Here are the postgame quotes from the UConn Huskies 74-36 win over the Iowa State Cyclones in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament on Sunday, March 28th.
CONNECTICUT POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Geno Auriemma
Opening Statement
I know this sounds like a broken record for me, but going into today’s game I wasn’t really sure how we are going to keep them from making a bunch of 3’s. I can’t tell you how well this group playing defensively and watching the scouting report and how well they prepared today, even more so than I ever thought going into the game. They just played exceptionally well on the defensive end and kind of set the tone for the rest of the game for us. Iowa State is a lot better than they showed today.
On the feeling of winning… You go to practice and work on some things and then you come to a game and see those things happen, it’s great to see. If you’re a real team player, and you’re sitting there watching your teammates play well, you also want to do something to help. I think real basketball players want to play and they don’t care what the score is. I think that’s what drives our team. They don’t care what the score is because they just want to play well.
On the impact of Freshman Guard Kelly Faris… I said at one point during the game, isn’t it funny that the one thing we worried about Kelly doing was hitting shots on a consistent basis. She wasn’t highly recruited because she wasn’t a shooter. It was just a matter of time until she started hitting. She’s already made more shots than we expected her to when we recruited her. She’s such a good basketball player, that making shots for her just adds to her value on the floor. She’s very smart, a good defender, quick, strong, and a tough kid. Even if Kelly didn’t take a shot, she would still help us win games. When she’s in a groove like she is now, it takes a little pressure off our other guards. I tell her to keep shooting and we need her.
On the duo of Tina Charles and Maya Moore… Almost every great team constitutes two or more great players. It seems that’s what makes you have a great team. They can beat you in so many different ways. We talk a lot about what it takes to be a great team. These two are carrying more of the load this year than last, but I don’t know of any great team that doesn’t have two dominant forces. They are really special people right now.
On defending and rebounding Iowa State… Iowa State plays in a great league. They finished second in the Big 12 and played some great teams. I think we presented certain challenges to Iowa State. I noticed at one point they weren’t really rebounding on the offensive end because they were worried about getting back in transition. There were some things they had to adjust to and were able to cause some problems for them. They rely a lot on their offense to help their defense and when you’re not making shots, it’s very tough. They got caught in a bad situation today and today’s play is not really indicative of who they are.
Iowa State’s coach said you guys were always one play ahead. Can you talk about that?
Maya Moore: Well I am glad that it seemed that way because that’s how coach trains us. It’s what we do in practice. To always be thinking ahead and anticipate everything that they are going to do. It helps that we covered the passing lanes. It also helps that we had the help side, we knew the scouting report and knew what they were going to do. I thought we did a great job today. Not necessarily getting the steal of getting a huge blocked shot, but everything we practiced for.
Maya, I was wondering in addition to defending them you guys went and hit a few threes right off the bat so it kind of switched and slowed their game play. What kind of impact did that have on them?
Maya Moore: It’s good for us. We are a team that scores first. Keep attacking. We were going to find their shooters. Coach says the minute your open you have to just drop it in this is not the time to hesitate. Shoot it when you are open. Kelly was shooting well tonight with a few threes. You don’t have to convince me or any of us guards to shoot a three ball when we have a good look.
Kelly, postseason is often a time when players turn the corner with confidence. Would you say you needed this for your own personal confidence level to play like this in the post season level. Do you feel yourself sort of transforming into a better player?
Kelly Faris: Yes, it’s definitely been fun so far. Starting out with the NCAA tournament like I said before, coming out in the post season, if you don’t leave it all out there and you lose., your seasons over. You give it your all and everything, especially in post season. Luckily for me I have a great team behind me. Confidence wise, they are going to help out and personally this has helped me out a lot, so it’s been fun so far.
Can you talk about what it’s like playing a non-traditional center who wants to get away from the paint and shoot the ball?
Tina Charles: It’s very different. There was a time that I lapsed and she was at the top of the key and was able to knock it down. I rarely ever play against a post presence of that size, that knocks down a three. So basically knowing my surroundings and knowing where she always is, putting my hand out and trying to move my feet.
Kelly, do you have a new approach offensively as far as being more aggressive. Talk about the way that you are shooting the ball.
Kelly Faris: Yeah, right now my shots are finally falling. So like Maya was saying, coach is always saying that if we get open don’t hesitate to shoot it. Right now, my shots are falling so I’m going to keep going at it. If they stop falling, I’m going to do something else to get it to someone else.
Maya, your margin of victory in the first three games is 148 points, which is a NCAA record for the first three games of the tournament. Does this constitute hitting your stride at the right time?
Maya Moore: I think so. We came into the post season, meaning the big east tournament, feeling we could play and shoot especially better. We had a little of a break after the tournament to rest and practice and I think that we built since then. We are extremely happy with where we are right now. It’s the perfect spot to be in. The shots are going in, the whole team is all getting the ball, everybody’s on the same page. We are trying to stay focused and continue this run that we have.
Maya, You sat out the final ten minutes of the first half. You ended up with an even bigger lead. Tell me, what does that say about your team?
Maya Moore: It’s great. It’s one of those things when you go to the locker room and you are giddy and excited because everyone is playing well, everyone’s involved getting assists, getting a steal, contributing somehow. A lot of people have confidence right now and it makes us feel great and gives us confidence to come in and just dominate. It’s nice to see my teammates do so well and to show everything that we work hard for.
Geno was talking about the defensive performance that you had tonight. Can you describe if there was a possession early on where you felt like you were forcing them to pull up on their shots, to make a bad pass, to give up on a passing lane. Was there any point early on where you thought we are right on with the defense right now?
Tina Charles: I remember there was a possession where we had to rotate over and I had to help the baseline. Someone else had to drop down. Maya had to rotate out and stop the three and we ended up with a steal. Just having plays like that gives us confidence in the tournament.
IOWA STATE POST GAME QUOTES
Iowa State Head Coach Bill Fennelly
Opening Statement
First of all, on behalf of our team and our university, I want to thank The University of Dayton for an amazing, amazing event. And thank you for the way you treated us and certainly thanks to the NCAA committee for allowing our players to live out a dream of playing in this tournament. Connecticut was certainly as good as advertised – I don’t think I’ve had a whipping like that since I was a little kid and broke something of my mom’s. But certainly a great team, I feel bad for our players that our season didn’t end with a little better overall performance. Overall, I think we’ll take away from this an amazing year. I’m very proud of our seniors, I’m very proud of our team. Unfortunately we didn’t give the kind of performance today that gave us a chance to beat arguably the best team I’ve ever seen. Thank you.
Elaborate on why you think UConn is the best team you’ve ever seen… Also give a preview of a potential semi-final matchup of Baylor and UConn.
First of all, I would say that they have talent at every position. They have length, they have size, they have skill sets and they play really hard. I think that’s the thing I’ve been trying to impress upon our kids is that they play hard every possession, it doesn’t matter what the score is. And I don’t know that I’ve seen a team like that combines an amazing skill set with preparation and effort. As far as their matchup with Baylor goes, obviously (Baylor center) Brittany Griner changes the game. They’re playing at a very high-level, but I’d be surprised if, from what I’ve seen, if Baylor can compete with them or any team. I think Baylor can compete with them, they’re physical enough and Brittany Griner is such an X-factor. It’s hard to know how to attack her. But with Connecticut’s skill set inside-outside, their depth, I just can’t see anyone beating them. Obviously I’m a Big 12 homer and I’m going to pray that someone does from the Big 12 and gets the opportunity, but if they continue to play the way they’re playing they’re going to be very hard to beat
What makes Connecticut’s defense so good?
I think they game plan really well. They know exactly how they want to play. They’re long at every position, on the perimeter. Their guards are taller and they anticipate well. They play the game one play ahead rather than one play behind. And then when you do get an open shot – and I thought early we had a couple looks – but that was the fear going in, was could we score? And when we had an open look we had to make it, and we certainly didn’t get a ton of them, but early when we did we didn’t finish and make some open looks. When you get the open shot, you have to make it. And they don’t foul, so it’s hard to get open looks and score. And when you don’t get to the free throw line, it’s the one spot they can’t guard, you don’t get there. I think their defense is underrated and certainly the way this tournament’s going – I think that probably changed the way they defended the first three games.
What kind of “X-factor” does Maya Moore provide?
I think it is the ultimate X-factor, because she is so talented and does so many things. Looking at video, her economy of motion, she does things so effortlessly. But it looks like she’ll do whatever she’s got to do to win a game. She had some good looks early, she made them and I think it’s a hard matchup because she can post you up and she moves around. Again, she has a very high IQ, she moves to spots that most people won’t move into to get the ball. But she’s extremely talented and physically strong and certainly in a long line of great Connecticut guards, has an amazing motor and competitive spirit that they seem to have unlike a lot of programs.
