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Quotes: Duke 74, Georgia Tech 66
3/5/2011 4:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Duke Quotes
THE MODERATOR: Pleased to introduce Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie as well as student athletes Jasmine Thomas, Karima Christmas, and Chelsea Gray. When you're ready, Coach.
COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Just a really exciting, physical, very good basketball game in so many ways. I was proud of our team and our fight.
Some issues that we had with Krystal, foul trouble in the first half a little bit, had to sit her for a while.
I thought we made some huge plays down the stretch. I thought there were a lot of great lessons in the game for us as well, being out rebounded 35 26 is not something you ever want to get in the habit of doing. So that's a good lesson for us to take on.
I love the fact that we were aggressive and got to the free throw line. As far as the plays that were made, I thought Karima was just incredible with her strength. I thought she made incredible plays to the basket sometimes, pretty physical ones with a lot of people hanging on her. I thought she did a great job with that.
Jasmine was stellar, not 100 percent with the knee and plays 37 minutes and comes up with all sorts of things defensively and offensively.
I thought Chelsea was just steady and aggressive and really made some huge plays down the stretch that made the difference for us.
We're very excited. I want to point out that Jasmine and Karima know, when you have special players, you end up in special places. This is our fourth straight championship, and Jasmine and Karima have been part of every one of them. And they are people that have led the program and showed the way. So excited they've put us in that position and given us a great opportunity.
Q: How tough was it to prepare for them since you'd beaten them so badly the first time this year and knowing that that's probably not going to be the situation again?
COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: You know, I don't think it's really that tough. Our team knows what we can do, but we also know that, you know, this is a new time. I thought we were a lot better. You look at us. I mean, heck, shot 59 percent from the floor. We were a lot better. I thought we were a lot better. And certainly, I thought they were a lot better. That's what it's all about at this time of year.
So I think we've got a very mature team and a smart team that recognizes it's any time, any place. The past is the past. You have different motivators, of course, personally, you know, inside you. But I think they understand that. This is why this is such great preparation for the NCAA Tournament, and it's very important to be here. These games are a tremendous value.
Q: This question is for Jazz and Karima in particular. Coach talked about the great careers and what you've done team wise. Does this ever become commonplace, or is it still exciting for you? Tomorrow you're going to play for an ACC Championship.
JASMINE THOMAS: It's definitely still exciting for us. I mean, each year your team is different, and you're playing against other teams who have also changed. I mean, it's just fun to see how great your team can be. I mean, it's always good to be in the championship game. You have a lot to be proud of and a lot to accomplish in that game.
KARIMA CHRISTMAS: I think it's definitely exciting. The first two years we didn't come up with the championship. So this year is like another year for us to go out there and give it everything we've got to try to get the win.
Q: Question for Jasmine and Karima. What have you learned about this team in the past two days that stands out? Two different type of games, two different type of wins. What are you taking to the championship with that knowledge?
KARIMA CHRISTMAS: Definitely that we're focused and we're going to push through. Even yesterday when it was you know, the lead was kind of a big margin, but we still executed down the stretch. We didn't play down to the scoreboard mentality and seen we were up by 20 or whatever. We just kept on pushing and doing what we want to do to get better for the next game.
JASMINE THOMAS: I know we go back to it a lot, but our schedule for the entire season has really prepared us for these games. That's something you see throughout this tournament is that no one is surprised by any circumstance. We just come in and keep subbing, and people come in, and they're ready to play. That's how it's been all year.
Q: First, Karima, that was an awesome game. From start to finish. Anyway, this is for Coach P. With about seven or eight minutes left, it looked like you had sort of four ball handlers Chloe, Shay, Jazz, Karima and only one big. What was going on at that point in the game?
COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Oh, just trying to mix it up a little bit. Karima can be so interesting in different spots. You know, she plays the one, the two, the three. And to move her to the four sometimes gives us a different look defensively. She can do a lot there. And then from the ball handling standpoint, just trying to be strong with the ball and attack and spread the floor a little bit as they were trapping a lot. So just a look, just a look that we had.
But I definitely am very spoiled with the caliber of players I have because, when you look at what Jazz does, when you look at what Rima does, there's a lot you can do with them or ask them to do. So for that moment, I asked Rima to go play the four, and she just looks at me and goes and plays the four. It's pretty amazing.
Q: This may be a better question for the trainer. Jazz with the knee and Chelsea with the ankle and Karima got beat up a couple of times today. What's the physical condition right now of the three?
