University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn vs. DePaul Post Game Quotes (February 5, 2011)
2/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2011
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UConn Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On what he looks for on a stat sheet following a game
"What their shooting percentage was, whether we did a pretty good job on their best players, how many times we turned the ball over, what the rebounding numbers were, stuff like that."
Were you pleased with what you see (on the sheet) today?
"Yeah. What you don't realize during the game is what your shooting percentage is, and then when you look at it and see 70 and 65, you're amazed because you don't see that during the game. You don't appreciate it until afterwards. I thought we played pretty well, especially in the second half."
You had 27 assists on 36 made baskets. Can you talk a little bit about the unselfishness of this team and the passing you saw today?
"One of the benefits of being small is we're good with the ball. We pass the ball pretty well and we can spread the ball around a little bit. Stefanie is a really, really good passer for a big kid. What happens when you are a good passing team is that it's difficult for the other team to take you out of your offense. DePaul, I always kid Doug all the time, they want to score 100 points and they are happy winning 100-98. Because their offense is so good, they are hard to play against. This year, they've been a really good defensive team, really good, against some really good teams and I think if we weren't such a good passing team we would have struggled more today."
When Maya (Moore) and Stefanie (Dolson) are 24-of-29 against the No. 9 team in the country, what does it say about the way you guys are playing?
"Well Maya, you've seen her do that a lot. Maya's got the ability that once she gets it going like that it just piles up with her, so there's no surprise there. Stefanie's been getting better and better every day. I know people that haven't seen her in a while are amazed at the change in her in such a short amount of time. Except I don't think she could guard Felicia Chester. I got mad at Stefanie, but I don't think anyone on our team could guard Felicia Chester. This was by far her best game since being at Connecticut. Not just the points, but the way she moved and the things she did. It was by far the best she's played. "
She (Stefanie Dolson) referenced a discussion she had on the bench with Chris Dailey at the Stanford game yesterday at practice. Do you think that conversation may have been the turning point?
"Maybe. Those conversations happen quite often with players and sometimes they go in one year and out the other, and sometimes they take hold. I don't know what it was for Stefanie, but I do know that at some point in January there was a change in her and it was very noticeable. I haven't seen her slip back into her old self. I don't know if it was that conversation with CD, whether it was something at practice, but she's not the same person that started in September."
What does it feel like to be the only undefeated team in the BIG EAST?
"I was telling the players before the game that it's not often we get to play a team that is undefeated in our league and that comes in here expecting to win. Our kids remember what happened out there, we should have lost a few years ago when Maya was a freshman. We should have lost, we had no business winning that game. They saw the West Virginia game, they saw clips of the Stanford game and it did not surprise our kids that they were undefeated, not at all. I think it brings out the best in us, just like Duke did Monday night, or at North Carolina and DePaul today. The better the teams you play against the more respect you have for those teams."
UConn Players
Maya Moore
Can you talk about the unselfishness of the team?
"I think part of it is that we are an unselfish team and we like to share the ball and feed each other and the other half is just movement. Being in a position where your teammate can give you a good pass. If no one was moving and no one was cutting then there wouldn't be anybody to pass it to. So it is a combination of the mindset that we have and the attack mentality of always trying to make a play."
Can you talk about the impact of this win and being the only undefeated team in the BIG EAST?
"That was huge. This year we might have to go undefeated to win the regular season and there is a lot of talented teams and confident teams this year in the BIG EAST. We need to play well every time it is a BIG EAST game because we don't want to leave it to someone else losing in order for us to win the regular season."
How exciting is it to the play at the level that you did today?
"This is the level that we love playing at and I think it's really good when things are working, but we always have to be able to score and that is something that coach makes us work on in practice. We are so good at it and we do enjoy it and we are very efficient at it when we come down and score off two or three passes and I hope we continue to do that but also to be able to score off four or five passes. The momentum goes so fast and it is just exciting to play that way, with the up tempo transition type of play."
Where did your will to win come from?
"I think it's a combination of different things. Just being someone who even as a kid I always wanted to be involved and be a part of the action and always wanting to be engaged in what was going on. So that translates into not taking any plays off and always wanting to be involved. I am just really competitive and when you are around other competitive people it just brings it out in you even more. The teammates that I have and the coaches that I have all help to bring that out in me. Just knowing that I have been given a gift and an opportunity to play at the best school and the best program I am going to leave everything I have on the court and I think when I play that way it makes everyone else want to play that hard."
Can you talk about Kelly Faris and her court vision?
