Colorado-Georgia Southern Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Kathy McConnell-Miller

Opening Statement
"I thought we got off to a great start. Our first two buckets were layups that we got from our defense, and I was excited about that. As the game progressed, I thought we got into the mode of settling for threes and shots that were challenged and not necessarily in our offense. I think that Georgia Southern is a very good team in terms of their offense, and they are a very well coached team, so I thought they took full advantage of the fact that we were settling and one-and-done. It became a challenge for us and we let them in the game in the first half. We came back in the second half and played with great intensity, which we were talking a great deal about at halftime. There were some great moments tonight."

On the three point shooting
"I think they did a good job of changing their defense to the personnel that we had on the floor. When they went to their zone were settling and taking quick shots. We have good shooters from three point range, and a lot of them were excited to get out there and play in front of their families. I thought they all played a little anxious in the beginning, and once they settled in we got a better rotation and got their feet under them and took better shots."

On Meagan Malcolm-Peck
"That is the expectation. I thought that Megan's energy on the defensive end in the second half with blocked shots and steals that were leading to breakaways. She gave us a great boost and then the other 4 players matched her intensity."

On Chucky Jeffery
"Chucky [Jeffery] is a phenomenal offensive player. She is a player that every time she drives or shoots I think that it is going in. She is the type of player that likes to start. But she has to have the ability to leave the last play behind her, and when she does that and gets better at that then you are going to see a completely different player. But at this point she is thinking about the play before instead of the play that is to come. I think that she has the potential that Brittany Spears had when she was coming in. She is a great jump shooter and an excellent defender, with a very high basketball IQ. She gets it, and is a very hard worker."

Colorado Players

Chucky Jeffery, Fr., G
ON BECOMING MORE COMFORTABLE -"I just take it as it comes. It's kind of like nervous a little bit. I have to put myself in that position. When I start I feel like I have to do well so I can stay on the floor and get my team off to a good start. Like she [Coach McConnell-Miller] said I need to let the bad things go and move forward."

ON TEAMS STRAGETY DURING A POOR SHOOTING NIGHT- "It all comes with the extra pass and not settling coming down and making one pass and one shot and like I said penetrate and then you get the defense draw and then you get those better open shots so they are not so contested and rushed."

Brittany Spears, Jr., F
ON PLAY OF THE FRESHMAN -"It's fun because they help out the team and make us better. It's a good thing a positive thing that is going to make us better in the long run."

ON TEAMS STRAGETY DURING A POOR SHOOTING NIGHT -"You have to attack the basket more and try to get the foul."

Meagan Malcolm-Peck, Fr., G/f
ON CONTRIBUTING TO TEAM EARLY ON -"I think the goal is always to contribute however you can and just make an impact. So whether it's hustling and getting a rebound and kicking out to Bianca [Smith] to get a three or anyway you can help the team. I just focus on that and its fun."

ON PLAYING A BIG ROLE AS A FRESHMAN -"I wasn't really expecting anything I just wanted to come in here and make in impact as much as possible and do whatever I can to help the team. Whatever Coach Kathy needs is what I will have to do."

ON TEAMS STRAGETY DURING A POOR SHOOTING NIGHT -"I think we just need to focus on driving it in there and not settling for the first shot because you can always get that same shot deeper into the shot clock. You just have to drive and kick and then you can get what Coach Kathy said more set threes and get a complete set instead of rushing into it."

Georgia Southern Head Coach Rusty Cram

ON COME BACK FROM BEING DOWN 10-0 TO START GAME
"I thought we played good defense. I thought we turned up the heat and made them play the game we wanted them to play. We did a good job of that, and it certainly worked towards our advantage to get us back into the ball game. We got to the free throw line in the first half some, when we needed to, knocked down some free throws. We just made them play a game I felt we could compete with. We couldn't let it become a fast break, high scoring game because then we would lose big time. We had to keep control and tempo and we did a good job in the first half."

ON SLOWER SECOND HALF"We didn't start off slow. I thought in the second half we started off fine. There was about a six minute stretch. We were still with them at the start of the second half. About a six minute stretch midway through the second half they out-physicalled us. They're bigger, stronger, quicker, and faster at just about every position and they just started getting more physical and more aggressive. We just couldn't find the right combination to step up. That aggressiveness just got to us."

GETTING READY FOR GAME AGAINST NEW ORLEANS"We just have to play 40 minutes. We can't play 35; we have to play 40 minutes. You are going to get beat if you can't play 40 minutes most of the time. We have a very young team and they have got to learn that you have to play 40 minutes, you can't let up, especially against a team like Colorado."

ON SCHEDULE BENEFITING CONFERENCE PLAY (Duke, Auburn, Colorado)"I have been here for 20 years and that is just what we do. We always play a very strong out-of-conference schedule. We are middle division one, we can't compete with these teams. You are going to beat one out of twenty. We are going to play Notre Dame and North Carolina and whoever. To me that just makes us better. You don't get better unless you play bigger, stronger, better teams. When you are mid-division one if you don't win your conference tournament, you don't go to the NCAA tournament; you don't get an at-large bid. So we have to set up everything for the tournament, records mean absolutely nothing. I want to play the best. Hopefully we can start playing those people that are our size and they learn from it and mature."