ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 14, 2024

Earl Grant

Claudell Harris

Quinten Post

Capital One Arena

Boston College Eagles

Postgame Press Conference

Virginia 66, Boston College 60 (OT)

EARL GRANT: Just really happy that our guys showed a lot of character and played hard and played together and played very connected. We came up short, but we played with a lot of energy, a lot of grit, very unselfish, and I hope that our season will continue in the postseason.

Q. Earl, they obviously have a strong reputation defensively. You guys matched them stop for stop there. What were those last five minutes of regulation like, and how much of a boost was it when you got that shot to go in at the buzzer despite having to deal with that defense?

EARL GRANT: I mean, it was a grind. It was a grind. Our players exerted a lot of energy on both ends. We had to work really hard to score, and we had to work really hard to stop them. So it was a two-way grind.

In some games it's a one-way grind.

It was hard, but we showed great effort, and we came up short at the end. They made some big tough shots, and they found a way to beat us.

Q. Coach, you obviously have been playing multiple days. Virginia has been rested. Did you feel like at the end of the game your team started to feel that fatigue of having multiple games in a row?

EARL GRANT: I mean, I didn't really think about it much until the last two minutes. You still had to realize we had been doing a lot of heavy lifting the last three days. This is the third day. A lot of heavy lifting, starting with Miami on Tuesday, and we played really good last night. So we had confidence coming in.

I think at the end, you could tell that they'd been off for a couple days and they had a fresh set of legs, and our players kept fighting.

But they made some tough shots. They've got a great program. They've been good for years. We look forward to continuing to build our program so we can have that type of endurance in these games like this.

Q. That last possession, I think 30 seconds left on the clock, Claudell takes that shot at the three-point line; Mason Madsen ends up with a buzzer beating shot. What was your plan that possession and you experience with that play on the sidelines?

EARL GRANT: Yeah, when you're standing over there and you've been trying all night to score, it was hard all night. Not just that possession. Every possession was hard. That's a very good defensive team. It was a challenge.

They did a good job taking some things away, and our guys, they kind of just didn't panic, and Mason was able to -- I think JZ found Mason and Mason was able to make a shot. We had great poise, but they did take some stuff away. It was very challenging trying to score against them.

Q. Did you feel any sort of frustration with the way this game was officiated? They out-shot you guys from the free-throw line 18-4. You guys didn't get a foul call for the last 12 minutes of game time. Did you have any frustrations there?

EARL GRANT: Yeah, I do. I do. 18-4 is a big disparity. That's a 14-point difference. I thought it was a physical game. I thought it was contact on both ends. But we did have a high-level crew. I can't question the officials that we had in terms of who they put in the game. But I thought we got hit a few more times and we maybe should have shot a few more free throws.

Q. Quinten, Jordan Minor hadn't played a ton for them over the course of the night and came in in the last five minutes or so and then in overtime. How much of a difference did he make defensively against you guys do you think?

QUINTEN POST: He did a great job on me, especially at the end. I think I played 41 minutes, and at the end I was feeling it a lot in my legs, and Jordan came in fresh, and I think he did a really good job on me. He made it hard for me.

Good job to him.

Q. Quinten, 23 and three rebounds on a night like this, especially after three straight nights of basketball, obviously a tough outcome, but what are some emotions going through your head after a game like this?

QUINTEN POST: It's very hard right now. On the one hand, we could be done, but we don't want to be done.

I feel like we deserve a shot to play in the NIT, and I feel like we did enough to put ourselves in that spot. So right now, we couldn't really say goodbye to me and some of the other seniors, and that's a weird spot to be in.

Mixed emotions. I really want to play, and the other guys also really want to play. I feel like there's some unfinished business for us.

Q. Claudell, obviously a really strong start to the game shooting, both for you and your team generally. Shots didn't fall as well in the second half. Was there anything that they did defensively, or did you feel any more pressure out on the ball?

CLAUDELL HARRIS: I think like Coach said, they're a very good defensive team. That's what they're known for the most part. But shots not falling came back to back to back, shots a lot with your legs, so going deep in that second half and into overtime you start feeling a lot of wear and tear, so those missed shots that come up short or long, that's more mental than anything.