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Women's Basketball
vs Countdown to Craziness
Quotes: Duke 95, Wake Forest 68
1/7/2016 10:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie
Opening Statement:
“It was just a great game for us to get back to doing the way we do things, especially the second half. Obviously we turned it up a few notches and I think the team felt that and enjoyed it, played well together. I think we can really build off that second half in hopes to turn that into a 40-minute something. So we'll try to do that. I thought Becca [Greenwell] was great. I loved Becca's nine rebounds. She's always a beast when she's rebounding in all areas, shooting and everything else. Angela [Salvadores] did a great job running things and really helped us from the perimeter. I like it when Angela and Becca look for each other and also just spot up and go after those shots so it was great.”
On Amber Henson's impact on the team:
“We've really missed Amber [Henson]. We've really missed her. She's a vocal leader. She's totally experienced. She understands everything that's supposed to happen on the floor from pretty much every position and she's an intangible person. She'll get some more stats as she gets used to playing again. She's been out of basketball for over a month now so I just like getting her leadership. She was communicating and demanding. It was great to see. It was really great to have her back.”
On Oderah Chidom's second half:
“Oderah got in foul trouble so that slowed her tremendously. She's a scorer and a rebounder. I just told her to go by them. She can go by anyone. She's very crafty around the basket so she just went by everybody. Her teammates did a good job of finding her too. I think you can see what she's capable of because 12 points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes…she plays a few more minutes she's going to be even more productive. We just want Oderah to play defense, to really defend and use her athleticism to do that. She can do very good things for us.”
On the loss of Haley Gorecki on the perimeter lineup:
“If our bigs can just play off each other, stay healthy and do what they do, obviously there is an advantage to taking care of the paint with them. Becca and Angela can handle the ball. The more they can do that, the more we can play the big lineup. When you're down a guard like we are we've got to be able to play both lineups, a big lineup and a guard lineup.”
On transferring the energy to Sunday's game:
“I don't know what they'd say from a player perspective but to me I think they had a lot of fun tonight and they kind of got a feeling of what it would be like to play together for 40 minutes like that. The first half we scored a lot of points, but we didn't stop anybody. The beauty of that second half was that they got both, scoring points and attacking and making stops and having fun with that. So that's something we want to project into Sunday.”
On finding a chemistry she is looking for:
“We definitely found something tonight. We've been searching. We've definitely been searching. I think you make a good point with nine sophomores and freshmen and remember when Amber [Henson] was gone no senior playing any kind of minutes. Then Kendall [Cooper's] situation and we now have one junior. It's different. The team has had to adjust. It's made us better, meaning other people stepping up and talking. I thought Angela was very verbal to her teammates today as well as Becca. But there's no doubt we're on to something and we need to build on this.”
Redshirt Sophomore Guard Rebecca Greenwell
On the team's defensive intensity in the third quarter:
“We just wanted to come out the second half really focusing on defense and I think that showed. It really just got all of us going and I think we really played together well on defense and that sparked our offense.”
On rebounding from the loss at Syracuse:
“I think it just motivated us. We learned from it, watched film, and it was obviously hard to watch. But we knew that we just couldn't get down about it, sulk about it. We have a long season ahead of us and a lot of tough games coming up so we just have to move on. And I think we played really well together, played off of each other and just had fun. That's something we haven't been doing in the last couple games.”
On what has changed since her performance at Kentucky:
“Just to not think about it. Just play like we did tonight. It doesn't matter who we're playing, where we're playing. I can't focus on that. I just need to focus on our goals as a team and the game plan.”
On whether she put too much pressure on herself to perform in that game:
“Yes, probably. This time I just won't think about it – I'll just go play my game.”
On what helped them get stops in the second half:
“First half, they kept on scoring the same way about three times in a row. And that was my fault – I wasn't dropping in the back. We talked about it over halftime and we just knew that we had to buckle down and do what we needed to do. I think we had good leadership out there tonight. Everyone was more vocal in the second half and I think that really helped.”
On the play of the freshmen:
“The freshmen did a good job. Faith [Suggs] did a really good job when she came in there of getting a big steal. And I think that really fueled everybody on the court. Angela did an awesome job just scoring more and being more of a threat. And also Kyra [Lambert] had a lot of good drives to the basket, so I think they all contributed really well and we just played off of each other and that just fueled our energy.
Freshman Guard Angela Salvadores
On the team's defensive intensity in the third quarter:
“Our defense was one of the greatest defenses in the season for us. We are working hard every day after the game we lost at Syracuse. Now we show that we can defend, not like the other day. Our defense was great and then we were making shots and everything. We had fun.”
On whether starting was different than coming off the bench:
“I like starting but coming off the bench too. I like staying on the court. I played more point guard today than other days and I like it. I enjoy playing with Azurá [Stevens], Becca and all the other players because we are really good, so it's easy for me to play with them.”
Wake Forest head coach Jennifer Hoover:
Opening Statement:
“I am really excited about how our team came out with a lot of fire, emotion, the ability to get to the basket, and knock down threes. I feel like we came here with a great focus and concentration on what we needed to do. Unfortunately, they are a very good basketball team. I think with Rebecca Greenwell in the first half, we couldn't find her, and we talked about her a lot in our pregame, limiting her outside looks, and I thought that really hurt us in the first half. The third quarter was our Achilles heel. We came out and I think went 6-for-10, but we turned it over nine times, and it is hard to recover with a team of that caliber.”
On Duke going big in the third quarter:
“I do not think we paid a lot of attention to their size. What affected us was that they really packed it in inside, and we for whatever reason tried to get inside, and that was not a part of our game plan. Their length is always something that you have to deal with when you are dealing with Duke, and I think in the past we have done a pretty good job with it.”
On the difference in the third quarter:
“I thought it was the turnovers in the third. Our point guard Ataijah Taylor is a kid who has played pretty well against Duke, she has had eight assists against them now three of her last five games. She has to play so many minutes and I think she wears down a little bit. With Taylor having to play so many minutes, I think that is what affected us, or part of it. Amber Campbell sliding over, picking it up, and kind of handling the point guard duties now as a backup, and she is only going to get better and more comfortable with it as a sophomore this year with some experience. I know that Duke is going through that a lot with their freshman point guards. They are trying to figure it out as well, it is just a lot different between your senior point guard and your sophomore who has never played the point before to have to slide over and play it now for us a little bit. We just have to keep getting better, and keep defending. That was my biggest disappointment, especially in the second half and the third quarter. We cannot give up 34 points to anybody in a quarter, and come out on top.
On the biggest positive from the game:
“I thought Milan Quinn was back to her normal self this game. She went 5-for-5, so we could have got her the ball a little bit more. I do think that we were able to see that we can score against them, and that we can score in a variety of ways. Having four people in double figures is really big for us and Taylor was just all over it. I would love to see her get eight assists a game, she is capable and very experienced. She has been our starting point guard for the last three years in the ACC, and I think we have to take those positives and build on them.”
Players Mentioned
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