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Post Game Quotes
12/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Gail Goestenkors
On Duke's performance today...
“Overall, very pleased with our effort. I thought initially we didn't come out of the gate strong and Texas did. They attacked us really from the jump, and it took us a little while to really get going and get settled. I thought in the first half our defense wasn't what we were used to seeing, but I thought towards the end of the first half and in the second half when we put on our little half court press, I think that caused some problems for them and it gave us some momentum. I was proud that we really never let up when we got the big lead. I kept waiting for the run, but I thought our defense really sustained us through a tough shooting night. It obviously wasn't one of our better shooting nights, but I thought we did a great job creating some points by getting to the free throw line. I thought Wanisha [Smith] in particular in the first half, we were kind of standing around, and she took the ball to the basket and got to the free throw line, which I think we need to do. We needed to manufacture some points at that time. Overall, I think this was another great test for us, and I'm proud with the way we responded.”
On the defensive plan for Tiffany Jackson...
“We were just one-on-one in the post. We had Carrem [Gay] on her part of the time, Ali[son Bales] was on her part of the time, and all of our guards were supposed to help in except for whomever was on [Erika] Arriaran because she's such a good shooter. Tiffany's a good passer as well, so we didn't want to leave Arriaran open, but I thought our guards did a really nice job digging in. We know she likes to put the ball on the floor, and she does really good job creating, but sometimes it can get them into trouble as well.
On dominating despite a bad shooting night...
“The great thing is we're finding ways to win, and we know it all starts with our defense. If we're not hitting our outside shoots then we usually do a good job going inside to Ali. If they're double teaming Ali she usually finds out outside players. They're a good defense team; they put a lot of pressure up in the passing lanes, and when they do that then you've got to go back door and go to the basket, and I think that's that we did.”
On playing Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and Texas this week...
“I guess I thought the final scores would be closer. I'm just really proud of my team; it's a young team, yet they've really shown that they have the killer instinct. Sometimes when you're young you can get up and then you let leads evaporate. You lose your focus and your energy. I think the team this team has proven over this little three game stretch is that they're able to get good teams down and keep them down. I think we have been tested. We've seen match-up zones, pressure man, and sagging man. We've seen a lot of different things, and I think we've responded to everything we've seen.”
On team performance:
“I think because we knew they were a good team that we were going to have to jump out a little quick and steal their confidence in the beginning. I think we attacked the basket really well and got to the free throw line.”
On having an attacking mindset:
“I wanted to attack the basket, but I knew from previous games that they probably were scouting that and said I would be out of control, so I was trying to be under control when I was going to the hoop. I was just lucky enough to find openings in the defense and get to the free throw line.”
On having six steals:
“Yesterday we didn't have the best practice for trapping, so at first our game plan was not to trap. But then we got things under control and were able to trap smartly and it really created some steals for us. They were pretty predictable when we had our half court and full court traps going with where they were going to pass the ball, and also I knew that Tiffany Jackson likes to bring the ball up too, and having a post player bringing it up the floor and having a guard on her created some easy steals for us.”
On being able to steal in transition:
“In transition it's sometimes a little bit easier because the other team is out of control too, so it's easier to stop the transition sometimes than on set plays.”
On what the team has learned from the last three games:
“I think chemistry has given us more trust in our teammates and we're able to read each other, and that obviously will help us progress as a team. But knowing that we can play this way against teams of this caliber gives us confidence, not false confidence by any means, but I think we're feeling pretty good about the way we're playing right now but we know we still have a long way to go.”
On two big plays at the start of the second half:
“I wanted to attack more; I didn't really shoot that much from the outside and a couple times were off-balance. Like I said, running the plays through ? the shots I didn't make weren't from our plays, so I didn't come out for revenge, it was just make the plays and whoever was open would take the shot, and I was open.”
On a slow start in the game:
“I wasn't really surprised at our initial shots because I knew they were capable of doing that. We just needed to relax and run our sets all the way through. After one or two passes the shot was going up, so once we started moving the ball around and reversing the ball back and forth, we got better shots and had more control of the game.”
Texas Quotes
Head Coach Jody Conradt
Opening Statement:
“Duke's really good. They're just what we thought they were. We had had an opportunity to watch a lot of tape, and what impressed me the most was how, even though we jumped out early and did some really positive things, they just keep doing what they do. And they were relentless on both ends of the floor and eventually we started to fall apart. I think our youth showed a great deal, but a lot of that had to do with the fact that we weren't poised. We talked about, going into this game, that poise was going to be the most important thing and, obviously, that didn't happen for us. I thought we were ready to play; we just weren't ready to finish and we have a lot of growing to do. We want to be what Duke is and we have work to do in order to accomplish that.”
On Duke's pressure defense:
“I think that caused us to lose our confidence and to lose our poise. We started to do things that you can do against lesser teams. We started to gamble. We started to take hard shots. We got careless with the basketball. And, pretty much, we stopped trusting each other, and that's, I think, one of the things that happens with young teams. Tiffany [Jackson] is our only really experienced player and we're trying to figure out who we can count on and what they can do on a consistent basis.
On the production of Duke's guards:
“They put a lot of pressure on us. Their guards scored 50 points and that tells you that they were taking it to us aggressively and, at the same time, here's what I think happens a lot with inexperienced players in difficult situations. We started to have breakdowns on the defensive end because we got frustrated because we weren't scoring and that then sort of snowballs on us. I thought our defense was really solid early and then, when we had some difficulty scoring, we turned the ball over. Then we weren't as focused as we needed to be defensively and we just didn't show the patience to stay with the things that worked for us.”
On Duke's ability to penetrate the Texas defense:
“Dribble penetration with a team as good as Duke is is going to be hard for anyone to contend with. Lindsey Harding is really, really quick. You have to work really hard to keep [Abby] Waner from getting open looks. We need improvement in every area. Our rebounding needed to improve. Tiffany [Jackson] is pretty much our rebounder, and we didn't do enough scrambling on the boards to keep them from getting second opportunities.”
Senior forward Tiffany Jackson
On what turned the game around:
“[Duke] just continued to do what they do well. I think their press really rattled us a lot towards the middle of the first half and I just don't think we ever really recovered.”
Players Mentioned
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