Colorado University Athletics
Colorado-California Quotes
March 21, 2011 | Women's Basketball
General
"Well we did what we needed to do and I thought we came out very strong. We had great tempo offensively, we were sound defensively. One of the keys coming into this game was rebounding and I thought we did a really nice job on the boards; on the defensive boards anyways. Offensively we didn't get a whole lot of second looks but we really kept them off the glass and anytime you do that you have a great shot."
On the fast start
"I know that we were ready to play Cal. This was a game that we had been looking forward to and we didn't have a great practice yesterday, we weren't as focused as I would have hoped; but I thought our players really responded. We had a great shoot-around today and at this time of the year it's just about playing basketball. I thought our team came out and they just played; they played together and took what the defense gave them. We moved the ball, we got good ball reversal, we didn't turn the ball over in the first half; a few too many in the second half. You have got to give Cal credit in the second half. They didn't quit, they kept coming at us. There were a couple points in that second half where we needed to step up and make big shots and make big defensive stops and I thought we really did that."
On maintaining the lead in the second half
"We wanted to be aggressive. It looked like [we were milking the clock] in the second half because they were scoring and we had to take the ball at the net and weren't able to get our transition game going. We just didn't do a good enough job of pushing the ball and flowing into our offense. When we started to do that, that's when we were able to go on another run and that started on the defensive end and getting some defensive stops."
On the progress during the season
"The biggest thing is going into a game like this and knowing we can win; that we should win. Then coming out and being able to see that from the start and throwing the first punch. We've had players step up and hit big shots when we need them. As we've gone through the year our players have either made key defensive stops, key offensive rebounds, and key three's. You name it and it seems like we have been coming up with plays and good teams that's what they do and that's how you win a lot of games. Our overall attitude, our overall coming together, our overall demeanor has changed through the year and it's always good to see that.
On Brittany Spears' performance
"I told our team that they had a nice aura about them tonight, if you believe in that. Everything just looked right. As a coach, maybe I'm around them a little bit more, but you can just tell when they're ready, when they're confident, when they're poised, when they have their composure. I thought she [Spears] attacked the rim early and I thought that is what she needed to do. She made some nice finishes and she was just on it in all phases, made some good decisions and hit some key shots when we needed them. Her teammates did a nice finding her when she could do that and she did a nice job of capitalizing."
On playing Wyoming
"It's completely different than when I played there, but I've coached there since then. It's a great women's basketball environment. Their fans are going to come out. The good thing is that we have a couple members of our coaching staff that have coached against them their whole career being in the Mountain West and they know the style of play and known what they do to be successful and really how to beat them."
Colorado Players
Chucky Jeffery, So., G
ON THE FIRST HALF - "We knew what they were going to bring with the traps, so we were mentally ready instead of coming out and having turnovers, but we found open players."
ON THE TEAM'S PERFORMANCE - "We didn't want our season to be over. Our practices haven't been that good coming into this game so we knew what we had to do. We knew we had to be ready on all levels so we just came in and everybody did well in shoot-around and we weren't goofing around in warm-ups and we were ready to go."
Brittany Spears, Sr., F
ON THE FIRST HALF - "I think we all came in mentally focused and ready to play."
ON FACING BIG NAMED TEAMS - "We play in the Big 12 which is the best conference in the [NCAA]. They're in the Pac-10 right now and they're good, but they aren't as physical as the teams in the Big 12. We are used to the physicality and it's just another game."
ON POSSIBLY HER LAST GAME AT COORS - "I just went out to have fun, I didn't think about it being my last game. If you think about that then you put pressure on yourself. I just played it as another game. It was just another game."
Brittany Wilson, Fr., G
ON THE FIRST HALF - "We knew we were going to see that team [Cal] next year in the Pac-12 so we had to send them a statement."
California Head Coach Joanne Boyle
On slow start in first half- "We just came out flat. I have never seen my team come out that flat before, so I think we came out shell shocked. I think Colorado did a great job. They came out on their home floor, and they came out and attacked us and got us back on our heels. We recovered, but 20 minutes too late to even make it a game. So a lot of credit to Colorado coming into the conference, they are going to be a great team in the conference. As a team, we are young and injured, but we have to buy in and play 40 minutes and that has been our struggle all year."
On her halftime message- "Is this the feeling you want as the last game of the year and you have this feeling until going into next season? Or do you want to put together 20 minutes of great basketball? Not that we could have won the game at that point, but to have something to come into this locker room and have something positive going into off season workouts."
On halftime adjustments-"We got away from man because we couldn't guard them, so we had to go a lot more zone. When we played zone, we were much more aggressive. We played people in positions accordingly, and we were just much more aggressive. We got some easy baskets and were more aggressive on the offensive end. So overall we were just more aggressive."
