Even after what was probably the toughest loss of his coaching career, Tony Bennett was incredibly professional.
The Virginia coach gave an interview to TNT’s Tracy Wolfson after his team’s 74-54 defeat at the hands of UMBC, which marked the first upset by a 16 seed over a 1 seed in NCAA Tournament history. Bennett credited his opponent and did not mince words about how one-sided the game was.
“We got our butts whipped. That was not even close,” Bennett said. “Their offense was very hard to guard. They shot it well. We kept getting broken down and did a poor job. … We got thoroughly outplayed. Did not play well. We had a hard time with their mobile forwards and their guards. That was a thorough butt whooping.”
It sure was. The game was tied at 21 at the half, but then UMBC opened up a lead in the second half and just expanded on it.
They made 54.2 percent of their shots, including 50 percent of their threes. Guards Jairus Lyles and KJ Maura seemed to make every shot they attempted. Once they knocked Virginia on the ground, they stepped on their throats and did not let them back up.
It was exactly how Bennett described it — a thorough butt whooping.
