Postgame Quotes
1/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2009
Head Coach Terri Mitchell
Opening Statement
"This is an extremely important win because it's a new opportunity for all of us to learn from our mistakes from the past and start our 2009 on the right note and protect our home court. South Florida was playing fantastic basketball, leading the nation in scoring, and we talked for two days in practice about how it all starts on defense, and being able to slow them down with our athleticism. We handled their press. For a team who normally causes 28 turnovers, we only had 13. To sum it all up, it's focus. It's focus and fundamentals, and that's what we're going to preach for the next two months. It's not going to change. It's nice to win, but we get back to basics all next week, becoming better basketball players."
On rebounding...
"At every media timeout, we kept talking about rebounding. I think this team just likes the small goals. Each media (timeout) you give them something to think about, and rebounding was huge. USF averages 20 offensive boards a game, but we did our part on the boards as well. We had some big ones when it was critical, and it's just one game at a time, one possession at a time. We try to keep it simple. Some of our losses are because of ourselves so you're going to hear it from me over and over-if we get beat, it's one thing, but we will no longer beat ourselves. Why? Because we're going to be a fundamentally-sound team. We're going to work together, and really, you can't say enough about Angel's spirt, and her and Tati's attitude. We talk about what motivates you to play, and we say go show everybody out there. We want to play an exciting game of basketball so fans want to continue staying watching us for the rest of the season."
On the first BIG EAST win...
"Women's basketball at Marquette has always been that we learn a great lesson in the non-conference. We will break it down to the basic elements and figure out why we won and why we lost. We will take that focus into conference. I think that's why we start well. We say we need to bury '08. Learn from it, but bury it. It does us no good to think about it. You move on fresh, and I think there's something we all get excited about when we start BIG EAST play-it's about new life, new level. It's about raising your expectations and just being expectant that great things are going to happen, but that comes with hard work. We can be expectant because we're working hard. I'm really excited for this team. We have a week to get ready for Seton Hall who played Notre Dame close and are always difficult at home. We just have to be very focused."
Sophomore guard Angel Robinson
On her double double performance today...
"I was hungry to play. We had a loss a few days ago, and as a team we made it a focus that we were not going to let anybody come into our house and do things to us without us pushing back. All the excitement from my teammates got me pumped up. We just never lost focus and stuck to the game plan and shut down their top two scorers, and that made me hungry and made me play better."
On her 10 rebounds...
"Rebounding is always a key goal in any game that we play, and we know that the losses we've had, we've gotten out-rebounded. It's all about heart. We all had heart tonight, and the score showed that."
On the first BIG EAST win...
"It's a new year, and that's what we focus on. We let the past go, and we're ready for BIG EAST play, and we're getting ready for the next teams."
