ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2022

Tony Bennett

Jayden Gardner

Kadin Shedrick

Barclays Center

Virginia Cavaliers

Postgame Press Conference

North Carolina 63, Virginia 43

Q. Tony, obviously you've addressed some of the offensive limitations throughout the year, but in your first half, what made things get so sideways for the offense?

TONY BENNETT: Yeah, certainly it's a disappointing loss, and credit to Carolina, how hard they played and how hard they guarded us, and then Manek's first half was special.

You know, when we did get some decent quality looks, we didn't hit them. That kind of gets into you, and we've talked about this a lot, it puts a lot of pressure on our defense. We didn't have an answer for stretches.

The one thing I was hoping maybe we could get some more offensive rebounds because we had a lot of misses and we couldn't get any extra points that way. But you just felt a little bit of a snowball effect where there were some turnovers and how quick Carolina got down the floor, and it kind of expanded quick. And then again, some of the contested shots that Manek made along with their guards putting pressure on you made it hard, and they played very good defense.

Their guards are physical and quick. I think they put Leaky on Kihei at times. They made it tough. I didn't do a great job trying to find different ways for our guys to maybe get some more space or get better shots. I was frustrated with myself.

A little better in the second half, but I told the guys, I don't believe they stopped trying, and that's the one thing. Only they can look in the mirror and say that for the most part, their effort. But we've got to grow from this and understand individually and collectively what it was. But I know that's a little bit of a longer answer, but those things I think resulted in us getting down and putting pressure on us.

Q. What's going through your minds when you're going through such a big drought in the first half scoring?

KADIN SHEDRICK: I mean, that was a tough stretch of the game. What's going through your mind is we've got to keep getting stops to keep us in the game when shots aren't falling. Hopefully eventually they will fall. They didn't, but keep shooting good shots. I think we were getting good looks, so keep getting good looks and keep trying to get stops.

JAYDEN GARDNER: Yeah, along with what Kadin said, just making sure we keep getting good shots. We feel like we were taking good shots and just get back on defense and just try to win it with our defense.

Q. Bacot had such a big game against you guys in Chapel Hill, and tonight you seemed much more intent on swarming him in the post. Was that the game plan from?

JAYDEN GARDNER: Yes, with multiple variations of just choking out the post and just doubling him sometimes and just going one-on-one. So credit to Poppy and Kadin, they did a terrific job on Armando.

KADIN SHEDRICK: Yeah, he certainly had a big game against us the first time and a big emphasis for us was to try and limit that. Yeah, we tried to do that.

Q. Tony, talk about your defense; looks like North Carolina shot 38, five for the field. How would you rate the defense today?

TONY BENNETT: I guess I'd want to watch tape before I can give it a real answer. Yeah, the numbers appear like, okay, you did some stuff. And one of my assistants said, I think the defense wasn't that bad, but it didn't feel -- I kind of got onto these guys after the game, didn't feel like it was as sound as it needed to be, allowing some offensive rebounds, getting split on ball screens. We really tried to work hard leading up to this on some of the things that we went against, and I didn't feel like we executed.

The eye test, I thought it was pretty poor. But numbers are one thing, but that's the eye test. But I might be wrong. I'll watch the tape. Sometimes when you're feeling that pressure because we were struggling to score, maybe that was unfair. But I thought they got down the court a couple times and some of it led to some turnovers and stuff like that, but as they say, the tape won't lie, so I can answer that better next time.

Q. Jayden, you decided to come to Virginia after a lot of individual success at East Carolina. Even though this season might not have been as successful as you would have liked, what's it been like being a part of a winning culture like this, and what do you have to say about Coach Bennett and the style of play that you guys like to play?

JAYDEN GARDNER: Coming to Virginia was definitely one of the best decisions I could have made. The staff, the teammates, the culture here, I just felt welcome coming in. I just can't thank TB enough for taking a chance on me and giving me my first winning season in college basketball. That's something I always look forward to and I'll never take for granted, playing in the ACC.

