ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 9, 2022

Reece Beekman

Tony Bennett

Kihei Clark

Barclays Center

Virginia Cavaliers

Postgame Press Conference

Virginia - 51, Louisville - 50

Q. How much did the end of the Florida State game enter your mind there at the end and affect your thinking?

TONY BENNETT: Not at all. Actually I wasn't even thinking about that. You know, Reece made a heck of a drive to put us up 4, and then we kind of had the situation where I thought we were just going to dribble it out, draw a foul. And I don't know if he thought we had an easy one, but college sports is a little different than pros or anything. There's a lot of unpredictable things that happen.

But I thought we made enough plays down the stretch and came up with some key stops. With us not shooting the ball particularly well, our defense just held us in there early when we weren't even close, and then there was a few tough plays made, and it was a very physical game.

Credit to Louisville. It's hard to beat a team three times, as you know, and Louisville was very -- they're physical the way they are, but they came ready to play, and we knew that. And they had momentum, they had the rhythm from playing the night before, and they had the emotional -- when you beat someone, human nature says, all right, now it's our turn to get after you, and we had to match that.

Q. Not shooting it well was probably a bit of an understatement, but Jayden was able to really bail you out in some key spots with getting the shoulder down and going to the rim. How important was his contribution?

TONY BENNETT: I thought Jayden and Kihei made some tough -- whether it was off the ball screen and tough mid-range shots and then Jayden some physical plays. Again, we've struggled to shoot this year at times. There's no mystery there. And when we played them last time, we knocked down some shots and boy does that open up the floor and do things.

But you've got to play true to who you are and just find ways, and that's where our defense hangs us in there and you find some tough baskets, and I thought Jayden had some. And there was just enough plays and made enough free throws down the stretch. We needed every point, obviously, and again, I didn't even get a chance, nor can I see it, the stat sheet, our shooting percentage. I don't know if I want to.

The second half was better. We call it a knuckle buster game. That was a knuckle buster and that's all you could do. Sometime that's how it gets in tournaments, so again, we get to play tomorrow, and that's a good thing.

Q. You've quoted it a bunch, survive and advance. How much of that was today, just how ugly this game got?

TONY BENNETT: Yeah, to me it was beautiful, and I say that because yeah, we were struggling offensively, but to me it's beautiful when a team finds a way. They guard hard, they just take care of -- they do tough things.

We've been down this road, and again, it's about getting a victory.

I don't apologize for how we play. I want our guys when they have shots to take them. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't. But you have to -- when you know you're struggling in certain areas, do you have the wherewithal and the identity to say, we're going to rely on stops and squeeze out a few points here and there, and then try to go win a game, and that's what happened. I'd take that win over an 85-82 loss.

Q. In the last 30 seconds, Reece Beekman was man-to-man on a fella that was red hot and he forced a turnover at 28.1 seconds. The guy jumped in the air and made up his mind to shoot. Was that indicative of everything that you coach every day in practice?

TONY BENNETT: Well, I thought Kihei and Reece, as they're walking in here, the game comes down to making plays and there's some good individual defensive plays. Kihei was heating up the ball, Reece was all over him, and we just said make them shoot tough shots because Noah Locke can get going. Yeah, I'm sure he wishes he had that play back, but Reece was right there and we always talk about hand the ball and contest the shot and bother it.

Yeah, I mean, we work on that, and we knew we had to get it done with our defense and then make just enough baskets and plays to get this one.

Q. How would you assess the defense? The last time they had 24 and 14 against you guys, today only six points.

TONY BENNETT: Yeah, the defense again, we had a few breakdowns here and there, but our guys knew that was the ticket tonight. And it's the ticket all the time and then again we just tried to keep adding some quality offense with that. They did the job. We tried to trap a little better at times and just make him earn his looks and that's what these guys did on the perimeter guys for the most part. And whether it was Kadin or Poppy or, you know, when we trapped, it made it a little more difficult for him. He's a strong man, too.

Q. North Carolina tomorrow, last time y'all played them things got away a little bit. What are you looking for this go around?

TONY BENNETT: Yeah, they certainly separated from us, the way you saw Carolina play against Duke, and I think they're playing good basketball. They're very talented, and it seems like they're peaking at the right time, it's a great opportunity for us, a great challenge to be as good as we can be in our way and try and get it done.

Q. January 8 seems like a very long time ago. In what ways do you feel like this team has gotten better since that game in Chapel Hill?

TONY BENNETT: Yeah, that's what I like about this team. I said from where we were to start the season, they've improved. Florida State, we had our chances, that was a hard loss, and we did some things that were uncharacteristic in that game from a defensive standpoint, but overall the team has improved. Individuals have improved and the team has improved. That means a lot to me because you want to be healthy and you want to be improved and playing good basketball at this time of the year, and I think these guys are doing that.

This is an opportunity you want. It's an important game for us. They all are. I hope we'll show that we're a better team, but it'll take a good one for sure.

Q. What's kind of the mentality of the team when the game is tied at 45 in the final minutes, and can you take us through that lay-up you had with about 40 seconds to go?

REECE BEEKMAN: Yeah, we knew we had to get stops. That was kind of our mindset for the whole game. So just coming down the stretch, it was kind of going back and forth, and at the end of the day, we knew we had to get a couple stops to win the game. And at the end that's what we did. Coach Bennett actually drew up that play in the huddle, so it was kind of clear it out, make a play, so that's what I did.

Q. Kihei, when you're in a battle like that in a situation where if you lose you go home, how do you think the team responded to the pressure of that moment and how much do you think this regular season has prepared you guys for a game like this?

KIHEI CLARK: I thought we did a good job. We had a couple close games throughout the year, and I thought we showed good poise for the most part, and we tipped our hat on the defensive end and got stops down the stretch, so I thought it was good to pull out that one tonight.

Q. Last year you guys got the COVID pause, you got kind of removed from the tournament. Is that something you guys have thought about and unfinished business in a way this year and trying to get into the tournament?

KIHEI CLARK: No, we kind of don't think -- at least I don't think about it too much, just focused on where we are right now and try to get ready for UNC.

REECE BEEKMAN: Yeah, I'd basically say the same thing. We know what we've got ahead of us, and we've just got to come in ready to play.

Q. For the players, how anxious were you guys to get on the court? Obviously 9:30 tip pushed back because of the overtime game. How do you handle those emotions because you've got another 9:30 game tomorrow night?

REECE BEEKMAN: When it went to overtime, we just kind of had to refocus, regroup. We took a minute, went back to the locker room for a second. But we've just got to stay in the moment, just be ready to play when we come out.

Q. Reece, Coach disagreed, he didn't think it was an ugly game, he thought it was beautiful. What did you think of it?

REECE BEEKMAN: I would just say it was a hard-fought game. We knew playing them for the third time wasn't going to be easy, so just be ready to play for the whole game. It came down to a couple possessions, a couple stops, and that's what we got.

TONY BENNETT: I'll rephrase that. It's beautiful when a team finds a way when they're struggling, and I appreciate that. I've been doing this for a long time when teams can't find it. So you all have your definition of what it looks like, but to me that's beautiful. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?