TCU - 79, Virginia - 69
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Virginia head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton and student-athletes Paris Clark and Kymora Johnson.
AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: I thought it was a great game. Two teams battling. I thought we had some really good moments in that game. Third quarter got away from us a little bit. But other than that, I was really proud of our fight. I was proud of the resiliency we showed.
We were together even when they were going on a run. We didn't really doubt ourselves or anything like that. We still stayed confident. I'm just proud of this group, honestly.
We did something special. And we thought we were going to continue on to the Elite Eight. Came up short. But it doesn't take away from our season and the growth we've had with our program.
And just I think obviously this is just the beginning for us in rebuilding this program. And our players are leaving a legacy. No matter what, they've etched their names in history, the NCAA history and also UVA history. I'm just proud of them.
Q. Paris, this is your final college game. What do you think this postseason run could mean for the program going forward?
PARIS CLARK: I think it will be great for the program going forward. I think it's a good momentum to finish off on. I know Coach Mox is capable of bringing some great talent into this program. So I'm just excited to see -- I'll still be here, I'll still be supporting.
Q. Paris, when you kind of look at your college career in a cumulative, what's your biggest takeaway from it all?
PARIS CLARK: I would just say the people I met along the way. These girls are really truly my sisters, and the coaches are really my family. So just being able to be in the same room as these people, I wouldn't want to end it off any other way. Nobody expected us to even be here. So I would say just the people I met.
Q. Kymora, one more year. Just kind of how do you take this moment and channel it and start preparing for your next year?
KYMORA JOHNSON: I think the biggest thing is to just not be sad that it's over but be happy that it happened.
So for me, I think right now I'm just focused on my team and making sure they stay positive and be proud of all that we did this year.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach.
Q. Tabitha went down in the fourth quarter. What can you tell us about her status? It looked like an apparent right knee injury and it looked very painful. Anything you can tell us?
AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: Nothing really I can say now. Just hoping that she's okay. And when we get back, she'll get looked at.
Q. What did you see change from TCU in that third quarter that allowed them to go from down 1 to go on that big run and sort of pull away there at that moment?
AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: I think the urgency. They started playing a little more urgent. But also the rebounding. We were able to get some stops. We just didn't finish the plays. And they were all over the glass, getting offensive rebounds and capitalizing off of that.
And also we weren't taking high-percentage shots on our end, and they were capitalizing off of that on the other end as well. So sometimes a bad shot is like a turnover. That's kind of what they forced us into.
But they're a great team, and their players just played really well all game, but especially in that third quarter to go on that run.
But I was proud that we continued to fight. We were able to stop the run, stop the bleeding a little bit and fight back.
Q. With this being Paris's last game, what has she meant to the program both in terms of her overall career and then specifically in this tournament run?
AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: Yeah, I mean, probably like the last 10 games, she's been playing phenomenal, just very urgent. She kind of had that senior urgency about her.
But Paris is a dynamic scorer. She can score in so many different ways. She guards the best player on the other team most nights, the best guard.
Nut it's her leadership and who she is and her character. She's just been a big part of our culture. She really had a hand in recruiting almost everybody on our roster. Whenever we were recruiting people, she wanted to talk to them. She wanted to be a hostess on the visit, all that stuff.
She was just completely about the culture, bought in, bought into myself and our coaches and this team and just bought into leaving a legacy.
We're definitely going to miss having her around. She was here three years and she was a part of some really big wins and obviously a big part of this run.
We appreciate her and all of our seniors. We had quite a few seniors, this was their last game. And I just appreciate all of them.
Like I told them, it was all about leaving a legacy. We started saying that when they got here in the summer. And they did that. So I'm just really proud of them.
Q. You faced a heck of a competition. Just what are some of your comments or what do you have to say just kind of for the play from TCU's Marta Suarez and Olivia Miles and kind of some of the things they were able to do out there, especially in the paint?
AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: Yeah, Olivia Miles, she's a triple-double type kid. She's really hard to guard. They put her in ball screens, multiple ball screens, sometimes in a possession.
I thought we contained some of that early. Then she just got away from us. But she's a phenomenal player. I don't know if you really stop her. We were just trying to limit some of the things she wanted to do.
But she had a great game, and then Suarez is a phenomenal player, too. She's basically a guard that plays the 4 at her size. She puts you in positions where she's just very difficult to guard.
She did a really good job of rebounding and keeping them in plays and keeping possessions going. Both of them had a great game. Great players step up in big moments. So credit to what they did today.
Q. After a run like this, how do you continue to build and take the next step as a program and continue to use this momentum to your advantage now going into the offseason and into the future?
AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: I think we already had a great name out there. My coaches and I, we are really tied to a lot of AAU programs and people that have people maybe going into the portal. I think recruits and recruiting is very important, and I think we can use this as some traction there.
I know recruits want to be a part of something special, want to be part of a team, want to be part of the type of culture we have and what we're building here. Obviously, that's going to help us. And just retaining the ones we have as well. That's what the game is all about.
So I think we've laid the foundation. We've built the culture. We've built the program at this point. Now it's just continuing to get better and take the next steps. I know we'll be back. A lot of people didn't think we'd be here. We knew we'd be here. And I know we'll be back.
Q. Picking up from that question, you already are looking forward to next year. You were able to raise some eyebrows and kind of left people know what Virginia's all about. When you look at the totality of this season, what's going to be your biggest takeaway or thing that you're most proud of?
AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: I'm proud that we continue to fight. We had a lot of adversity this year. We had a lot of ups and downs. And we were able to just tune out the outside noise and lock into ourselves and continue to fight.
I talked about it before, but after our early exit in the ACC Tournament, I challenged our group. I challenged them pretty tough that week and a half before Selection Sunday. And it was either sink or swim. Are we going to come together? Are we going to believe? Are we going to trust? And we did. And I challenged Mo. I challenged all of them. We did a lot of team bonding where we could peel back some layers and get closer as a group. And we grew so much.
We truly got to the point where we enjoyed this. Like, it was a family that was going on this journey together and it was just electric and it was fun and everybody was locked into each other and we truly enjoyed this. There wasn't selfishness or any of that stuff. And it was just total commitment and buy-in and focus and that's why we were able to get on this run.
I'm proud that we turned the corner and we continue to believe and we locked into each other and we were able to do something special.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports