Pitt vs. DePaul Quotes
2/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2007
Opening statement:
"DePaul is a great team. I think we were well prepared for everything they showed us today. They have a phenomenal transition game and they are tremendous three-point shooters. They are third in the nation in three-point shooting. We knew in order to win this game we had to slow them down and we made a great halftime adjustment. We went to a full-court press and that really cut the game down. In the first half, it seemed like we were the ones working the shot clock down on our possessions and they were getting their shots off early, allowing them to have more and more possessions. Jania [Sims] played a great game. I think she was really close to a triple-double. Danielle [Taylor] also had a great performance today and I thought it was great at the end of the game where she said that this wouldn't be her last home game on this floor. Shavonte [Zellous] was very passive today, but once she started attacking she took over and she had fun. When she's attacking and having fun she can be creative and make opportunities for herself using her athleticism. This was a great win, not for the team, but for the program. DePaul is an example of a model program and it was great to get this win today."
On stopping Allie Quigley:
"Yeah, we talked about it at halftime. She's a great shooter, that's no secret, but I think we were confused as to why we wanted to make her look good on our home court. You can't shut down everybody, so we just tried to make sure that someone was on her around the perimeter. There were a few times where she got behind our press and when you're dealing with a great shooter like Quigley, they'll get her the ball and she'll get the quick three."
On the importance of this win:
"They all are important. Personally, I think that we all felt pressure. This was a big game; a program game. If we lose today, I would have been fine, the Pitt women's basketball team would have been fine. We're resilient and we know where we're going. It's the supporting cast, the people around the program who would wonder what just happened after losing three straight. But we got 21. Wow, we got twenty-one and with our RPI and strength of schedule, I think that's a pretty good number to be at. Now we have an opportunity to get 22. We got our chemistry back today and really attacked out there. Marcedes [Walker] had a great two and one play and she came over and gave Shavonte [Zellous] a chest bump and they were really fired up. We can go into Georgetown with a little pep in our step, but it will be a tough game for us. We always have a hard time with them, but for the minute we're just going to celebrate this victory."
On the play of the freshmen:
"They were tremendous. I think they were just waiting to bust out. Jania dominated as a rebounder. We made a decision to put two of our guards back on every possession so she was our rebounder and she did a great job. Ashleigh's rebound in the second half was huge because, at the time, it was only a one possession game. They're all learning and I think that this is the time of year when they need to step up. Good teams get ready to play in February.
Pitt senior Danielle Taylor:
On her leadership role:
"I'm really hard on myself. If you saw the last play of the first half there was a miscommunication on my part and that was really tough for me. Whether we're winning or losing, we always write our keys to winning the game on the board at halftime. The number one priority on the board today was to stop #14, Allie Quigley."
On Pitt's resurgence:
"I've been 'nowhere'. In my freshman year we only won six games, but even then I knew we would be good. We had great coaches that could find talented girls and it's so great to be a part of this program right now."
Pitt freshman Ashleigh Braxton
On her three-pointers:
"I didn't feel any pressure because my teammates are always encouraging me to shoot the ball. Even when I miss my first one, Tae [Shavonte Zellous] is always tells me to keep shooting. After those first two went in, I got a lot more confident and it was really a big energy boost."
On Pitt's resurgence:
"We're all just playing to get to the NCAA tournament, but it's good to come from where we were and to be on verge of becoming a great program."
DePaul head coach Doug Bruno
Opening statement:
"We [DePaul] came out ready to play today. I was very impressed with our performance in the first half and the way we were playing. The second half was another story. We were in a hurry. We got some of our shots off the way that we wanted to, but a lot of them weren't easy. Pitt's defense was good throughout the game and especially strong in the second half. The execution of our offense broke down and our defense wasn't as good in the second half. The Pitt players brought a lot of intensity to the game after halftime, in particular Marcedes Walker. She was a hard match up for us. You just can't stop her."
On what changed in DePaul's play in the second half:
"Pitt started to pick up their intensity in the second half with a half court pressure. They also picked up their intensity with their man-to-man defense. We kept trying to get opportunities to score without forcing anything or forcing our shots, but I felt like that's what we were doing, forcing our shots. There's a fine line between being aggressive and attacking and being too aggressive and over-attacking. If you start to throw up shots that aren't good, you can work yourself into a tough position like we did today."
On how far Pitt will go in the Big East tournament:
"They [Pitt] really have the talent to be a force in the [Big East] tournament. So much depends on the match ups, though. This league is a good, strong league. No one wants to match up with UConn, but be careful what you wish for. Rutgers is a very talented team as well. They just beat Notre Dame today. So it's hard to handicap this tournament. I can tell you this, though, this Pittsburgh team has earned its way into the NCAA tournament, there's no doubt about that. And to take the initiative to host [the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament], that's a big deal. It's a lot of hard work behinds the scenes that starts the year before. We did it last year, so we know exactly what goes into this. It's a huge role to play. I really hope the city of Pittsburgh comes out and supports their team here."
On DePaul's play today:
"It was tough to go out there and get defeated, but it was nice to bring back the style of play that we're used to. What you saw in the first half is how we're used to playing and where we've been trying to get back to over the past six or eight games. We want to go out and get good numbers and look the way we did in the first half of today's game, but we have to score. We have to keep scoring."