KARIMA CHRISTMAS: We're awesome. This is where we want to be. Going to have some bumps and bruises, but we're awesome. We're going to come back tomorrow strong.
JASMINE THOMAS: I think there are probably very few teams at this point of the season that are 100 percent healthy. It's a long season. This is what it comes down to, being able to gut it out.
CHELSEA GRAY: I agree with both Karima and Jazz. We have bumps and bruises, but we have to sustain.
Q: Question for Karima. Down the stretch in a game like that, you've got the lead, the ball. It's so tempting to try to burn the clock and spread it out and go conservative, but you kept attacking. There was one play in particular when you broke the press instead of pulling it out, you attacked and got a layup. Want to ask you about just the mindset of continuing to be aggressive in a game like that.
And the other play I want to ask you about was offensive rebound, shot clock down, Jazz shot an air ball. You got the offensive rebound with one second left and put it in. I want to you describe that play from your perspective.
KARIMA CHRISTMAS: The first one, I think we just really wanted to keep them on their heels, not letting up. We want to break the press and go for a layup.
Second one I just drove it as much as I could and looked for whoever was open. I saw Jazz at the top and knew she could hit the shot. So I passed it to her.
Q: Question for Chelsea. Was there ever any nerves from you in these games? You came up pretty big right at the end of this game.
CHELSEA GRAY: Well, I thought the beginning of our season I prepared for this. So just go out there and play my game. There wasn't really any nerves. I had my teammates surrounding me. So there wasn't any reason to be worried or anything.
Q: This is for Coach. I'd like Karima to comment on this too. Seems like she's had 10, 15 games in her career where she looks like a first team All American type. Then you've got other players that can do that too. How much of a value is the secret weapon aspect of her and other players on your team?
COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Well, to me, I don't think Karima Christmas is a secret weapon. I think that it's pretty well documented I could think back to her sophomore year where she almost single handedly beat Stanford at our place. She's had incredible games throughout her career.
It's mind boggling to me with a senior of her resume for that not to be understood. That's absolutely, unequivocally mind boggling. Nobody has played the schedule that Karima has played. Nobody has the resume that she has.
And so we try to we move on. We know who we are, but it's not she's not a secret weapon. She is a weapon, and she's very, very dangerous. And she was very dangerous tonight.
Q: I was talking about the ability to rise to the occasion when you're needed to. Sometimes you don't have to have a great game, and sometimes you do. This is one of those days.
KARIMA CHRISTMAS: I think I have an understanding for when I need to help my team get better. Whether it's passing, rebounding, hitting shots, I was just trying to be aggressive today, and it kind of just turned out in my favor.
Q: Coach, I know you probably haven't thought about this, but with the next game, the championship, what are your initial impressions of both teams you might face?
COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: They're terrific teams. Either team doesn't matter. I mean, they're both very good teams. You know, it's really about what we do and how we rest and how we prepare at this point in time.
Q: Jasmine, how comfortable do you feel now again with having the ball in Chelsea's hand and in the games that it doesn't all fall on you? How much did you miss that when she was injured?
JASMINE THOMAS: I definitely missed Chelsea when she was injured. Playing as many minutes as I do, it is nice to have someone who can share the ball with me and make good decisions. As you saw today, Chelsea is very capable of making some great plays, whether it's down the stretch defensively or offensively.
Georgia Tech Quotes
THE MODERATOR: Now joined by Georgia Tech Head Coach MaChelle Joseph as well as student athletes Metra Walthour and Alex Montgomery. Coach?
COACH MaCHELLE JOSEPH: Well, obviously, I'm very proud of my team. I thought that we really battled out there for 40 minutes. You know, any time you can out rebound Duke and Maryland back to back in two consecutive days, you know that's a lot of heart and hustle. So I have nothing but respect for my players and how hard they competed three days in a row. Really left it all out there.
I'm especially proud, you know, my two seniors, Alex Montgomery and Deja Foster. I thought they really stepped up throughout the course of the last three days and led this team. We really felt like we left it all on the floor.
You know, Mimi Walthour has developed into one of the best point guards in the ACC. I really thought today she showed what she's capable of in a very difficult situation against one of the best defenses in the country.
We realize we're right there. We've said it all year long. We feel like we can play with anybody in the ACC. I thought today we showed that. We were competitive. We battled.
We have tremendous respect for Duke's program and what it represents and the players, you know, the quality of players that are in that program, especially their seniors. I thought Karima Christmas really was huge today for Duke. She scored 20 points, which usually isn't her role, and stepped outside herself and really, really carried them at times.
