Quotes from No. 1 Connecticut vs. Pitt
1/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2010
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POST-GAME QUOTES
No. 1 Connecticut 98, Pitt 56
January 30, 2010 – Petersen Events Center
Quoting Pitt’s Head coach Agnus Berenato
Opening Statement…
“I think University of Connecticut is a good team. They are No. 1 for a reason and they are amazing to watch. They have fabulous shot selection and their athletes know when and where to take shots. We hung in there and were able to score some, but for UConn it was just another day. We learned a lot about our team today and we thought we could compete. It’s not every day you get to play the best team. I still think that on any given day any team can be another one and I thought today was going to be that day for Pitt. But, I’m proud of our team and we are going to continue to learn and prepare for our upcoming games. We played hard and now we are looking to prepare for Syracuse in the next two days.”
On the upcoming schedule…
“We take it one game at a time. We have talked about the next few games and the NCAA tournament at Pitt. We want to sell out the facility and be the first team to do so for the First and Second rounds of the tournament. We have nine games left and we don’t have to win them all. In the Big East if you win about 18 or 19 games you are in the tournament and we have 12 wins so we just need a few more. We are going back to the fundamentals of basketball and are working hard. Its important for us and the team knows it.”
On NCAA tournament...
“This is really important for us to be at home and we are really working hard to be in the tournament and play at home.”
On UConn’s high shooting percentage...
“I told the girls that one out of every two baskets would go in. They are fluid and they had wide open shots. There is a reason why they are 60-0. I tell the team to learn from them.”
On UConn’s flaws...
“What flaws? I’m most impressed with not their shooting percentage but with the chemistry they have between the players. It’s not a flaw, but one of their strengths.
Quoting Pitt’s Jania Sims
On losing to UConn...
“It doesn’t feel different losing to UConn. A loss is a loss and a win is a win. We learned a lot and we came out with intensity. We played hard, but still a loss is a loss and I don’t think it’s any different.”
On building off the first half...
“Everybody was aggressive in the first half. Everyone was focused on attacking the basket so I think that if we go into Syracuse with that mentality we started with UConn we will be good.”
Quoting Connecticut Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On if Tina Charles was the focal point of the offense in the first half...
“I think that’s probably why we scored a lot of points in the first half. We made a concerted effort to get her the ball. Every game we come out and try to establish ourselves in the lane. Today happened to be a day where she created a lot of one on one opportunities for herself. I don’t think that she was anymore of a focal point though, than in any other game.”
On striving for excellence...
“I think we will sit back and evaluate ourselves after the season is over. We don’t sit back and look at those things during the season. All of our players know our goals and know where we want our final destination to be. I think we did a lot of thing offensively today that were really good. We also did some things defensively that were really bad. Pitt exposed things in our defense that we will look at and will be able to get better at. Obviously we are a good team, we play really well together. There are things that we do see in practice that we will keep getting better at. Just because teams are losing to us like they are doesn’t mean that they are bad teams. Just because we are winning like we are doesn’t make us the best team, or the best team of all time. We are flawed just like any other team.”
On shooting over 60 percent in the first half...
“That’s the one big variable that you can’t control. Your defense, your rebounding, everything else is under your control. When the ball leaves your hand, that’s it, you can’t control if it will go in. We took great shots. We took care of the ball. If we shoot like that in the first half of every game, 60 percent from the floor, nobody will beat us. We weren’t in a hurry today. A lot of games this year, we’ve been in a hurry to try to score so quickly. Also, so many of our points have come in transition. A lot of our points today were from our half court offense. We were really good today. I thought that Tiffany Hayes was great today. She slowed down. We played at a much more comfortable pace. Our first half was as good as any of our first halves in a long time.”
On being on the verge of breaking the record for being number one for the longest amount of time in the AP Poll...
“All of these things that happen, they mean more at the end of the season than during the season. I think the test of a program and how good you are, is the test of longevity. How long can you do it? How long can you remain at that level of excellence? I think from about 1995 to today, nobody has done it better than we have done. We have six National Championships, and we weren’t just getting lucky in any of them. I think when it’s time for me to reflect, I will be most proud of that. The players come and go, the team’s change, the league changes. Everything changes, and we’ve still been able to continue our success. I’m most proud of that.”
Quoting UConn’s Kalana Green
On the game and how they continue to keep winning...
“In the second half, our defense was definitely better than it was in the first half. I thought offensively, we played great. The big thing coming into the game for us was rebounding. They didn’t get many second chance shots.”
On the play of Tina Charles...
“She’s a good player. She works on her game so much. I’ve seen how hard she has worked over the last four years. She demands the ball. She’s a player that if we know we get the ball to, something good will happen. She wants to do well. I’m not surprised by her and what she’s done. She has worked hard to be a player that everyone in the nation knows about and that will be talked about when people talk about UConn basketball for years to come.”
On how the players stay motivated for each game...
“We constantly want to get better. We are never satisfied. We break down each game after it’s over and see what we did wrong. We keep striving to be perfect.”