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Women's Basketball
vs Countdown to Craziness
Quotes: Duke 75, USC 50
11/15/2010 10:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie
On team's performance:
"I think the team did great in terms of hustling and playing together defensively, rebounding, and just playing really gritty basketball. I thought we did a great job of disrupting what they tried to do offensively. And I thought we had a lot of opportunities to do some really great things. Jas [Jasmine Thomas] was steady in attacking as always. I thought Haley [Peters] was very efficient with 13 rebounds in 19 minutes. It was really nice to see that, really nice to see our team getting better. We're excited for the next game."
On previous meeting with USC, and team focus going into game:
"You'd have to ask Jas and Haley directly as players. But for me as a coach, it definitely left a taste in my mouth. I just didn't think we defended. I mean we were down 21-9 at some point in that game. Jas was the hero of that game by far. We completely relied on Jas. I think she had 28 points, and had to do everything in that game, and it just looked awful. Just watching the film again was just painful for me. And I just wanted to complete everybody doing something special tonight. So I guess it was a good motivator from a coach's point of view."
On the two games thus far:
"We do have a lot of people that can jump up and have a great game. And I think the key is trying to fire on off all cylinders. That's always the challenge. It's early in the season, but I feel very confident about a lot of different people stepping up. The key is that we have continuity and consistency defensively and rebounding, and that we stay attacking. I love the fact that we are getting to the free throw line a whole lot more, on average, so far this year. Once we capitalize on those, that will really help us separate in games."
On type of defense:
"We played a lot of zone, we played a lot of man. I don't know what the break down was. Maybe 50/50. I think man-to-man, there is a different tempo created by playing man. A different tempo created by playing match up. I thought the team executed pretty well. Also just teaching too; teaching and learning. There are times that we're trying to get better in certain areas and trying to mix it up a little bit."
On 400th win:
"I didn't know. It was nice. It's great, I just hope there's many more. It was just a great game. I didn't know about that. That was, I guess, a funny surprise after the game when some of the fans were being goofy about that. It's a fun team to coach and we're just trying to get better. I can tell you this, I've been blessed with a lot of great people to work with. In 19 years of coaching there's been a lot of great staff members and a lot of great players. So it makes it fun."
On Chelsea Gray's injured foot:
"She's doing ok, she's doing well. I'd say she's doing well given the fact that she's had limited practice. She's going to have to deal with that foot and learn how to cope with it, and I think she's doing very well with it. We've tried to take all the chances [healing] we have currently, so next chance is Christmas (break).
Duke senior Jasmine Thomas:
On overall team play:
"It's always good to know that everyone is going to come in to contribute and play hard. For me, I thought it was interesting that they have a very similar team from the past two years, but we have a very different team from last year with five freshmen who all play. To see us play this well defensively, of course with things to work on, but just to see the difference for our team for this year from last year."
On Duke team defense and freshmen adjustment:
"I think in our first two games we have had to concentrate more on guarding the 3-point line. In conference, we are going to have some quick guards to deal with and I think we are going get in to dealing with both sides with guarding the penetration and also the 3-point line. I think the freshmen are doing well with learning and picking things up. I think we all are adapting as a team and just trying to get better."
On her adjustment in playing at the shooting guard position:
"The biggest adjustment for me is just watching sometimes. I have to make sure I keep moving. Also, shutting up a little bit, I think sometimes I need to step back and let them learn on their own a little bit. We are always talking to them constantly and I think it's good, at least from what I remember from being in their position, that it is good to have a clear head at times and just play."
Duke freshman Haley Peters
On her overall play:
"I think I've always tried to be a player that tries to take advantage of what's available on the court and what I need to get done to help our team. Something that we have been working on was the post and that was something that was there for me today and so I took advantage of it. We talked about poise today and I just tried to stay poised and I felt more poised today than in other games."
On her freshman adjustment:
"I don't think it has really been that difficult. We have three great seniors and a lot of upper-classmen who are talking to us all the time. Being here in the summer they were getting us ready for everything, we have a lot to improve on, but the transition has been pretty easy so far I think."
On Duke team defense:
"I know for me, I have learned a lot defending the ball and defending off the ball since I have started playing here. So, I feel good about how we are progressing. I feel like there are more levels that we can reach and it's fun to play defense like that."Southern California head coach Michael Cooper
Opening Statements
"You got to tip your hat. Duke has definitely reestablished themselves as an elite team. We knew coming in here that we had our work cut out for us and I thought we came in and we had a good game. But again it's tough to deal with size. They had the size on us that they really utilized. Fifty to 37 on the boards, if you get beat like that you're not going to win many games."
On this game compared to last year's...
"Well we had a little bit more size then. But they have gotten some size too. [Haley] Peters and obviously [Kathleen] Scheer playing more minutes now definitely improves that team a lot. We came in here and we were very confident about our ability to come in here and play a good basketball game. But again their size got to us."
On Duke's defensive pressure...
"I think their pressure was definitely intense. I thought we made a lot of mistakes by not attacking it and once we did late in the first half we started getting some easy baskets. But it looked like we were a little intimidated by it and that's something we talked about as a team the last couple days about being aggressive at going at it. We watched the BYU tape and saw that there were some holes in it, but again it's different watching it on tape and actually being out there in it. And I think that was the biggest difference."
On USC's offensive difficulty...
"That happens. I'd like to say we are a young team and in a sense we are, but still we got some people that should know how to play basketball. And again for us this would have been a monumental win for us as far as coming in here and beating a team such as Duke. But again we got to go back to the drawing board. I think we did some good things, just to be 1-1, it's a long season and we can make this ground up in the next two games. We have to use this as a learning experience."
On handling Duke's offense...
"They are pretty basic on what they do, but they do it well. I don't think they hurt us on their initial set. It was the second and third shots. When you give up 26 second chance points you aren't going to win many games, to nine. And I think that was the biggest difference. We handled their first options on all their plays. But as I tell our team, it doesn't matter what you do prior to a team shooting the ball. When the ball is in the air that determines what's going to happen. We weren't doing a very good job of that, giving up 21 offensive rebounds."
On Ashley Corral...
"Well she's been struggling the last couple of games. She hurt her shooting finger and it's been bothering her because last year she came here and lit the place up. She didn't play well against Gonzaga and I think that's on her mind. We got her in a difficult situation because Ashley should just be shooting the ball for us. But we are asking her to be a play maker, a leader, and she can do it, but again when you have a scorer's mentality like she has you want to get the ball in the air and see it going in. But that wasn't able to happen for her tonight. But she'll get better, just takes practice. Good thing about this game, like I said, it's early in the season."
On two players returning from knee injuries...
"Stefanie [Gilbreath] and Jacki [Gemelos]. I thought Jacki did extremely well tonight. She's playing without her brace so I was very happy to see her. It wouldn't look like it tonight with the couple of moves she made, but her basketball timing is still off a little bit. Stef is just freshly back and I'm just glad to see her out there playing. As the season progresses, hopefully those two will give even more minutes and better play."
Players Mentioned
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