Postgame Quotes
12/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2008
MILWAUKEE -
Senior guard Krystal Ellis
On her second-half scoring...
"My teammates started finding me, and that really helped. They set screens for me to get open, and they always find the hot shooter in the second half. They realized I was the hot shooter, and I think that made the difference in the second half."
On the team's mentality change in the second half...
"We prepared for them (Kansas) to be aggressive all week. We knew we had to rip through and meet our passes because we knew what kind of team they were. Coach told us what we needed to do on offense and on defense, and that's what we came out and did."
On tying her Al McGuire Center scoring record...
"It feels good. I wish I could have made another free throw. I'm going to work on my free throws tomorrow actually."
Head coach Terri Mitchell
On her team's performance today...
"I think what we're learning early on in the season is that there are two halves to every game. What we learned from the tournament - when we were up and lost games in the end - and what we learned at Northwestern that when you're down, you have to fight hard and with focus. I'm so proud of Krystal. I am proud of the way she played, but on the other side of that, I'm proud of the team recognizing that she was the hot shooter - setting her the screens, getting her the ball - and that's what we constantly talk about as a team effort. Look at Jasmine Collins. She's been thrown into the fire. She's never played 20 minutes, and she played 20 minutes against one of the best teams out there who is having a fantastic season. It all comes down to our defense. They averaged 80-some points a game, and to hold them to 57 is a big deal. Obviously, we have all the respect in the world for Danielle McCray and what she does, and I think our team made her a complete focus and were able to stop her the best we could."
On the team's mentality today...
"Our mentality when we step on the court is what can I do to make everyone better. Krystal is a scorer and yet she's played plenty games this year where she has distributed, but today was her game. We just kept calling her number. We'd go away from it and then call her back. The team was getting excited to get her set up. She made some amazing shots and she was in the zone. We are fighting right now. The experience Georgie is getting as a freshman and Jasmine Collins is getting is going to help us down the line. When you lose your starting four and five at a critical time early in the year, people don't understand the emotional fatigue that had on us. To play four games in five days and now to turn around and play another game today, we are learning lessons that are going to help us down the line. Lessons that the team doesn't even realize, but we realize as coaches. Making them (Kansas) turn the ball over 28 times and changing our defense as much as we did takes focus. I was a little concerned before finals where the focus would be and they did great. Now they can knock those finals out this week.
About the play of freshman center Georgie Jones...
"We asked Georgie to be in the paint, to change shots, to play off people, and to help. She did those things. The times she was out of her rhythms she recovered quickly. Jasmine Collins and Marissa stepped up. Right now its like post by committee. When Paige got in her foul trouble, you can't take a step back. You just have to step forward. We weren't the biggest team out there, but do we make them change or do we change? We decided to go with four guards and try to be fast and it worked for us.
About the comeback in the opening minutes of the second half...
"I said the same thing I said at Northwestern. The first four minutes is when you go out there cut the lead. We give goals. Our team responds to goals. The second half is 20 minutes. All I wanted to see is their effort. Our goal was to cut it in half within the first four minutes and we did more than that. Anything after that was gravy and because we did that I think our team completely changed, generated by our defense. It's kind of a common theme right now."
