Colorado University Athletics
Illinois-Colorado Quotes
December 04, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe
General-"I liked our fight and determination when we were down 11 and to come back. I thought we showed a lot in that stretch and we have to continue to have confidence in those last four minutes. In close games it comes down to a lot of little things. A missed boxout here and there, missed free throws, turnovers. All of those things come back to haunt you in the end. I liked our fight and obviously we're disappointed we didn't get the win but we're going to bounce back."
On Illinois pulling away early in the 2nd half- "We couldn't get stops. They were really pounding it on the inside and I felt that we came out of halftime a little bit flat. Offensively we were turning the ball over a little bit too much, and they did a good job of limiting us to one shot. I felt like it was tough for us to get an offensive rebound to get another shot. There was a stretch there where we didn't execute and we were forcing and trying to make the game come to us. A series of a few turnovers that resulted in points on their end and some missed assignments as far as knowing who is a three-point shooter and who is a driver. Their big player, [Karisma] Penn, hurt us a little bit in that stretch."
On Illinois having shooters- "They had some shooters; this was a big personnel game for us. I think you could see us not guarding a few of their players on the outside when we were in the zone, which was definitely by design. I just felt that there were a few breakdowns on our end in knowing who the shooters were and not getting a hand up on the shooters they did have. They shot it from three very well. Statistics wise, looking from past games, they haven't shot that well all year long."
On Ashley Wilson's return- "I hope she'll be back by Wednesday. She has to be symptom free tomorrow for that to happen. Our trainers don't take that [concussions] lightly and there are series of steps they have to take once they become symptom free. I hope to have her back by Wednesday. If not, we'll play with seven."
On fatigue being a factor down the stretch- "For us to be able to make that run from the seven minute mark to the four minute work was because we had a lot of energy. Anybody can play for the last three minutes. I don't think fatigue was a huge factor. That was by far the best team we played so far. They were able to take us out of a few things and we had to adjust to that. For the most part, we had the legs in the last three minutes, but we didn't execute like we needed to execute. We didn't make plays coming down the stretch. You can't have three turnovers and not execute, you've got to execute and, like I said, all of those little things come back to haunt you."
Colorado Players
Chucky Jeffery, So., G
On Illinois defense at the end of the game- "I don't think they made adjustments that's just when everybody picks up their defensive intensity, at the end of the game, especially when it's close. They made us speed up and we should have just stayed calm. We tensed up a little bit. I don't think they really made any adjustments."
On the intensity of the close games compared to last year- "We are just closer and we know how to push each other. When things go bad we learn not to beat up on each other and have everybody go their separate ways. It's our home floor, no one wants to take it on their home floor and lose by not many points. We just got together and said, 'We can do this. They're not better than us. We've just got to do what we do and stay in our character and just play.'"
"We didn't really have as much fight [last year] as we do now. We would get down and we'd be ok with it."
"We have to recognize the little things and realize it during the game. At the end of the game, it could be as little as a missed free throw, or a lazy pass or a hustle play. All of those are game changing plays. That's what Coach [Linda] Lappe harps on is our special teams plays, our baseline out of bounds plays and our hustle plays. If we can win all of those, then we can win the game. There were times when we would miss one of those box outs or we threw a lazy pass which was a turnover and an easy layup on the other end. That shouldn't happen."
On the shot clock violation at the end of the 2nd half- "I just have to be more aware of the shot clock. That was my mistake; I was too focused on what we were doing and didn't take a second to look up and glance at the clock. It went off and that was a bad misunderstanding on my part. That could have potentially been two points or a missed shot and an offensive rebound."
Julie Seabrook, Jr., F
On coming back to lead in the 2nd half - "I think our confidence was up and our momentum was with us. We came out a little flat after the timeout and we didn't really give it to them like we should have."
On their defense at the end of the game- "We actually switched defenses; we went from a zone to a man. Everyone is playing their best defense at the end of the game. Everyone knows each other's plays by then."
On playing close games- Playing in close games, especially in the preseason, is good because once we get into conference, everyone is good. We're going to need to know how to play those close games. This definitely helps our experience in that sense. We had a coupe close games with Evansville and DU, we lost one and we won one, so now we just need to take what we learned from each loss and each win and use those things to hopefully get a win in the next close game."
"When we would get down, we would stay down. We don't give up ever."
On the shot clock violation at the end of the 2nd half- "There was a little bit of confusion there. Sometimes I'm playing the position she was playing."
Illinois Head Coach Jolette Law
ON THE GAME
"It feels great. I give a lot of credit to my team. We knew we had to come here, and play in a very tough arena against at team that is 6-1, and not make any excuses. I give a lot of credit to them. They focused and came in and Colorado made a run and the crowd got loud, and for a young team, they really could have gotten rattled. Down the stretch we focused through and found a way to get a win."
ON REBOUNDING AND FREETHROW SHOOTING
"As a young team we have to simplify things. We want to focus on defense and focus on taking care of what we have to take care of, not spending a lot of time on what the other team is doing. We are a small team. We have two big posts, but we focus on everybody making contact and rebounding. As of late, we have been spending a lot of time on making freethrows. It paid off down the stretch.
ON SECOND HALF STRATEGY
"We knew we couldn't let up. We knew they were going to make a run and weren't going to quit. Coming out the first five minutes of the game was going to be important. We won the first half and then I said, 'We win the next four minutes.' We had to break it down into increments. But then when they made that run and the last four minutes of the game, my kids dug deep and found a way to get a win."