Q. Coach, understanding that it's out of your hands, but you've had a lot of experience with the NCAA Tournament. Do you feel like this team deserves to be considered for the NCAA Tournament?

TONY BENNETT: I mean, how we looked tonight, no, but I wouldn't base -- I don't know, probably some things would have to happen for us to even be in it.

We improved as the season went on and it did not look like it tonight. We moved up -- I don't really look. I don't know if we're in that conversation or not, but stranger things have happened if teams lose. What was our overall record? I don't know, 19. Didn't get to 20. But finished above .500 in the conference. Certainly would like a chance at it, but probably today was an important one, but who knows.

Q. Tony, you mentioned earlier Leaky Black being on Kihei. Do you think Black's length gave Kihei some issues tonight?

TONY BENNETT: Yeah, again, I'm not making an excuse. Kihei was so tough and good yesterday when we needed it. He went in there and some of those floaters were -- I don't know if he felt his length. Kihei had a little bit of a sore back. He had some issues with that today, so again, that's probably -- but he did. Kihei is a warrior and he's been through so much.

But I think Leaky's -- his deal, it's real. His length, his stance and what he was doing in his physicality, and he impacted the game.

As a player I can remember when someone was athletic and long on you, that's a challenge. And so I think that was part of it, and they also have some length and size around the lane. Armando was kind of sticking around there, too, so when we went in there, a couple of those didn't fall. Again, it was a little bit crowded in that area and maybe we could have opened it up. And Leaky did a really good job, and that had to do partly with some of the missed shots.

Q. Coach has talked about the NCAA Tournament hopes and everything. When you look back at the missed opportunities this season, what really sticks with both of you?

KADIN SHEDRICK: We certainly had a few of those this year, but sure, we missed opportunities. But our goal after we missed those opportunities was to build on it, and I think we did most of the season. Today was tough. I don't think it's a reflection of the whole season, but yeah, I think we really learned from our mistakes in the past in November and December and grew from there.

JAYDEN GARDNER: Yeah, for sure. I think this team was -- we didn't know where we were going to be, but as the season progressed, we definitely got better. We hit our stretch during the ACC play. We started off strong, and we just didn't come together and execute tonight. But I'm proud of the progress that we made over the season, and I'm pretty sure we've definitely gotten better since the start of the season when we had some missed lapses.

Q. Virginia has become under your tenure such an elite premier program within college basketball, so this season obviously wasn't up to your standards. Even though you said you improved as the season went along, is there a certain overarching thing or reason that you guys weren't able to execute at the level you're accustomed to?

TONY BENNETT: Well, I think like these guys, they captured it well. I do think we improved. Your goal always is to come as close to maxing out as the season goes on. There certainly were stretches of it. Probably this was one of the newest teams that I've coached. We didn't have as much experience in the program, so to speak, and I think, again, the guys rallied and had some big wins and had some right there.

We were always on that fine line. As I said, even the good teams are, but the margin of error for this team was probably a little smaller than most, and I think they did a pretty good job most of the year. But it stings right now because we got humbled against a team that played really good basketball.

But if you would have said after Navy took it to us and then we lost at JMU, those were all -- it's not a big deal to say this team is going to keep fighting and they're going to find a way to go 12-8 in the conference and get 19 wins and win some tough games. There's some positives in that, but certainly there's areas where we can keep improving and keep getting better and we've got to keep adding pieces.

I'm thankful for these guys, they were a joy to coach. They worked hard, and the fact that Jayden would even say that after I got into him after the game, it's pretty good on his part. He's got good composure there because I challenged these guys in the locker room after.

But they're very -- one of the best things I can say about them is how happy they are for each other when a teammate is having success. All right, that might not mean a lot, wins and losses, but that's what's right about this group. They really pull for each other, and you can just see it.

It's a little different. They're so happy when guys are doing well, and I like that. There's certain things that will last beyond the record and the championships or the not championships, and some of those bonds will. And how they treated each other and the way they conducted themselves were first class, so I'm thankful for that and I'm thankful that they did improve, and they competed pretty hard every time out, and tonight maybe wasn't as much, but we'll keep going.