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Quotes: Duke 75, Tennessee 53
1/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Gail Goestenkors
Opening Statement
“I'm just really pleased with our overall effort. We knew this was going to be a battle. Tennessee's an exceptional team. I'm really proud of our defense. I thought we set the tone on the defensive end. It was a great team effort ? that's what I told the team just now in the locker room ? five players in double figures and everybody who came off the bench contributed in some way, shape, or form. I think this was just a tremendous team effort on our part.”
On Lindsey Harding's play
“Lindsay was amazing. Her defense, and I said it after the game, if there's a better defensive player in the nation, I'd like to see her. She did a little bit of everything on the defensive end, and really, I think, disrupted so many things that they wanted to do. And then on offense, she took it to the basket when she needed to, she hit the little pull-up jumpers and she got the ball to the open player and ran the offense for us. So I thought she had just an exceptional game.”
On Duke's speed on the perimeter
“That's something that we felt like we needed to take advantage of after watching game tape. They're real big on the perimeter, but not particularly fast. [Alexis] Hornbuckle is, but [Sidney] Spencer and [Shanna] Zolman aren't particularly fast and we felt like they would have a tough time matching up with our guards.”
On spreading the floor on offense
“We wanted to spread the floor a little bit in the first half, but we didn't do a good job with it. So at halftime we talked about the fact that if we would spread the floor out and penetrate a little bit and skip the ball, we felt like we could get some really good looks. In the first half I thought we were pressing just a little bit. We were overpenetrating just a little bit, clogging up the lane.”
On Candace Parker's performance
“She averages 15 and I told the team, ?If she gets 15, I'm fine with that.” You're not going to hold Candace Parker down. She's a great, great player ? very versatile. She can score with her back to the basket. She likes to face up. But I thought we did a really good job on her. I don't know how many turnovers she had - I know she had four at halftime ? seven turnovers. So I think we did a really good job on her. Mistie Williams, I thought, did a tremendous job on her. She was physical with her and forced her into some tough shots. Now, Candace can make tough shots, but she also turned the ball over a couple of times, so I thought we did a pretty good job on her defensively.”
On the bench play
“I haven't really looked at what their bench did, but I know our bench was huge for us, so I think it was definitely one of the differences. I thought we were able to wear them down a little bit. Every game we go into we feel like our depth is going to be a factor in the second half, not necessarily in the first half, but in the second half we can wear teams down a bit.”
On defending Shanna Zolman
“I thought we did a good job. She's such a deep shooter and she shoots in transition and she got us a couple of times last year. And then she likes to shot fake, get you up and then go by you and draw some contact. She got us last year a couple of times and I thought we learned from that and I thought we just did a much, much better job closing out on her in transition and staying on her in the quarter court.”
On being 19-0
“We haven't talked about being undefeated. We haven't talked about being 18-0 or 19-0. I think this team has been really good. We've been through the wars and we've got great leadership and great experience. We've just been taking it one, really, truly, I know it's clich?, but one game at a time and I think it's been really good for us. The ACC is so strong this year that we have had to focus on each and every game so we can't really worry about the big picture right now. We're so focused on the next game at hand.”
On how much this game means
“Very little. We knew, win or lose, that it was just one game. It was an exciting game. It was a great game, but it's still just a game. It doesn't change anything. We've still got the ACC to contend with and the NCAA Tournament's a long way away. It was an opportunity for us to test ourselves, to find out how good we were in this particular situation on this particular day.
“A one-versus-two game is always really good for any sport and it was an opportunity, I think, to showcase two great programs. We're still building. They have their tradition and we're still building a tradition here and we're in the midst of it, so I think it allowed us to showcase where we are in the national scene as well.”
Duke Player Quotes
Junior Lindsey Harding
On Duke's quickness and depth
“Every time that I touched the ball, I was pushing it as fast as I could. Our wings were getting out and our posts were running the floor. We had so much depth, we were able to keep going and going and going, and it seemed like we never got tired.”
On her defensive pressure
“They had (Alexis) Hornbuckle out and she was usually their primary ball handler. I knew that (Shanna) Zolman was a shooter so I what I wanted to do was make her keep her head down and make her dribble as much as possible. Hopefully she would make a mistake because they were calling it tight if I reached.”
On her eight steals
“I didn't think it was eight but I knew I got my hands on a lot of tips. A couple of times when I did get steals, other players kind of tipped it away and I was there in the right place at the right time.”
Senior Monique Currie
On beating No. 1 Tennessee
“We haven't beaten a team that was ranked so high by as many points. Usually they're pretty close games. I think we just played an excellent all-around game. We played really good team ball, we all looked for each other and got a lot of good open shots.”
On Duke's depth
“I think we wore them down. Coach G kept subbing in new players and we were able to keep running and running. They weren't subbing as much as we did so we had fresh legs and I think that wore them down in the end.”
Sophomore Chante Black
On coming off the bench
“I'm coming in the game off the bench with fresh legs so I was able to get good open looks and finish plays. Their post players are good and aggressive but I was able to come in and be more mobile. They were tired. They were playing longer minutes than I was.”
