Feb. 26, 2010

Head coach Gary Williams

On Virginia Tech:
"Virginia Tech is a good team. They've already won 20 games. They've played especially well at home and it's another tough road game for us to play. I'm pleased with the way we've played on the road for the most part this year and hopefully that'll continue. This is the type of team where you know that you're together when you go out on the road and play in tough environments; we have each other's backs so we'll see how it goes down there."

On Jordan Williams' progression defensively:
"I think the biggest adjustment for an inside player coming from high school to college in that first year is the ability to help but not lose your man. It's one thing to help on somebody that drives the basketball, but you can't help where they just drop it to your guy and he dunks it. So you have to be a presence in there to help the perimeter players but at the same time you can't lose your man. In high school you get away with losing your man because guys can't make great plays a lot of the time to find the open man. In college if you make a mistake they'll find it. That takes a long time [to develop] because it's a skill that takes experience. You can't just sit someone down and turn on the tape. You can show them but until you get the game speed you don't really experience that. I think Jordan's picked up on it pretty well."

On developing a good rotation:
"It's something you work at. You work at it as a coach and the players work at it. The goal is to have the best possible team and you don't know the rotation when you start practice in October. Players have to get a feel for that and so do the coaches. Some guys never accept their roles. I think our team has done a good job at it this year. But that's not an automatic; every year you have to work hard at it. I think that's one of the positives of this team is that they're willing to accept roles and try to help each other out by doing so."

On Eric Hayes:
"To me it's very obvious we play better with Eric on the court. It's not a statistical thing a lot of times it's just the way the team functions. Eric's a very savvy defensive player. He might not be a spectacular defensive player but he's very savvy; he knows when to help, when to stay tight on his man, how to disrupt passing lanes. All those things Eric knows how to do and he really helps us be a good defensive team. Running the offense he's a threat and you have to play Eric. Anytime you have a threat that helps Greivis [Vasquez], Jordan [Williams], and Landon [Milbourne], all your scorers. Hopefully w can continue to play that way."