So looking forward, we're excited about the NCAA Tournament and looking forward to finding out. We feel like we've earned a very high seed, and we're looking forward to finding that out in a couple of weeks.
Q: Coach, I was there the night you played Duke at Cameron. What did you do so much better today, your kids did in this ball game to have a good shot to win it at the end?
COACH MaCHELLE JOSEPH: Well, I think over the course of the year one thing we focused on was just getting better every day. I feel like, since we played Duke the first time, we're a different team. We've grown and gotten better. We understand our system, and I think that we really have learned everybody's played a zone this year. So we've had a chance to really learn to execute against a zone.
Mimi Walthour has started to make more threes. When you get two three point shooters against a zone, that gives you better opportunity. I have to give all the credit to my players because they've worked really hard over the last month to be in a situation where we got beat by 30 up there and turn around and have a chance to win here a month later.
I give all the credit to them. We have a system we all believe in, and we play hard on every possession. I thought tonight we gave ourselves every opportunity.
Q: This is for Alex, just wanted to get your thoughts on the progress you've seen in the program, you know, since you've been here. You guys are in the semis today and almost got to the Championship Game.
ALEX MONTGOMERY: You know, Coach always told us key players have to step up. And me and Sasha and Mimi, we stepped up. You know, we fought. We really don't want to go home, and we all knew we don't want to go home. So as long as we fought, fought, fought, that's all that was on our mind.
Q: Coach, you mentioned their defense and the zone. Could you just expound on that a little bit, what they were doing. Did it cause you problems? How you were trying to solve it.
COACH MaCHELLE JOSEPH: Well, I think Duke's zones have caused everybody in the country problems. It's a one two two matchup. They're extremely long in the back, and they're extremely long up top. And their athleticism, they really pressure the ball.
It's not a typical zone where it's not a passive zone. It's a very aggressive zone. They do a great job of covering space and finding shooters. Then when you take a shot, they've got 6'5" and 6'6" inside to rebound the basketball. That really puts them in an advantage position because they've always got the blocks covered for rebounds.
Even though we out rebounded them today, which is a tremendous credit to my team, that's one of the things that's their strength. When they go to that zone, they're very hard to play against because they cover so much space and they have great rebounding position.
THE MODERATOR: Pleased to introduce Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie as well as student athletes Jasmine Thomas, Karima Christmas, and Chelsea Gray. When you're ready, Coach.
COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Just a really exciting, physical, very good basketball game in so many ways. I was proud of our team and our fight.
Some issues that we had with Krystal, foul trouble in the first half a little bit, had to sit her for a while.
I thought we made some huge plays down the stretch. I thought there were a lot of great lessons in the game for us as well, being out rebounded 35 26 is not something you ever want to get in the habit of doing. So that's a good lesson for us to take on.
I love the fact that we were aggressive and got to the free throw line. As far as the plays that were made, I thought Karima was just incredible with her strength. I thought she made incredible plays to the basket sometimes, pretty physical ones with a lot of people hanging on her. I thought she did a great job with that.
Jasmine was stellar, not 100 percent with the knee and plays 37 minutes and comes up with all sorts of things defensively and offensively.
I thought Chelsea was just steady and aggressive and really made some huge plays down the stretch that made the difference for us.
We're very excited. I want to point out that Jasmine and Karima know, when you have special players, you end up in special places. This is our fourth straight championship, and Jasmine and Karima have been part of every one of them. And they are people that have led the program and showed the way. So excited they've put us in that position and given us a great opportunity.
Q: How tough was it to prepare for them since you'd beaten them so badly the first time this year and knowing that that's probably not going to be the situation again?
COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: You know, I don't think it's really that tough. Our team knows what we can do, but we also know that, you know, this is a new time. I thought we were a lot better. You look at us. I mean, heck, shot 59 percent from the floor. We were a lot better. I thought we were a lot better. And certainly, I thought they were a lot better. That's what it's all about at this time of year.
So I think we've got a very mature team and a smart team that recognizes it's any time, any place. The past is the past. You have different motivators, of course, personally, you know, inside you. But I think they understand that. This is why this is such great preparation for the NCAA Tournament, and it's very important to be here. These games are a tremendous value.
Q: This question is for Jazz and Karima in particular. Coach talked about the great careers and what you've done team wise. Does this ever become commonplace, or is it still exciting for you? Tomorrow you're going to play for an ACC Championship.