Senior Jessica Foley
On providing a spark off the bench
“We could see on their bench that they were starting to get a little bit tired. We even said to each other on the bench, ?Let's get in there and run. Let's just keep pushing them and wear them down towards the end of the game.' In the second half, I think that really made a big difference is that we just kept pushing it at them.”
Tennessee Head Coach Pat Summitt
Opening Statement
“I think it was very apparent tonight that Duke wanted this game and they went after it in a much more determined way than we did. There was quite a difference in how their defense affected what we did offensively than our defense against Duke. They pretty much ran what they wanted to run, handled traps, we didn't rotate our defense, but bottom line, defensively, they disrupted us and we did not disrupt them. It has been a weakness of ours of our team's lack of coverage on three-point shooters and lack of commitment at times in our full-court defense. We turned the ball over entirely too much in the first half. A lot of that, Duke made us play a little overanxious and we never could quite settle down and consistently have the type of composure that we need to have. We have a chance to learn volumes from this. I have said all along that this is a talented but young basketball team and hopefully we can grow from having been in this venue and playing against this team and come away from this with something positive. Right now tonight nothing feels good but we will look at the film, it is a long season and I just have to believe these players are all competitive and will respond.”
On what she said at halftime
“We were just trying to play better defense and better one-on-one. In the first half we did a better job of taking them out of their rhythm offensively but then they beat us one-on-one. In the second half, they ran their sets a lot better and obviously really moved the basketball. They had quick ball movement, player movement, and I thought we were stagnant against their pressure and they had a lot more freedom offensively than we did. We talked about our turnovers. I thought we got overanxious at times. I thought Duke was a more physical team which concerned me a little bit. Again, it was a tough night for us but they had a lot to do with it.”
On Duke's quickness on perimeter
“First of all we have to be more committed to our defensive schemes in man or zone. We have to commit to the full-court pressure and changing up our defenses. We were not consistent with having five people in sync.”
On if the team was physically tired
“You would have to ask the team. I didn't feel that it was physical but could have been mental. I think in games like this you usually give in mentally to what you are feeling physically. I think this team is in great shape. I think they got frustrated and when that happens some times you will give in.”
On Shanna Zolman
“Shanna was a non-factor. The disappointing thing was when she wasn't scoring, she wasn't doing other things. She has to be more involved and do other things.”
On Lindsey Harding
“I thought she did a great job. She has obviously been a big factor in the difference from a year ago with her quickness and the ability to push tempo. They really got the ball moving early and kept it going. They were very committed to running their sets and we did not do a lot to break that momentum. Out of our traps we didn't rotate. We have a lot we can go home and work on. This Duke team is a very fine team.”
On if Duke did anything that surprised Tennessee
“I think they influenced a lot of how we played in the half court game. I thought we were more prepared to be able to handle any kind of pressure. On this night we just didn't seem to do it.”
On if it is difficult to go through a season unbeaten
“It is a lot more difficult now to go through a season and just run the table. I will say that it can be done but it is obviously very difficult and you don't see it happen very often. Losing is one thing and the way we lost was something quite different. It is unacceptable in this program. We will learn from it.”
Tennessee Player Quotes
Alexis Hornbuckle
On what they can take away from this game
“Basically it is just like coach said. We need to handle the pressure a little better. We started off o.k. but didn't get off to a great start. We also didn't handle the intensity that they were throwing up and we didn't match their energy. Our shots weren't falling but our defense wasn't there and you can't win a big game if you don't play defense.”
On what Duke did well
“I think they had the swagger that we usually carry. It seemed like once we got frustrated we just let down instead of getting fired up and trying to get it back.”
On Duke's depth
“I don't think their depth had anything to do with it. We are in great condition. I know I didn't get tired. We worked so hard in the preseason for games like this and playing 40-plus games. I think we bought into the fatigue mentally. It wasn't physically at all, we just didn't step up to the plate.”
On why Duke was successful
“I think they were successful because we didn't have the determination and the heart to stop our players and play team defense. I think we were concerned about stopping our man in particular and we didn't have the defensive rotation or the defensive intensity.”
On environment at Duke
“I don't think the fans had anything to do with it. It was loud but this is not really the biggest gym. It is like everybody is on the court with you but at the same time we were so focused on each other, the coaches and what Duke was doing that the crowd didn't influence us at all.”
Candace Parker
On what she can take away from a game like this one
“Personally, I am taking away that we have a lot to do. Coach has been harping on us about defense and how we have been living on the edge. We know that when we go back to Knoxville that is going to be our main focus. We have so many weapons both on the offensive end and the defensive end. We just didn't bring it tonight. Tennessee is about heart and we didn't show it.”
On if she tried to personally take over the game
“No, because we are a team. Sometimes I think we forced it a little bit, had turnovers at midcourt and in transition, things like that. We got here as a team and we are going to win it as a team.”
Sidney Spencer
On Duke
“I give Duke all the credit in the world. They came out and beat us in everything. They executed well, won all the hustle plays, outrebounded us, they did everything that usually Tennessee is about. When we come out and play like that and we don't bring anything then we are going to get beat. I think they capitalized on a lot of our weaknesses and exposed them.”
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Players Mentioned
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