"Kelly is fun to play with. She has great vision and she is one of those players that can kind of anticipate what can happen so she gives you the pass right where you are going to be. It makes you want to see the same things that she does so we are consistently connecting on the same page and she isn't afraid to throw me the ball. Sometimes as guards if the pass isn't a typical fundamental pass they don't want to throw it, but Kelly will put it out there for me and because she takes the chance the plays are spectacular. I have a lot of confidence in her and we love to play together."
Can you talk about the difference in the team over the last few weeks?
"It is just the process. We are at the point in the season where you want to start hitting your stride and start seeing the team that you want to be for the post season. It is a combination of struggling throughout some of the early parts of the season, staying consistent through the middle portion and having good days and bad days. The consistency of everyone as far as believing in what we are doing is what you are seeing right now because it is a long season and we have struggled, but we didn't get satisfied. People just continue to take ownership of the team and at some point you are going to have a break through and we just need to continue that."
What was the game plan for tonight?
"Tonight, I think we had more of a defensive mentality. But looking at the stats, just give it to Stefanie."
Stefanie Dolson
Can you talk about the improvement in your game and your confidence?
"My confidence has definitely risen a lot lately, the whole team has been working hard in practice and we have had better practices and I have been trying to work as hard as I can during practice and it translates to the court. We have gotten to this point and there is still so much room to improve and I think we are there, but as long as we keep pressing hard we will do great."
Have you found your comfort zone?
"I guess, I have just been trying to go hard during the game and cut faster, cut harder, be stronger and working on my defense, which today lacked but that is definitely something that I am going to work on during practice. It's good to know that my teammates have confidence in me, which gives me confidence."
DePaul Head Coach Doug Bruno
Opening Statement
"Teams that play them understand that the UConn program is a great defensive basketball team. They squeeze you, as they did us tonight and they put us in a place where we can't get good looks, and that's what they did to us tonight. I thought that we would be able to defend them. I thought the team that I've been coaching this year had gotten better defensively. We have gotten better defensively, but 70 percent in the first half, 68 percent on the game means that we obviously didn't defend them very well. The game plan was very dumb in hindsight. The concept was that I didn't know that anyone could guard Maya (Moore), so let's try not to let Tiffany Hayes get off and try to keep Tiffany Hayes in a mortal's place versus 35 points. Let's try to keep Kelly Faris in a mortal place; try to keep Bria Hartley in a mortal place and not let (Stefanie) Dolson get off. Maya goes and gets the 35; we tried to keep her to 24. She got up to 34 or 35; we didn't guard her very well. Dolson got off as well and Kelly Faris, who got nine of their 27 or 26 assists, did well and defensively they shut us down. Just look at the assist total. We have maybe 8 or 9 assists on our baskets and they have 27."
Were you surprised with Stefanie Dolson's performance today?
"Dolson's gotten a lot better. They've done a great job with her. She's gotten a lot better in the last couple of weeks. I think I started to tell the media right here that her best game so far has been a 16 and we didn't want her to have a get off game and she certainly did. I really think I teach better defensively, but we really didn't look like it tonight. We let Dolson dominate us inside. She had a great game."
On criticism of this team was that they lacked depth in post play. Now that Maya Moore is doing more inside and Stefanie Dolson is producing, what are your thoughts on their post play?
"What people forget is that when you have a team that has been together, like the previous team, finding your identity as a new team is just not something that we can snap out of our players in a couple, three weeks or a couple, three months. So, finding their identity is a work in progress for them. You are absolutely right. Stefanie Dolson started as, `Is she going to be able to help,' and she then became serviceable and now she's becoming more than simply serviceable. Maya can play anywhere."
What are keys to the game for West Virginia in containing UConn and Maya Moore?
"This is a hard team to guard. Maya is hard to guard. I discount the Stanford game personally because college players are entitled to one game. I'm not sure if it was just her or the whole team just not ready for that moment. At the same time she is just difficult to guard. (Madina) Ali is an excellent defender and Ali, I am guessing, is the person that matches up with her. Ali is playing with a stress fracture. So, how is that going to work? I think they will be much more physical with her (Maya) than we were today. I don't think we were very physical with her at all. I thought we were very soft her today. I think they will be much more physical with her, but I don't know that that's going to get the job done. I still think the keys are to try to keep her in her mortal zone and you can't let these other people get off. Kelly Faris is another player who has matured. Last year she was just a serviceable kid off the bench and now she is really a good, solid basketball player and so are Tiffany Hayes and Bria Hartley. It's a good five person team. Also, Lorin Dixon did more against us than we expected. She beat us off the bounce a couple of times. You know that's where she's going and she better not beat you off the bounce. She still made two or three plays against us that were irritating to me as a coach because you should be able to stop Lorin off the bounce. You know she's coming off the bounce because she's the one kid that's not shooting three's.
