Everything From Amaka Agugua-Hamilton and Virginia After UVA’s Loss to TCU

The Virginia Cavaliers entered their Sweet 16 matchup against the TCU Horned Frogs in hopes of clinching an upset and advancing to the Elite Eight. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, the Horned Frogs ended up coming out on 79-69, eliminating Virginia from the NCAA Tournament. Following the game, head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, Kymora Johnson and Paris Clark sat down with the media to discuss how the game unfolded. Here's everything they had to say.

(Agugua-Hamilton) Opening Statement:

"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 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."

(For Clark): On what this postseason run means for UVA moving forward...

"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."

(For Clark): On her biggest takeaway from her collegiate career...

"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."

(For Johnson): On what she takes away from this moment and preparing for next year...

"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."

(For Agugua-Hamilton): On the status of Tabitha Amanze...

"Nothing really I can say now. Just hoping that she's okay. And when we get back, she'll get looked at."

On what changed for TCU in the third quarter...

"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."

On this being Clark's last game and what she's meant to the program...

"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.

But 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."

On the competition and TCU's Olivia Miles and Marta Suarez...

"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."

On continuing to build and using this momentum...

"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."

On her biggest takeaway from this season...

"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."