JASMINE THOMAS: It's definitely still exciting for us. I mean, each year your team is different, and you're playing against other teams who have also changed. I mean, it's just fun to see how great your team can be. I mean, it's always good to be in the championship game. You have a lot to be proud of and a lot to accomplish in that game.
KARIMA CHRISTMAS: I think it's definitely exciting. The first two years we didn't come up with the championship. So this year is like another year for us to go out there and give it everything we've got to try to get the win.
Q: Question for Jasmine and Karima. What have you learned about this team in the past two days that stands out? Two different type of games, two different type of wins. What are you taking to the championship with that knowledge?
KARIMA CHRISTMAS: Definitely that we're focused and we're going to push through. Even yesterday when it was you know, the lead was kind of a big margin, but we still executed down the stretch. We didn't play down to the scoreboard mentality and seen we were up by 20 or whatever. We just kept on pushing and doing what we want to do to get better for the next game.
JASMINE THOMAS: I know we go back to it a lot, but our schedule for the entire season has really prepared us for these games. That's something you see throughout this tournament is that no one is surprised by any circumstance. We just come in and keep subbing, and people come in, and they're ready to play. That's how it's been all year.
Q: First, Karima, that was an awesome game. From start to finish. Anyway, this is for Coach P. With about seven or eight minutes left, it looked like you had sort of four ball handlers Chloe, Shay, Jazz, Karima and only one big. What was going on at that point in the game?
COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Oh, just trying to mix it up a little bit. Karima can be so interesting in different spots. You know, she plays the one, the two, the three. And to move her to the four sometimes gives us a different look defensively. She can do a lot there. And then from the ball handling standpoint, just trying to be strong with the ball and attack and spread the floor a little bit as they were trapping a lot. So just a look, just a look that we had.
But I definitely am very spoiled with the caliber of players I have because, when you look at what Jazz does, when you look at what Rima does, there's a lot you can do with them or ask them to do. So for that moment, I asked Rima to go play the four, and she just looks at me and goes and plays the four. It's pretty amazing.
Q: This may be a better question for the trainer. Jazz with the knee and Chelsea with the ankle and Karima got beat up a couple of times today. What's the physical condition right now of the three?
KARIMA CHRISTMAS: We're awesome. This is where we want to be. Going to have some bumps and bruises, but we're awesome. We're going to come back tomorrow strong.
JASMINE THOMAS: I think there are probably very few teams at this point of the season that are 100 percent healthy. It's a long season. This is what it comes down to, being able to gut it out.
CHELSEA GRAY: I agree with both Karima and Jazz. We have bumps and bruises, but we have to sustain.
Q: Question for Karima. Down the stretch in a game like that, you've got the lead, the ball. It's so tempting to try to burn the clock and spread it out and go conservative, but you kept attacking. There was one play in particular when you broke the press instead of pulling it out, you attacked and got a layup. Want to ask you about just the mindset of continuing to be aggressive in a game like that.
And the other play I want to ask you about was offensive rebound, shot clock down, Jazz shot an air ball. You got the offensive rebound with one second left and put it in. I want to you describe that play from your perspective.
KARIMA CHRISTMAS: The first one, I think we just really wanted to keep them on their heels, not letting up. We want to break the press and go for a layup.
Second one I just drove it as much as I could and looked for whoever was open. I saw Jazz at the top and knew she could hit the shot. So I passed it to her.
Q: Question for Chelsea. Was there ever any nerves from you in these games? You came up pretty big right at the end of this game.
CHELSEA GRAY: Well, I thought the beginning of our season I prepared for this. So just go out there and play my game. There wasn't really any nerves. I had my teammates surrounding me. So there wasn't any reason to be worried or anything.
Q: This is for Coach. I'd like Karima to comment on this too. Seems like she's had 10, 15 games in her career where she looks like a first team All American type. Then you've got other players that can do that too. How much of a value is the secret weapon aspect of her and other players on your team?
COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Well, to me, I don't think Karima Christmas is a secret weapon. I think that it's pretty well documented I could think back to her sophomore year where she almost single handedly beat Stanford at our place. She's had incredible games throughout her career.
It's mind boggling to me with a senior of her resume for that not to be understood. That's absolutely, unequivocally mind boggling. Nobody has played the schedule that Karima has played. Nobody has the resume that she has.
And so we try to we move on. We know who we are, but it's not she's not a secret weapon. She is a weapon, and she's very, very dangerous. And she was very dangerous tonight.
