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University of Houston Athletics
Cougars Hold 2015-16 Media Day
10/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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-- The University of Houston Women's Basketball team held their annual Media Day event Tuesday inside of Carl Lewis Auditorium. Head Coach Ronald Hughey took questions from local and national media before senior student-athletes Marche' Amerson, Jessieka Palmer and Alecia Smith spoke to reporters.
"It's always fun to meet with the writers and reporters that cover us on a daily basis." Hughey said. "We are honored that they spend their time telling the story of our program, and we hope to give them lots of victories to talk about this season."
Houston's 2015-16 season begins Sunday, Nov. 8, with a 2 p.m. CT exhibition against Texas A&M-International. The regular season opens on Friday, Nov. 13, at College of Charleston, and the first regular season home game is booked for Thursday, Nov. 19, against Long Beach State.
The 2015-16 American slate begins Wednesday, Dec. 30, when Houston travels to Tulane. The Cougars will host nine American opponents, highlighted by a showdown with three-time defending national champion UConn on Friday, Jan. 8. The game tips at 8 p.m. CT and will be televised nationally on ESPN2. | FULL SCHEDULE COACH HUGHEY'S MEDIA DAY QUOTES
Opening Statement
"I'm happy to be here. I'll just open up with how practice is going, how the newcomers are looking and a little about expectations for this year. We are eight days into practice and have only had one bad day. That's really refreshing. That bad day was still very good, we just didn't have our focus. Because we demand excellence and the standard has been set so we're not relinquishing that any day. All of the other days is great energy, great focus and a relentless attitude. That is what we are looking for every day. We had a captain's breakfast this morning where we elected captains. Marche' (Amerson), Jessieka (Palmer) and Alecia (Smith) were named captains along with Mariah (Mitchell) as a co-captain. They've been doing a great job with team leadership. There has been a lot of extra team bonding off the floor, which has been vital for us in changing the culture of what we're building here. That culture is about being on time, having pride in every single thing that you do, caring more for your teammate and putting them before yourself, being the best you can in the classroom, not missing any tutors, not settling on anything that we do. That culture is strongly growing every day and I'm proud to say these Houston Cougars are really getting after it. We're really looking forward to this 2015-16 season."
On the growth the team has experienced this offseason
"The first thing is that we're really hungry and thirsty. That is through recruiting, through summer workouts, through rewinding all of the disappointments that we had from last year. We're not afraid to show them that, because before you can move forward, you have to know what happened in the past. And so we really look forward to getting the chance to get out on the floor. We're just really excited about that. So when we get out there, we don't have to remind them of anything that happened last year. They already know. Especially with the senior captains, and some of the others who were here, taking some accountability and letting the new comers know how hard it is in conference. Every day you have to bring 120 percent, and that is in your attitude, your effort and your determination. Your dedication is every day, and we don't have to remind them of any of that. That is why our practices have been really, really aggressive, really, really grueling, and really, really insightful with them. Something Rob (Walden) and I have been trying to do every day is put something out on Instagram or Twitter about how practice is going, because I want them to know exactly what I think about it every day. We're really moving forward in a great direction."
On the newcomers he's added to the team
"Having Jacqueline Blake who is 6'2'', and who was a double-digit rebounder in junior college last year and is already doing those things for us, and can shoot a three ball and stretch the defense is really exciting. I feel like Coach Sampson, when you have someone long and tall out there that can shoot. Dionna Collins is a point guard, who is shifty with the ball, a dead range three-point shooter, plus has the craftiness to be able to thread the needle when she needs too. Kierra Graves' motor does not stop. She's 100 miles an hour all day long, the entire practice. I tell everyone, every day: she's the standard when we talk about playing fast and moving up and down the floor. She attacks the basket like no other. Those scorers who averaged more than 20 points a game in junior college last year and were All-Americans coming out last year are going to make a great difference, along with the players that we have returning."
On the way the University has embraced his program
"It's been tremendous. The development center has really taken off, and the thing that made it so great is that there only needed to be the shell and a commitment for all of the young ladies to see, and then they were ready to come. So it hasn't been super hard for us. Once we got the shell up, and we started to bring people and they started to see and we show them the vision and talk about that vision, they were on board. We have five young ladies who have committed right now who are projected to be a great class. The staff worked their tails off to make sure that happened. Because we had to beat out some Big 12, SEC, PAC 12 and those kind of schools to get these young ladies. Like I said a long time ago, we no longer have to beg. It's not happening anymore. Our standards have been raised across the board. So with the university making that commitment is tremendous for us."
