University of Houston Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: Houston 79, Texas Tech 75
12/3/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
TEXAS TECH (3-4) at HOUSTON COUGARS (7-2)
Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017 • Health & PE Arena • Houston
HOUSTON HEAD COACH Ronald Hughey
Opening Statement:
"First thing, I would like to say to Candi and Texas Tech that they had a really good game plan and we all saw it. They wanted to use their size, they wanted to go inside, they wanted to control us on the press and for about 30 minutes of the game they were able to do that. Those 10 minutes that we were able to 'unleash the beast' as we say. The defensive effort that we applied worked and we prevailed. Hats off to them and good luck to them the rest of the way."
On how the team is continuing to progress this season
"When we started working with ZZ Gore, our new strength coach, they came in with a nice focus for the first summer session and were all on board. They started to bond together and we didn't have any issues whatsoever. Even when we went out in July, I came back and we celebrated by going to Breakfast Club. We took a picture outside and I told them how much I love them. Their level of maturity rose to the occasion, their bodies physically got better, they mentally got better and I knew if we continued to bring the kind of excitement they like, we would be able to take the next step. That's what we've been doing right now and that's what is credited to them. They took that same energy that we played with in games and brought it to practice."
HOUSTON SOPHOMORE FORWARD Dorian Branch
On the difference coming into this season
"My coach tells me to stay in the game, continue to shoot even when the shots aren't going down, and stay confident. After seeing a few shots go in I kept shooting it."
On the team "unleashing the beast"
"That is what we did in the fourth quarter. We came in after the third quarter and talked. Coach said, 'this is our quarter'. We had it in our hands, we executed and won the game."
On playing at TSU
"It felt the same, because this is our new home this year. It felt like we were at UH. We came in this morning for shoot around and everyone's shots were looking good. We felt confident coming into the game and that was the difference"
On team Record
"I'm not surprised at all, we came into the summer, set our goals for the season and now we're just achieving them and proving everyone wrong."
