Quotes - Florida International vs. Duke

Dec. 18, 2002

Recap| Box Score| Notes

I am just really pleased overall with our play. I thought we were very focused. This is an excellent team. I mean we watched a lot of tape on them. They are a very, very good team. They are going to do great things. I thought we took them out of the game with our pressure. We took them out of their passing game. Alana (Beard) did a really good job on their point guard, who is an exceptional player and averages eight assists a game. We kind of got them out of their rhythm. I also thought that Iciss (Tillis) did an excellent job defensively as well. I think those two in particular really stepped up defensively on the floor. I think that Michele (Matyasovsky) causes some big problems because their post players didn't want to come out and defend her, so she made them pay for it.

On the team's 1st half performance: " I would probably give our defensive effort an eight. I thought we were very good defensively. Offensively, we scored a lot in transition. But I think we can still obviously do much better. We had a lot of shots blocked."

Alana Beard:

"We definitely watched tape on (Florida International) and they are a great team. I just think that we played exceptional defense on them. Like Coach G said, we were ready for a challenge. Not that the others teams weren't a challenge, but we just knew that FIU played LSU to 12 points. We were just ready for this game. We were ready to play a good team in Florida International."

Michele Matyasovsky:

On the play of Alana Beard: "She always plays really well and steps up to the challenges that are in store. She's an excellent transition player and she did a great job against their point guard to slow down their offense."

Iciss Tillis:

On Duke's scoring efforts this season: "I think our hard work pays off because certain things that we value we really take to heart. Even though we might beat teams by a lot of points, if we don't play really well than we are not satisfied. We need to play two really great halves. A lot of people don't see that behind closed doors. We are really not satisfied unless we play our best. It doesn't really matter what the point margin is, it's how we come out and play."

Florida International Head Coach Cindy Russo:

Declined to comment