University of Connecticut Athletics
Connecticut 93, Iona 74
12/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 27, 2009
Recap | Box Score | AP Photo Gallery 
Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun
"I asked the players to play hard today right from the get-go, and I think we did."
"When a team pressures you, I think it's good for us...That helped us get going, as much as anything else."
"Defensively, in the first half, we were good. Second half, when we got a 17, 18 point lead, we played the scoreboard.... We're going to have to play tighter defense. We can't allow the penetration down the lane. "
"Overall, it was a good offensive game for us. I thought the one thing we did really well - and some of it had to do with pressure and some of it had to with from being pressed - is get the ball up the sidelines. Jerome and Sticks got us going on that by throwing the ball ahead, which allows our fast break to go much better."
"I think they felt much more offensively liberated to make plays. It makes the game, for them, a lot less stressful and a lot better, because we practiced a lot of that."
"There are guys I want to have better games. Yes, I don't want the penetration by the guards. I want to handle the pick and roll better, but we'll get down to that."
"We're a team that's been struggling to score recently, struggling to get to 45 (percent). Today, we got to almost 60."
On Stanley Robinson "He makes everything now into a pretty good shot, because he bumps you, squares, gets his shoulders to the basket, and then makes a good shot. I really would love for some of our bigger guys to have some of those same types of things....Stanley makes the game look easy. And when a guy makes the game look easy, that means there's a lot more there that he can do."
On Ater Majok "Ater's making a difference in the middle. He walled up four times and blocked three shots, so that's seven shots they didn't shoot easy over him."
On Jerome Dyson "Jerome got us going early."
On Jamaal Coombs-McDaniel "He has fought his way back. He passes the ball very well, his defense is starting to improve and he obviously can shoot the basketball, which is something we really need."
Stanley Robinson On his play today: "I think I like playing better when my family is here. I had a cool 29 points though. I feel like it is not my best effort right now but that I'm doing a good job now on the court."
On team coming together: "I feel like it is going to take a little time for us to get together and start playing basketball. It is coming together though, we are not at our best right now, we are not great, but hopefully by the time the tournament starts we should be great, and everything should be together."
Gavin Edwards On teaching the younger players about the BIG EAST games coming up: "It is a lot more physical than pretty much any game we've played in so far. There are a lot of smaller things they don't know about yet, like going into someone else's house with their fans screaming...they really haven't played in a situation like that yet so it will be good for us to tell them about the ins and outs of the BIG EAST."
Kemba Walker On if they are ready for BIG EAST play: " I think going into the BIG EAST season we'll do really good. We just have to play hard every night, just play hard with a lot of enthusiasm and just have fun out there. When we are having fun and we are playing hard and smiling on the court we are at our best."
On his diving steal even with a big lead: "Just play hard to the end, that's what we are and that's how we are going to win games. We have to continue to play hard and make little plays like that. When I got that steal everyone got excited. That wakes your team up, you have to continue to make little plays like that."
Jerome Dyson On running the floor: "We ran the floor well. We were able to get the ball out of bounds quick and get back up the floor as fast as they came down."
On if they are ready for Cincinnati: "Definitely...as long as we do the things we are capable of doing...and that is running the floor as well as we do, out rebounding teams, and playing defense by keeping people out of the middle...everything else should fall into place."
On chemistry of the team: "Everyone on the team really gets along great. We have good chemistry on and off the floor. We joke around and when you see one of us there is a good chance that you'll see three, four or five of us."
Iona Head Coach Kevin Willard
"One's a Big East team, one's MAAC team. That's the big difference."
"UConn is terrific.... That was the best that I've seem them on film so far, and they looked great."
"I was surprised that we scored as much as we scored, considering their size and their length. And we actually missed a lot of easy shots that we usually make. But we just couldn't stop them in transition. They were terrific."
"I thought Dyson, Walker and Robinson were terrific. If they play like that every game, they're going to be tough to beat."
"We got to the free throw line against Providence. We weren't able to get to the free throw line against UConn. They did a good job of containing our penetration early, and then we just could never get into the bonus. It's tough when a team shoots 35 free throws and you shoot 10. You have no chance. Road, home, neutral, Mars."
"You have to make sure you take good shots every time down. And you really have to pack in the middle."
