University of Houston Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: UConn 76, Houston 37
1/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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HOUSTON HEAD COACH Ronald Hughey
On the lead after the first quarter
"I told them 'Hey we're up!' That was the first thing. With a young team and seniors who didn't get to play a lot as freshman and sophomores you have to celebrate all of the small moments, so that momentum could carry us into the next quarter. We wanted to continue to control tempo and make them think about what we were trying to execute. I don't think they could guard our middle ball screen, so that's why they kept going into a zone."
On what happened in the second-half
"We were not making shots, and they make shots. That's the thing about it, they have McDonald's All-Americans and USA basketball players, so at the end of the day a good offense can beat a good defense sometimes. We contested the three, but again they were better offensive players."
HOUSTON FORWARD Tyler Gilbert
On the game tonight
"I knew coming into this game we were playing a really great team. In games like this, the main idea is to keep your composure and play through mistakes. You are going to miss shots, but you have to forget about it and take the next shot. That was my mindset throughout the game."
On keeping up with UConn during first quarter
"The main thing going through my head was that we needed to play defense. With a team like UConn, you could be score and have a good game but at the end of the night it's about how you play defense. You have to get stops because when you are going toe-to-toe with UConn, they're definitely going to start playing their offensive game."
On block against UConn
"I haven't gotten as many blocks as I had last season, so it felt good to get one in especially against UConn."
On the positives from the game
"First thing, we were the only team in the league to lead them after the first quarter, and they are the number one team in the country. They had played Notre Dame; they have played everybody. That's the first thing we celebrated. Second thing, we led them in offensive rebounds in that first half. We were only the first or second team to do that as well. That was their lowest halftime total. That's another thing we celebrated. So with those things we will be able to move forward and will be able to make us more confident in what we do. We can play better man-to-man, especially against people that don't have as much skill as they do. We have to bottle that up and continue to bring that confidence that we've displayed, and bring it on to the next practice and to the next game."
On UConn's game play
"It's a testament to who they are. They're not the number one team in the country for nothing. They're not the three-time national champions for nothing. They know how to get through and play through spurts. We had opportunities and we didn't capitalize on them. Then they went down and capitalized on our mistakes.
They are a great team that has great pieces. When you can sit Breanna Stewart and bring in a (Katie Lou) Samuelson, it's just a luxury that he has right now and it's a testament to the hard work and dedication he has put into his program. Having conversations with him [Auriemma], he complemented our team and our game plan like crazy. He said we kind of exposed him and we laughed about that, but I'm proud of our guys for just sticking and hanging in there.
On Houston's game play
We talked about holding our composure, controlling the tempo, and about two (people) getting back in transition. In the third quarter we had a few live-ball turnovers that we didn't have in the first half, which allowed them on stretches to get easy baskets. So we never had an opportunity to set our transition defense, because we turned the ball over. Those kind of things we'll continue to work on.
This was Chyanne Butler's sixth game game back. She got in early foul trouble, and we had a chance to get her back in there. We were down a man, and we still stepped up and played. That's what it's about, next man up and having the opportunity to take pride and enthusiasm in what we stand for. That is what the culture of our program is, chasing greatness. That in itself says a lot. It's the epitome of that fight, that determination. It's Tyler Gilbert saying coach I can go; I don't need to go out; I'm getting a second wind right now. I'm asking Tyler can you go, because transition got up and down and she said I'm good. We needed that."
On the lessons to take into the next game
We have to learn to step up and come to the challenge more. We need more people to come off the bench and to be able to contribute. We also have to be able to not have those stretches where we can't score, have opportunities where we can score it, or get to the free-throw line. That's the other thing we wanted to do tonight, just drive it downhill and force them to make a decision to block us or foul us and get to the free-throw line. We had a goal of getting there at least 15 to 20 times, and we were 6-of-7 (from free-throw line). We didn't get there enough."
UCONN HEAD COACH GENO AURIEMMA
Opening Statement
"There is no substitute for making shots. That is the perception out there, that we are such a good offensive team that every time that we shoot the ball it is going in. The reality of the situation is that it is not going to happen every night; some nights you are just not going to make shots and you have to do other things. I was happy with the way that group responded that was together for a long time. That 33-2 run was without [Breanna] Stewart on the floor, that is a good sign to be able to do that without Stewart and [Morgan] Tuck on the court. I saw some really good things from that group."
On UConn's game play
"They used what they had to their advantages. They used their length and we kept them out of the lane. The objective that they had going in was to put the ball on the floor and get into the lane. Going zone really helped us, keeping the ball out of the lane really helped us, and because we rebound more in that situation we were able to get out in transition more. When you are not making jump shots you have to find other ways to score. They played together. They played really well together. It looked like a real cohesive unit out there. I was happy. I saw a lot of good from that club."
On forward Tyler Gilbert's big night
"Coming into the game I didn't know she was having those kinds of numbers, 16 points - 8 rebounds; but our players knew this. They know that no matter how people play against anybody else the rest of the year they are going to play differently against us; and our players know that. It is not that we are surprised when players have their career games against us. It has happened to us in every game this year it seems like. She played real hard, she worked hard and she got what she deserved; she played a great game.
On 15-0 run to end the first half
"Things start defensively, so when you are getting stops at one end you have an opportunity to get easier shots at the other end. That is what we pride ourselves on, we pride ourselves on our defense, and we if we keep getting stops, then eventually the shots are going to go down on the other end. Going on a little bit of a run made everyone just take a deep breath and say 'yeah they will go in.' If you are not careful then you will start to think that there is a lid on the basket and it is not going to go in. That run put everybody at ease."
On Moriah Jefferson's first game back from injury
"Obviously she was a little rusty, a little tentative, it seemed liked she wasn't really getting some spots like she normally gets, and I can understand that. She was probably a little tentative mentally and not wanting to push it her first game back. I tried to go with gut feelings and leave it up to her, and she came up to me at one point and said that she was good to go because I wanted to rest her a little bit longer, so I put her back in. Then the coaching staff would say 'hey it's time to get around.' There wasn't a definitive amount of time, but if I thought she didn't look comfortable then I wouldn't have played her as much as we did. I didn't want her going into Sunday not feeling like she wasn't good to go."
On the health of forward Morgan Tuck
"When we came over here to shoot around, she started warming up and going around, and she went over to Rosemary and said it doesn't feel good. We said that we would give her a little bit more time to get loose, and then a couple more times walking through stuff and jogging, but she said it doesn't feel good. So we said why make it worse. Let's take some precautions and not do it.
Tomorrow she could wake up and feel great. We had a conversation with her on the plane down here, and I said 'Morgan, do you ever know when it is coming,' and she said 'No. I will wake up in the morning, go to practice, and I won't even know it, then the next day I will walk to class and it hurts.' It is just one of those weird things.
That is the one thing that we talked about. With all the things that she has been fighting through it always seems to show up at game time. It's a long season and you just want everybody to be healthy, good, and 100 percent come the end of March."
On Sunday's game against South Florida
"Obviously we are playing a really good team that is starting to play really well again. They play great, they had a little bit of a stretch where they were down, but they are playing great again. Playing down there is never easy. They have a lot of experience back from a team that had a lot of success last year. Courtney Williams might be as difficult a player to guard as there is in the country. We know that we have our hands full on Sunday.'
