University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt vs. Villanova Quotes
2/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2007
Coach Agnus Berenato
On the game tonight:
"The University of Pittsburgh team played exceptional tonight."
"I think our scout and our scout team did a great job of running their [Villanova's] sets in practice. We were very prepared for what they were going to run against us. Villanova's offense is very difficult and you can get very confused when trying to defend it."
"I'm very excited about our school record [for fewest turnovers]. We only had three turnovers the entire game and that is really remarkable considering we were trying to rebound and run the entire game. When you are constantly attacking it's hard not to commit turnovers and I really think our team handled themselves well tonight."
On Shavonte Zellous' performance:
"I was really proud of Shavonte's performance tonight, especially with her turnover stats. I know she's going to be looking at her points, but she didn't have any turnovers tonight. I still think she needs to be more aggressive offensively, but she'll be fine."
On the importance of beating teams that they are supposed to:
"Villanova is still a great program, not just a great team and that's what we're trying to do here [at Pitt]. This is a team [Villanova] that was in the Elite 8 a few years ago. They graduated a lot of seniors, so it's tough for them [Villanova] because they're trying to rebuild. Some of the top teams in the country like Duke and Tennessee, they just reload, but the rest of us have to rebuild. We're [Pitt] just trying to build, not rebuild, right now."
On the pressure of getting to 20 wins:
"There's no less pressure now that we have 18 wins. We're all still under a lot of pressure. We take great pride in this win, but it's over and we have to look ahead to South Florida now. We're not going to be complacent with 18 wins; we're not going to be complacent with 20 wins. We're going to take it one game at a time. Our goal is to get to the Big East tournament and the NCAA tournament and play here on our home court on March 18 and 20."
On playing South Florida on the road:
"I really haven't thought about South Florida yet, I've been too worried about Villanova."
"It's going to be a different game down there. The first time we played them here, we played great. We really kicked it up defensively. I think we're going down there with some confidence, especially on the defensive end. Our defense created 14 points off turnovers in the first half tonight and that was about how much we were up by at halftime. It's going to be a big game against South Florida, but we'll be ready."
On South Florida:
"It's going to be a dog fight against South Florida. We're really going to have to bring our "A" game."
On trying to get to 20 wins:
"You think about it a little bit, but then you realize the task at hand. Villanova was number 18, we are looking to South Florida to be number 19 and then we'll come back home to get number 20."
On how the South Florida rivalry came about:
"It's probably because we play them [South Florida] two times a year and we know each other so well. They also play a real tough man-to-man defense. It's going to be a real dog fight."
