Colorado, Southern Utah Quotes
December 19, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Kathy McConnell-Miller
General
"That wasn't what we had expected, particularly in the first half. Southern Utah had scored 90 points in its last outing; they are a very capable scoring team. They turned the ball over quite a bit, which caused us to do some things differently on defense. I thought we came out and our full-court pressure was the best it has been. We turned them over, thought we got a little complacent when we pulled it off. Overall, I thought we played for 36 minutes. For the first four or five minutes in the second half, we came out and didn't match the intensity from the first half. We walk away from tonight having that being the only concern (that we didn't play 40 minutes). I'm very pleased with the overall team effort, particularly on the boards."
On what to take from the game
"The good thing is that we got to play a lot of people. They got to play against somebody other than themselves or the male practice players. We had an opportunity to execute with different combinations on the floor; we haven't been able to do that. It was good to see Julie (Seabrook) and a couple other players get on the floor when we're not down and we're not struggling and really try to find themselves within the offense. I thought the combinations and the execution were positives. I was excited about that. I learned a little bit about their mentality when they're not pressing and when they are pressing. It sometimes surprises me how they let up a little bit. That's my challenge and something I have to address."
On the layoff between games
"There were a lot of outside factors that I was concerned about coming into this. We're coming off a loss, going into finals, I was gone from practice for two days, and we hadn't been in Coors Events Center since last Thursday due to finals and commencements. Today was the first day that we got on the floor for 45 minutes. All these factors were things that kept me up at night. I'm sure they didn't even think about any of them, but those were things that I thought about when I went to bed. Sometimes we had two or three players missing from practice due to finals or other conflicts. They were all concerns, but the good thing is that there is flexibility. The upperclassmen never flinched. It never really affected them and the underclassmen and the freshmen go by their lead."
On starting Bianca Smith over Courtney Dunn
"It doesn't matter and I hope it doesn't matter to her, because Courtney will be back. I look at her point production and her minutes and they're the same whether she's starting or coming off the bench. We like to start the game with a little more size. We like coming off the bench with Bianca, I just don't want it to affect either one of them because we need both of them for us to be successful."
Colorado Players
Bianca Smith, Sr., G
ON 24-0 START TO GAME- "Not this year. The beginning of this game I thought we were all hooked up on the offensive and defensive end. We rolled with the scouting report and we just hooked up and it showed."
ON 200th 3-POINTER- "They announced it. It's a great milestone for me. Right now I'm just focused on the team and the season and trying to get more wins for us."
ON CONFIDENCE AT HOME- "We play well with the crowd at our back. They're like a sixth man for us. They energize us when we're down and we hear them and we hear them cheering. We hear their silence even. I think it helps any team but for us, especially when you have a young group, having the sixth man always helps."
Brittany Spears, Jr., G/F
ON PLAYING WITH A LARGE LEAD- "Just practice. Whether it's practicing our offense or getting in conditioning or learning your position. Practicing in the game."
