Everything From Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, Paris Clark, and Kymora Johnson At ACC Media Tip-Off

While UVA is in the middle of a thrilling football season, the Cavaliers Mens and Womens basketball teams are not far off from taking the court.

Yesterday, ACC tip off began and at the podium answering questions was Virginia head Women's basketball coach, Paris Clark, and Kymora Johnson. Here is everything that they had to say.

1. On building on a strong finish to last season...

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: Well, our returners are hungry. That's the first step in everything. I think it was good. We added seven from the portal, and then we had one incoming freshman and so many different personalities, but everybody meshed together.

I think it started with the returners setting the stage, defending the culture. These are the expectations, standards. Everybody that came, they came to win. They want to compete. They want to be a part of this culture. They want to leave a legacy. It was kind of like a seamless merge.

2. On the culture at UVA...

PARIS CLARK: Our coach is great. We've been working on it since we all stepped -- since we all got on campus, since the new people got here. We do each other's hair. We cook for each other. I.

So think it's great. It's definitely an important piece for being able to win.

3. On Paris battling injury last season...

PARIS CLARK: Yeah, I mean, I think it just gave me a different perspective on the game. Just being able to face adversity and be able to put one foot in front of the other. I think going into this year it will just help me take it one day at a time and just knowing how to respond to adversity.

4. On if Kymora prefers passing or scoring...

"I prefer the dish personally. Hopefully it's finished with a bucket and then it's a double-whammy, but, yeah, definitely the dish."

5. On the next step for Kymora as a player...

KYMORA JOHNSON: Yeah, I think for me the focus was just being that leader that my team needs. Whether that's off the court, on the court, but specifically on the court when we hit adversity, when we hit those times, we're down 10, 15 points, how do we come together to turn that around?

6. On the key to consistent growth for the program...

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: Yeah, I mean, it's been a steady climb. I think it's time to break through kind of, and our biggest goal right now is just dancing in March. That's what we're going to do.

I mean, the key to the growth, when I got here, we had to completely rebuild the program. We were dead last in the ACC, and it just started out with culture. That's why we say, "culture wins."

To me that's the key. Also, the grind. We talk about grind now, shine later, because it's about the work that we put in to help us reach our ultimate goal.

We're going to be dancing. We want to be dancing this year, but that's not the focus. The focus is winning the day, right? What goes into winning that day so that we can put days together, stack days, win games, stack winning games, and then pursue championships and make a run in the NCAA Tournament.

It's kind of the whole process of that, but it's all built on our work. We got players that really commit to that. We got players that compete every day in practice, and outside of practice are grinding.

6. On how they can get to the NCAA Tournament...

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: I think it's a group effort. It's going to be collective. I think we're better than we were in the past. We have more talent than we did in the past. I think we finally got all the pieces in the positions we need, so when defenses game plan against us and they want to takeaway one thing, we have, you know, equal opportunity for other people to step up. I think that's going to help us.

Defensively we're even better. Long, athletic, rebound with purpose, things like that. It's going to be a collective effort. I think there's going to be more than two or three wins, to be honest. I think this group is capable of a lot.

Right now we're just focused on putting it all together, focused on building the system, focused on building everybody's confidence and getting them adjusted to their roles. This is a completely different team than last year, so I'm excited about it.

7. On the gelling process with the new players and the returners...

KYMORA JOHNSON: Yeah, it's going well. I mean, I think it was probably the easiest transition that I've had since I've been at Virginia. We all got along really well, because we all had that same common goal of wanting to win, and we knew what it takes. We do know what it takes, so yeah.

PARIS CLARK: Yeah. I mean, to feed off of that, pretty much the same thing. It's just been super easy. We all want to win. We all have are super bought into our roles on the team.

I think when everybody has the same goal, it kind of just comes naturally, and we just have the same interests.