Colorado-Nebraska Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Kathy McConnell-Miller

General

“It was a tale of two halves. There is no doubt that we came out with a sense of purpose. We came out with energy. We made adjustments on our press breaker. Most importantly they started to take care of the basketball and had the confidence that we could win. The message I'd like the players to take home with them is that this is a tough league and they need to be proud that they fought and came out with a victory after some pretty tough times in the first half. They put together a second half that they can be proud of.”

On winning despite having 26 turnovers

“When we had the ball in our hands, when we are able to execute I thought we did a really good job of taking the ball to the rim and taking high percentage shots. That's what Nebraska does to you. And like I told my staff at the half, If you think Dominique [Kelly] and Yvonne [Turner] are going to get tired in the next 20 minutes it just doesn't happen. That's what they're going to do to you. We tried to simulate that type of pressure the last two days, and Texas Tech put it on us. God bless Britney [Blythe] and [Alyssa] Fressle, and Kelly Jo [Mullaney] they did the best they could getting it up the court with two people on them. It's hard to win when you turn the ball over that many times, but we were efficient when we broke their pressure.”

On Defensive Adjustments

“We changed up our defenses. Our players were pretty smart with changing. When we were in zone, they recognized the shooters. We switched up from man-to-man to a zone, took off our full court pressure, a different brand of defense. They understood what we were in when we were in it. In the first half it wasn't great communication.”

On the point guard position

“I'm sure in the first half, all their heads were spinning with as many as I was running in and out. Without Whitney [Houston] to break pressure, Alyssa [Fressle] is better in the open court. Britney Blythe is better at getting us into our sets. It's a combination of players that are going to play the point guard position, until one emerges as someone you can't take off the floor. I though Kelly Jo [Mullaney] did a good job handling the full court pressure. [Dominique] Kelley and [Yvonne] Turner were the ones that were turning us over and giving us the most pressure. So we were throwing it back to whoever the other guard was on.”

On the final play

“Somehow I ran out of timeouts, someone kept calling them and it wasn't me. At that point we had to go with something we knew. The high-low in our continuity offense is what they know. It's something that they run every day and have been running all year. Fortunately, for us it worked. That's the play that they felt most comfortably running without me setting them up.”

On the bench's play

“With Kelly Jo [Mullaney], as with any player that comes into this level, you've been starting your whole life. It takes a lot to get accustomed to coming off the bench. It's not easy for any player. But we would be much better to get any production from Courtney Dunn, Hannah Skildum, Kelly Jo [Mullaney] or anyone further down the bench.”

Colorado Players

So. G, Bianca Smith

ON MATCHING HER 3-POINT MARK?“I don't know. It's not in my mind. I just want us to win games.”

ON THE WIN?“To us it's a rivalry game. With Nebraska it's always a big game. The atmosphere changes in a game like this. They have their fans and we have our fans. I was talking to a reporter and he said that we have lost seven straight times to Nebraska, so tonight, to get a win was a big thing for us.

So. G, Brittany Spears

ON HER GAME-WINNING SHOT?“I like pressure. It was like when you're little and you're always shooting the game winning free throw or something like that, so it was fun.”

So. G, Kelly Jo Mullaney

ON SEEING MORE PLAYING TIME?“As a player, you always want to be in the game and be able to help your team out and I was able to do it today.

ON PLAYING POINT GUARD?“I'm used to playing the two-guard. That's what I've grown up playing. I just need to get into the gym and work on ball handling.”

Nebraska Head Coach Connie Yori

General

“You know there are just so many things that go into a game. I thought we lost the game the last two minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half. We didn't sustain our defensive press coming out of half time and we were a little disappointed. I thought we arranged the ball for about 33-34 minutes?really worked them every possession and made it tough on them. But they were then able to cut a 14 point lead to nothing and that was the difference. It's a hard one to take for everybody but you just have to hang in there.”

On Foul Trouble

“When Redmon and Montgomery picked up their fourth fouls I could see we were in a little bit of trouble, but they were able to play the rest of the game without fouling. We had to take both of them out when they got their fourths but they were able to go back in, but you really lose your aggressiveness without fouling. They pounded inside of Richards at times and that's tough when you're in foul trouble.”

On Bianca Smith

“She had six threes overhand. The one we got was in rotation in the first half and we left her open which was a mistake, but the other ones were guarded threes. She was hitting threes right over us and credit to her, she was hitting tough shots. A lot of things that happened in the game, the fact we gave up 75 points shows Colorado played well on offense. They shot 55% on tough shots. We could say our defense let down but I don't believe that at all except for a small gap, I thought we were really hard defensively.”