Q: I was talking about the ability to rise to the occasion when you're needed to. Sometimes you don't have to have a great game, and sometimes you do. This is one of those days.
KARIMA CHRISTMAS: I think I have an understanding for when I need to help my team get better. Whether it's passing, rebounding, hitting shots, I was just trying to be aggressive today, and it kind of just turned out in my favor.
Q: Coach, I know you probably haven't thought about this, but with the next game, the championship, what are your initial impressions of both teams you might face?
COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: They're terrific teams. Either team doesn't matter. I mean, they're both very good teams. You know, it's really about what we do and how we rest and how we prepare at this point in time.
Q: Jasmine, how comfortable do you feel now again with having the ball in Chelsea's hand and in the games that it doesn't all fall on you? How much did you miss that when she was injured?
JASMINE THOMAS: I definitely missed Chelsea when she was injured. Playing as many minutes as I do, it is nice to have someone who can share the ball with me and make good decisions. As you saw today, Chelsea is very capable of making some great plays, whether it's down the stretch defensively or offensively.
Georgia Tech Quotes
THE MODERATOR: Now joined by Georgia Tech Head Coach MaChelle Joseph as well as student athletes Metra Walthour and Alex Montgomery. Coach?
COACH MaCHELLE JOSEPH: Well, obviously, I'm very proud of my team. I thought that we really battled out there for 40 minutes. You know, any time you can out rebound Duke and Maryland back to back in two consecutive days, you know that's a lot of heart and hustle. So I have nothing but respect for my players and how hard they competed three days in a row. Really left it all out there.
I'm especially proud, you know, my two seniors, Alex Montgomery and Deja Foster. I thought they really stepped up throughout the course of the last three days and led this team. We really felt like we left it all on the floor.
You know, Mimi Walthour has developed into one of the best point guards in the ACC. I really thought today she showed what she's capable of in a very difficult situation against one of the best defenses in the country.
We realize we're right there. We've said it all year long. We feel like we can play with anybody in the ACC. I thought today we showed that. We were competitive. We battled.
We have tremendous respect for Duke's program and what it represents and the players, you know, the quality of players that are in that program, especially their seniors. I thought Karima Christmas really was huge today for Duke. She scored 20 points, which usually isn't her role, and stepped outside herself and really, really carried them at times.
So looking forward, we're excited about the NCAA Tournament and looking forward to finding out. We feel like we've earned a very high seed, and we're looking forward to finding that out in a couple of weeks.
Q: Coach, I was there the night you played Duke at Cameron. What did you do so much better today, your kids did in this ball game to have a good shot to win it at the end?
COACH MaCHELLE JOSEPH: Well, I think over the course of the year one thing we focused on was just getting better every day. I feel like, since we played Duke the first time, we're a different team. We've grown and gotten better. We understand our system, and I think that we really have learned everybody's played a zone this year. So we've had a chance to really learn to execute against a zone.
Mimi Walthour has started to make more threes. When you get two three point shooters against a zone, that gives you better opportunity. I have to give all the credit to my players because they've worked really hard over the last month to be in a situation where we got beat by 30 up there and turn around and have a chance to win here a month later.
I give all the credit to them. We have a system we all believe in, and we play hard on every possession. I thought tonight we gave ourselves every opportunity.
Q: This is for Alex, just wanted to get your thoughts on the progress you've seen in the program, you know, since you've been here. You guys are in the semis today and almost got to the Championship Game.
ALEX MONTGOMERY: You know, Coach always told us key players have to step up. And me and Sasha and Mimi, we stepped up. You know, we fought. We really don't want to go home, and we all knew we don't want to go home. So as long as we fought, fought, fought, that's all that was on our mind.
Q: Coach, you mentioned their defense and the zone. Could you just expound on that a little bit, what they were doing. Did it cause you problems? How you were trying to solve it.
COACH MaCHELLE JOSEPH: Well, I think Duke's zones have caused everybody in the country problems. It's a one two two matchup. They're extremely long in the back, and they're extremely long up top. And their athleticism, they really pressure the ball.
It's not a typical zone where it's not a passive zone. It's a very aggressive zone. They do a great job of covering space and finding shooters. Then when you take a shot, they've got 6'5" and 6'6" inside to rebound the basketball. That really puts them in an advantage position because they've always got the blocks covered for rebounds.
Even though we out rebounded them today, which is a tremendous credit to my team, that's one of the things that's their strength. When they go to that zone, they're very hard to play against because they cover so much space and they have great rebounding position.
Players Mentioned
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