Tony Bennett’s Press Conference After #3 UVA Squeaked by #23 NC State 66-65 in OT

Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennett spoke with the media after #3 Virginia held on to beat #23 NC State in OT in his postgame press conference. The video is ABOVE, and a bulleted breakdown is below.

• I thought we played well enough to win, but a couple of those key stats stick out: the 16 offensive rebounds (NC State’s) and the 16 turnovers.
• NC State plays good defense. They’re good with their hands. They’re athletic. They’re aggressive. They did rattle us and take us out of our rhythm.
• Some of our offensive fouls and decision-making or defensive fouls at inopportune times almost cost us the game.
• Of course, I thought (Wyatt) Walker was just a man on the glass. I thought he was hard to handle. We didn’t do a great job in those areas. Usually when you give up that many offensive rebounds and that many turnovers, you’re not going to be successful.
• We made enough good plays and hung in there and got some good lifts from guys. I thought we had some chances to separate a little bit, but they made some big plays.
• We’re thankful for the win, but we need to grow from this and learn from it. We brought losing into the equation when I didn’t know we had to in certain situations with fouls and turnovers and unsound decisions.
• It was just one of those games. You could feel it with the crowd. You could feel it with the intensity. I thought we had it, and then we fouled the three-point shooter.
  • A lot of people say, ‘Should you foul to put them on the line?’ We decided to foul the three-point shooter. That was our theory on that, which wasn’t sound.
• We’ll live and learn. We’re fortunate to get out of here. NC State’s a good team, especially when they’re at full strength, which they’re now getting back to.
• You have to earn it in here (PNC).
• I want to watch the film, but he’s (Wyatt Walker) very physical.
  • He was first to get position. He’s strong.
  • I saw him move Jack (Salt) a couple times, which guys don’t do.
  • We were just a little sluggish to the block out on the ball. There were a lot of bobbles in there, and he carved out space.
  • I had flashbacks to getting owned on the glass by Richard Howell. I mean we couldn’t handle him. I remember that feeling. They’re different players, but he’s physical and does a good job on the glass. He knows his role, and he’s very effective.