On his vision for the season and the future of the program
"I was just telling the girls: we work with successes and failures every day. Every day you are working with success and failures, meaning if you make a hard pass to someone, that is success. It makes it there and you did what you were supposed to do. You make a soft pass that does not get there, and that is a failure. You make a hard cut or a hard screen, and that is success. You make a soft cut and do not get there, and that is a failure. So our standard of where we are going, our vision, is to make every single day a success. We have that standard in our conference with UConn. I can always refer back to them. If I want to go so hard and tick them off, I say `UConn, UConn, UConn' 200 times at practice. So they will understand that UConn has set the standard, and they reach that standard almost every single year. We are climbing, and our vision is that. That is our vision and we are going to surpass that. It might not happen now. We are going to be competitive this year but years down the road with the classes we are getting, we are going to compete with everybody. A national championship is not out of the question with the University of Houston."
On the way the entire athletics department is taking over the city of Houston
"It is the commitment from the university. It is the Astros, the Rockets, and the Texans. It is our football team getting big recruits and being 5-0. It is all of it. That excitement is here. It is really cool when you have so many things to talk about with the recruits. First, it is them talking to someone in a rural area that is not up to the standards of the kids here. Because the kids here are used to so many things. We can always bring those things up to remind them of how great they are and how fortunate they are to be in a place where you have so many options. To be able to enjoy yourself, on top of being better at basketball and in life. Those things have been tremendous for us. On top of that, the things that we are doing in recruiting are pretty unique as well. Football has set the standard on their end. We set the standard on our end and we kind of merge the two with all of our mail-out stuff and all our recruiting calls. Even with men's basketball, it is kind of a collaboration effort of things to make the best product overall. The #HTownTakeover and #ChasingGreatness together has been tremendous for us."
How he separates himself from the others when recruiting
"Some of the video presentations we do are really different. We do our homework on all our athletes and everyone we are recruiting. We will take five or six games. We will break that down and edit it, and we tell them the truth. We show them `you think you're shooting a three ball but you're shooting at 23 percent, and this is why you're shooting at 23 percent.' We show them `you think your ball handling is here but it's not there.' We show them when they are not running the floor hard. We show them all the things that are good and bad about their game. Then, we turn it around and show them how they would fit in our system. So if we're recruiting a point guard who is not great coming off a ball screen, we'll bring her in and show her that. And she'll have to make the decision and we'll have to make the decision and say that we run a lot of ball screens. Maybe we're not putting her in the right situation to be successful. So we recruit kids for the system, for their character and for their high motor. You have to be able to go, because we get up and down the floor. We want to try to have 80 to 90 possessions a game. People hear that and are like, `wow, do they really think they can do that?' We think we can do that and more. But we do those things in recruiting, those presentations and when they get on campus, they get a different feel. They get a feel from our administration that it is here to stay. Where we are taking the program is on the rise. When they get the chance to sit down with Ms. [DeJuena] Chizer and Hunter [Yurachek] and everyone that is involved, it is a different feel, because some places they go they do not get the chance to talk to those people. They do not get a chance to meet the football coach. They do not get a chance to meet the men's basketball coach, Coach Sampson. We try to offer all of those things plus some."
On the leadership Jessieka Palmer is going to bring to the team this season
"Jessieka [Palmer] has been tremendous and all about team bonding. She has a great heart and a great attitude. It is a funny story. We have sacrifices; everyone has a sacrifice. Mine is chocolate chip cookies. I could eat two or three bags a day. We sat around and talked about sacrifices. Jessieka loves social media and everything about it. And I asked her how great she wanted to be, and what she wanted for this year, what she wanted for herself. She told me all those things and I told her she had to sacrifice something that is great for you, something that you love. Something that is a distraction that is going to take your time away from where you want to take your game. She thought about it and thought about it. She came back and she said `Coach, I think I want to give up social media.' I was like `whoa.' That's hard. So she said if I do that then you have to do your chocolate chip cookies. And I was like `whoa.' That is a kid that wants to step out and be the best that she can be, work her tail off all summer, just like the rest of them. So why can't I sacrifice my chocolate chip cookies if she is sacrificing her social media? And it started from there. She's put in tremendous time and tremendous effort on building her brand. We talk about that every day. You can't say one thing and do another. And she's balancing that out right now, but she's on the up end of that. She's a kid that's going to play multiple positions for us. She's got to be able to stretch the floor for us this year, better than she did with the three ball. She worked on 500 shots a day for five days a week this summer. The whole team did. She's got to get a better motor, meaning a little faster and a little quicker, think a little quicker, rebound a little more, and play for a cause every game. When there was a cause, say it was her best friend's birthday, she was 20 and 10. This is a cause. When there wasn't a cause she was 13 and 7. We have to get her playing for a cause every time, and I think she has that right now. She's going to be tremendous for us this year."
 | $50 SHASTA PASS NOW AVAILABLE |
The Houston Fan Experience Headquarters is proud to offer the Shasta Pass for the 2015-16 athletic season. For only $50, Cougar fans can purchase one Shasta Pass, which allows season-long general admission entrance to all Houston Women's Basketball, Volleyball, Soccer and Softball home games.
The Shasta Pass offers Houston fans a substantial savings as single-game tickets start at $8 for all four sports. Fans can save $126 alone during the Houston Volleyball and Soccer seasons. To purchase a Shasta Pass, CLICK HERE.
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