Virginia led by as many as 11 points and gave No. 21 Memphis all it could handle for 40 minutes, but the Cavaliers ultimately fell to 0-4 against ranked opponents this season, coming up short in a 64-62 loss on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena.
Watch the video below courtesy of Virginia Sports TV on YouTube to see the full postgame press conference with UVA interim head coach Ron Sanchez and follow along with the transcript below the video to read everything Sanchez said after the game.
On what changed in the second half to push the game in favor of Memphis:
RON SANCHEZ: First of all, I think we played a really competitive basketball game. I think we strung some possessions together there. I think we battled for 40 minutes, which is a big step for us trying to get our competitive endurance to to increase. We practiced well. We prepared well this week, and I’m encouraged by their efforts. I think that Memphis picked up their pressure in the second half, and we had to end up playing four guards just to handle, to have a little more ball-handling out there to help us manage it. I think there was a big swing. I have to watch it on film. I don’t know what happened – the technical foul. Again, I really don’t know. I haven’t seen it. I didn’t see it on the video. They said somebody pushed someone and then someone raised their foot while somebody was falling. And then that cost us multiple free throws. It was a two point ball game, and I think they scored six points in that stretch. That’s tough when you’re trying to battle back. But again, this is something that we’ll learn from. We will watch the video. I don’t know exactly what happened and whoever it was, we’ll just educate them and hope that we can grow and get better and don’t- we can’t have that many self-inflicted wounds, turn the ball over. That’s gotta be something that we continue to address.
On the boost Virginia got from Taine Murray:
RON SANCHEZ: First I’m really proud of Taine Murray today. His effort was fantastic, played with an unbelievable amount of passion on both ends. Really happy for him. I think that the days of the fourth year guy are kind of behind us, so to have a fourth year guy perform that way on this stage, who has been waiting his turn to perform. It’s enjoyable for me. I’m really happy for Taine. I think that he just, he just played hard. He wanted to be the hardest playing guy out there and and the game rewards hard playing. And I think today he was rewarded by doing.
On how the Cavaliers can build from the fight they showed in the second half:
RON SANCHEZ: Yes, well, that’s what this is. I mean we reference our our time on the court and in games to boxing matches. Some boxing matches require 12 rounds and you can’t choose to fight 11, because if you do, you get knocked out, you know? And today, Memphis made their run and they tried to knock us out, and we didn’t. We kept fighting. That’s that competitive endurance that we’re talking about. We had some tough plays down the stretch, but we had to get fouled and get to the free throw line and execute well, shot the ball well from the free throw line. Got some great minutes from Anthony Robinson today. Really happy for him. If he continues to come along, then that’ll give us a level of physicality on the interior that we’ve been lacking. But I think we just battled through, battle through. This team has been tested this season. This is one of the toughest non-conference schedules that I remember at this university, my time here, my time away, to have these, this many top 25 teams in the non-conference schedule challenges you. But we had some good stretches in the past against other teams, the Tennessee’s and others. And we had some bad stretches, some tough stretches. And today, I feel like we kind of put it together. We endured and then we got through some tough times, and we got better for it. And, I mean, we’re thankful for it because this team is on its journey to becoming the best version of itself; what it’s going to be, I don’t know. Only time will tell, you know, so at this point, I’m really happy with the fact that we competed that hard, and we got a tough whistle in some spots, but we’ll figure it out.
On Virginia’s three-point defense against Memphis:
RON SANCHEZ: Well, we’re kind of referencing different things here. We’re in Vegas. Man, we’re going to put all our chips on the defensive side. So we’re gonna take the whole stack, all right, and we’re gonna put it on D. That’s what we’re gonna do. And we’re gonna keep teaching it and preaching it. It’s not something that you ever truly have. You have to continue to invest in it, and you gotta desire it. This is a matter of winning more possessions than the new opponent. And today, we won a good amount, but we just didn’t win enough. And that’s the difference. Just got to win two or three more defensive possessions. And that could have been a defensive rebound, because we gave up a few. So it’s just winning those possessions, and that’s the margin of victory in most games.
On the value of Taine Murray’s experience in a game like this:
RON SANCHEZ: Yes, with the lineup that we had, we practiced this week, we prepared for that in case we needed it. We knew that Taine could bring a level of physicality so he could switch a ball screen and do certain things. Taine is a fourth year, not a senior, so really happy to see him do that, and he understands what our defense is about. Taine is invested into the Virginia culture in the locker room, he’s a culture carrier, and there’s nothing more enjoyable for a coach to have a guy who’s been waiting his turn have an opportunity to play and then to perform well.
The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Falters Down the Stretch to Memphis
Five Takeaways From Virginia’s 64-62 Loss to Memphis
Virginia vs. Memphis Live Updates | NCAA Men’s Basketball
Sanchez Gives Injury Update on Dai Dai Ames on Coach’s Corner Radio Show
Report: UVA Basketball Set to Host Bosnian Sharpshooter for Visit
Point/Counterpoint: Injury Reports and Gambling in College Sports
