Colorado University Athletics
Colorado-Colorado State Quotes
December 08, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe
General
"Well that was a whole lot of fun. CSU is a good team and I thought our players came out and had a really, really good focus and really executed what we were trying to do and stayed with the game plan for the entire game. We just fought and played extremely hard. We defended and anytime when we're on it like we were defensively we're going to be a really, really tough team. Our offense came around the second half like we knew it would, the biggest thing I liked about our team was that at halftime we knew that CSU was a second half team and we came out and hit them pretty hard to start the second half and I think that made all the difference. I thought it was a cliché but it was a total team effort tonight. Everybody was on their game with offensively and defensively. We shared the ball well, we moved the ball well offensively. We got a lot of great shots. I can't think of too many offensive plays where we forced anything. We kind of just let it come to us. We're extremely happy with the win and ready to go into finals with these guys and have a little bit of a break before we go to USC."
ON THEIR COMPLETE DEFENSIVE GAME TONIGHT- "Well, just the focus. When we're focused on what we're doing we're quick, we're athletic, we communicate, we understood what they were running, we were helping each other out. It was real five versus one defensive effort. Anytime number five was coming off of screens she saw three people a lot of times and we recovered quickly and didn't give them anything easy all night long and that's a tribute to our players. That's hard work, really hard work for them to do that and have the confidence and have the attitude to do that I think is a tribute to them."
ON THE OFFENSIVE GAME PLAN- "We wanted to attack. We wanted to crash the offensive glass. We knew especially when they went a little bit bigger, they got the little bit slower line up in at one point and [Brittany] Spears really recognized that. Our team really recognized that and drove it hard. It was a lot of the difference in the game as right away we set that tone of getting to the rim and attacking. When our offense was stagnant, we stopped attacking and I thought the second half we came back and really looked to push the ball in transition. Chucky [Jeffery] did a nice job, our wings did a nice job of filling wide, our post did a nice job. We are the best offensive team when we can get some easy baskets in transition, which stems from our defense and just getting out and running our lanes wide."
ON BRITTANY SPEARS' LAYUPS- "She really did a great job recognizing and recognizing who was on her in different situations. I thought our team did a nice job of giving her space and keeping our offensive space. A lot of times we're too congested so the drive isn't really there and I thought she got the ball on the wing a lot of times and saw an open lane and did a great job of recognizing that and really taking it at the defense, that's her. We love to get her to the free throw line. We've talked to her about that a lot. As far as this game is concerned she also needs to let the game come to her, and I think she did a nice job of taking what the defense gave her. She had some open threes that she missed but they were great shots, and when she wasn't hitting them she decided to drive. She was on it in all aspects."
Colorado Players
Brittany Spears, Sr., F
ON HOW IMPORTANT THE WIN WAS AS A SENIOR AGAINST CSU- "It was really important because last year we gave it away at the end. We were focused this year so it was really good. My last game against CSU as a senior, so it was a good team win."
ON GETTING INTO THE RHYTHM OF THE GAME- "I was driving more so I guess it opened up lanes and I got to the free throw line."
Chucky Jeffery, So., G
ON HER SECOND HALF PLAY- "I was kind of off in the first half. I mean we were playing well, we were up so I was just going with it. We came out and we didn't let up and we started playing defense and my game started coming once I had my defense going and everything just started following for me. I just picked up my energy and that's what happened."
ON HAVING A BREAK BEFORE THE NEXT GAME- "It's kind of disappointing we don't have a game coming up. Nobody really wants to practice for nine days, but we have finals. It's kind of good for us to have that time off so we can focus on our school. When we're done with finals we can just focus on basketball and we can just practice and get our minds right for when we go to California."
Meagan Malcolm-Peck, F
ON THE RIVALRY AGAINST CSU- "Definitely I think to get a complete 40 minutes played the entire time. It's good to have that feeling [against a good team]. I think it was good for us to just to get that focus mentally. Even if we made one little slip up, not let it compound and get it back, so I was excited for us."
Colorado State Head Coach Kristen Holt
General
"I was really disappointed how we handled them. They were really physical and aggressive on us and we saw a lot of those same things in the Northern Colorado game. I thought we learned something from that, but obviously we have some work to do witth people pressuring us like they did; and it wasn't full-court pressure, it was half-court pressure in our face. I give (Colorado) a lot of credit I think they just totally kicked us tonight."
On CSU Foul Trouble-"I think that we have too many players that when they don't make shots, it affects their entire game. It affects their defense, it affects them turning the ball over, it affects everything mentally. It is something we have got go get better at. We are not going to face an easy opponent Saturday. Arizona State is going to be just as physical if not more physical."
On CSU Missed Shots-"It was (frustrating). One thing that I thought was we had legs because we were missing a lot of shots long off the rim and I don't mind those kinds of misses but I think we missed some really easy shots inside. That is setting the tone and that's what we talked about the first four or five minutes of this game being extremely important. We didn't get off to a good start and then they just picked us apart, their driving, position, and hitting threes. It just really wasn't a ball game."
On being down ten at half-"I was surprised because at halftime I thought we had really regrouped and we were just down ten. It's hard to regroup your team after that start happens whether it's the first half or second. You can't say it's all because we weren't mentally ready or we didn't do this or that; CU did a nice job. They have good players and they did a nice job beating us."
On Colorado's Spears and Jeffery-" I think they are both very good. I know Spears didn't shoot as well tonight from the three but she is a good player. She makes things happen that maybe don't even show up on the stat sheet. She penetrates, she's tall, she is a hard person to guard. Jeffery, she makes that team tick and can handle everything. If we were pressuring them, they would put her back in, she handles the pressure fine, doesn't turn the ball over. They are both just very good players.
Colorado State Players
Kim Mestdagh, Jr., G/F
On Morale after Missed Shots-"I don't know why we get down when we miss shots. We are not super-human going to make every shot. We need to learn to live with it. It should give us more energy to go hard on defense. It was really frustrating because it is a rivalry and we beat basically the same team last year and now we lose by 30, so it is not a good feeling."
