeling sometimes that because of the style you guys play in and your coach has designed that you almost have to apologize for the way you play, despite how successful you've been? MALCOLM BROGDON: Not really. We're not apologetic in the way we play. We take pride in the way we play. You know, there's a lot of good in how we play, and I think that, you know, results in wins. And, you know, as long as we're winning and as long as we stay true to our identity and who we are and our character, we don't really apologize to naysayers. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student-athletes? All right. Gentlemen, thank you very much. Good luck tomorrow. Coach Bennett should be here momentarily. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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