You started out in the zone defense, what was the gameplan?
Our game plan was to go out and guard them on the three-point line and not let them get off to a good start. Moore hit a really tough shot early, and when you’re late getting after a great player they’ll make them. So that was not the plan, but we wanted to extend our defense a little bit and use Anna’s length to make it a little bit tougher on Tina Charles. But she hit some looks early and when they’re making three’s and we’re not making anything, the score got a little out-of-hand early.
You’ve said this game won’t define the season. What does?
It’s all right here. The kind of people we have that attend our school and play basketball for Iowa State. This week was all about Connecticut, and that’s all everyone was talking about. They deserve it, but that doesn’t take anything away from our players. The chance to be in situation, I mean, there’s a lot of great teams in this country and to be one of only five to play in back-to-back Sweet 16’s is a great accomplishment. The accomplishments of our program, none of you will write about or get to see. It’s the kind of people I get to be around every day, the bad part about losing the last game is that I don’t get to see them in practice tomorrow. They’re a great group of young people and the challenges they’ve face all year, they’ve met them and I’m very, very proud of how they handled themselves.
On the Combo of Tina Charles and Maya Moore and potential matchup with Nebraska for the Huskies…
No. I have not seen anything like it or coached against it and I think we play in the best league in the country. But as far as the combination and the way they can dominate and take over the game on both ends of the floor… no I haven’t seen that. As far as Nebraska, Nebraska is going to come at Connecticut. They’re going to press everyone, they don’t care. They have the depth to play them, Kelsey Griffin is the kind of player that I think is in the conversation for national player of the year. It won’t be a game where if they played each other UConn would have the advantage as far as the aura of team.
On the maturation of UConn’s Tina Charles…
I think she came out of high school as one of the best players in the country, but now she’s stronger, she runs amazingly well rim-to-rim. She positions herself so well and again, the game almost looks easy. The term we use on our team is ‘economy of motion,’ and I think she has that.
Was there anything that Iowa State could have done to make the outcome of this game different?
Alison Lacey: “I think at times we could have competed harder and cleaned up the little things –we could have been more aggressive. If we had made a few more shots things would have been different. If we could get to the free-throw line, it may have changed. It was really just the little things.”
What does it feel like playing UConn; as they get off to that kind of start, what were you thinking out there?
Alison Lacey: “I was thinking compete. Do what I can do. No we weren’t scared. We were excited to play. We wanted to see how we would match-up against them. It really is exciting to play a team like that. They are the best team we have even seen and I’ve been watching them on TV for two years. To be able to go out there and play against them and see how we compete against them, it’s fun. I try to go out there and play hard, and embrace the opportunity. I know the scoreboard wasn’t pretty, but anytime I can play for Iowa State I’m going to have a good time.”
This is the third straight game that Connecticut has held their opponent to under 40 points. Can you talk about their defense?
Denae Stuckey: “Their defense is pretty aggressive. We just had to be fundamental and eliminate mistakes. The turnovers we had were due to not taking care of the ball. We best thing for us to do was keep our poise and take care of the ball.”
Could you give us an idea, from your experience, how you think UConn would match-up against Nebraska or Baylor, if it were to come to that down the road?
Alison Lacey: “It’s hard to say how any team is going to match-up. Both are great teams, obviously Brittney Griner from Baylor is going to have something to do with it, so it will be interesting to see how they match-up against UConn. And Nebraska is a great team as well. It is definitely something I would want to watch.”
You’re final game…you’ve both had great careers. Any thoughts on having an end right now
Denae Stuckey: “I’m just thankful to be able to play for a team like Iowa State. I got a lot out of it, and it’s probably one of the best things that has happened to me in my life. Thank you coach Fennelly.”
Alison Lacey: “Exactly the same as Denae…this is the best thing that has even happened to me. To move here has changed my life and the person I am. It’s been the best experience.”
Clay Buchholz started for the Red Sox and gave up four early runs, two of them off the bat of the $184 million man Joe Mauer. But he settled down after that, retiring the final eight batters he faced. He allowed four runs on five hits with no walks and recorded seven strikeouts.
Moore was on fire early on her way to 25 points to help the Huskies to a 74-36 win over the Cyclones in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Women’s Tournament in front of 5,825 and nationally-televised audience on ESPN.
