Everything From Virginia Tech HC Megan Duffy After 68-64 Win Over Florida

Virginia Tech women's basketball head coach Megan Duffy spoke to the media following the Hokies' 68-64 victory over Florida. Here's the entirety of what Duffy had to say:

[Editor's note: Duffy started by saying "excuse my look". She then stated that it was due to the team pouring water on her in a playful "water fight" in the team locker room and that "[she'll] take it any day".]

"Yeah, just so proud of our team. I thought our grit, our toughness to finish out the game against a really good and physical Florida team was tremendous. A ton of people contributed. We had an awesome water fight in the locker room after the game, so everybody's feeling good."

On defending Liv McGill, who tallied 30 points and 10 rebounds:

"I thought at times we were doing really well. And then you look at the stat sheet and she's got 19 at half and assists. I think the thing that helped us a little bit is her turnovers. We tried to put as many bodies around as we could to try and frustrate her, but she's also a tremendous passer. So, I thought it was a collective effort, whether that was our primary defender on her or a few other people trying to build a wall. I've watched that kid since she was, gosh, in seventh eighth grade when I was at Marquette and she was from Minnesota. She just keeps getting better and better and we knew we had a tough tough task to try and slow her down. I guess we did enough to make her take a high volume of shots. So, we'll take it. I'm proud of our effort with it."

On freshman Aniya Trent, who tallied a career-high seven points:

"I thought Amani [Jenkins] and Aniya were both tremendous. Kilah [Freelon] got in a little bit of foul trouble. And I thought between the two freshmen stepping in, there's some big bodies out there. So, I thought Aniya defensively was really good, just banging inside. She got a couple rebounds. She's very smart as a freshman. She knows the game plan. and she understands the game really well. Comes from a tremendous high school coach and AAU program that has prepared her. So, the more she gets to play, I think the better she's going to get. But in this stage, obviously, it was a great environment for her, our fans. For her to step up like she did was awesome."

On the team's play down the stretch after the game was tied with six minutes remaining:

"We made a couple mistakes, couple silly turnovers, but the defensive side was great. Better than it's been all season. Better than it was against JMU and BYU. And we've been really trying to study how to limit some of those mistakes at the end of the game. I thought we were tough getting through screens. I thought we scrambled a couple times. We're able then to get a couple baskets to do enough to win and a couple free throws at the end. But it was all about the defense and rebounding. And we're figuring out the rebounding a little bit better. I think our effort with the five collective people is better than just before it was one or two people with the effort, but now we're starting to kind of hopefully turn the page that we can have five people coming together and getting rebounds."

On how encouraged Duffy is heading into the ACC opener against Duke on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, ESPN2):

"Yeah, everything goes to the team for that. They've stayed upbeat. We've talked a lot about committing to that process, despite what the win-loss record looks like. Or despite where you're at in the Virgin Islands or you're here at home or you're on the road at JMU. They're buying into it. We're talking a lot about our maturity of how you handle it and whether you have to talk with your position coach, spend some time with me, get on the court for extra work, get in with Coach [Lee] Taylor for some strength and conditioning, staying in the moment. It's a long season and there's going to be up and down days. I'm really proud of the way they handled themselves these last few days since we've been back from the Islands and getting locked back into school and basketball. They're doing the right things. Had a fun time in the locker room and then you got to turn the page pretty quickly. So, we'll enjoy it tonight, I guess."

On the team going 3-for-15 from deep:

"I didn't even notice it. I was so locked into our defense and rebounding and substitution pattern. I know our staff and myself just try and give them confidence. As long as we're taking the correct ones, we'll live and die with it. It was by by no means a difference in the game. It was the rebounding. It was slowing down [Liv] McGill. It was sharing the basketball, versus the three-point percentage."

On Carys Baker (23 points, 10 rebounds):

"Yeah, Carys has made a few great steps over these past few days and she wants it so bad. She wanted a double-,double extremely extremely bad at some point in the season. So, I thought she was you know doing the right things with boxing out and helping her teammates. Obviously moved her around to get some different kinds of shots and she had some really good moments as a leader, as well. She was super positive with the team. She was really driven of like, 'We're going to get this win.
We're going to get a defensive stop.' And that becomes contagious. And when you have Mackie [Nelson] and Carleigh [Wenzel] doing that, then you throw in Carys [Baker] and Leila [Wells], it becomes a little bit of a ripple effect with our team. And I thought that's what happened tonight."

On if the team's defense did anything specific to force Florida into turnovers (22 overall, 10 from McGill):

"I think a few of them, but like anything else, when you look at the turnover battle, sometimes I think with all teams, it's a little bit of unforced errors, too. You It goes off your foot or your hands, or you get a charge. Then, some, you really, really impact it. So, I think it was a little bit of a mix for both sides with the turnovers. I thought we forced them and did a good job. I thought they did the same on us and then, I think both squads had some uncharacteristic ones as well throughout the game."

On starting the season 6-0 and what that means to open conference play here at Blacksburg:

"I can't thank Hokie Nation enough for the way they came out on an early 5:00 game and they were loud. They were getting on the refs. They were bringing energy on defense. It was a great atmosphere and the more we can continue to build off their energy, the better we'll be. We're fortunate that we get our first ACC game here at Cassell [Coliseum]. It'll be a great environment, I'm sure, on a Sunday and having a really good team come into our building. Obviously, they were preseason No. 1, a ton of talent. They play later tonight, but we'll reset ourselves and hopefully we'll have an even better crowd on Sunday."