They said it: VCU vs. William & Mary
CT Sports Staff
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Shaka Smart on William & Mary:
“They do a great job with backdoor cuts, with what we call refusing screens. They do a great job cutting hard, set a lot of ball screens at unique angles. They really keep you on your toes is the big thing, they play four perimeter players, most teams in our league play three perimeter players and two bigs. They for the most part play Quinn McDowell, who’s an all-conference player at the power forward spot so they have four guys on the floor who are always dangerous to shoot, sometimes five and we’ve got to do a good job really being on our toes defending their stuff. It’s really easy to switch some of the screens that they set, but they can make you pay for that as well so we’ve got to do a good job not getting lazy and switching screens when it’s not necessary.”
Smart on what VCU needs to do against the Tribe:
“In the past when we’ve had success against them we’ve been extremely aggressive and apply a lot of pressure and we’ve been able to push their offense out a little bit and put some pressure on the ball, but with pressure sometimes comes risk and they do a good job of making you pay for that. They’ve got some young guys that are gaining more and more experience, some guards that are very good players, so we’re going to have to do a good job in, similar to JMU, contesting three-point shots and not let them get going there.”
Bradford Burgess on William & Mary:
“They’re a dangerous team, especially the way they shoot the 3-point shot, if we handle them the way we should, the way we’ve been doing the last couple games, I think we’ll be able to win the ball game.”
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Tony Shaver on VCU’s press:
“We’ve got to handle their pressure and we’ve got to rebound the ball. Those two things must be done with poise and exposure and if so we’ll be right in the thick of things and if not, they’ll be playing the pace and game they want to play. When you beat pressure you’ve got to make them pay for it as well so we don’t want to walk it up and not take good shots early in the shot clock when we get them, you’ve got to make teams pay when they press you.”
