Colorado University Athletics
Colorado-USC Quotes
January 27, 2012 | Women's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe
General
“I told our team that was a heck of a win. That's a very good USC basketball team; they have great players and great coaching. They have players that can score the basketball. I love the fight in our players, when we needed a stop we got a stop, when we needed a score, we got a score. We did a great job playing to win [and] getting confidence.”
On Playing A Full Game
“That's the best 40 minutes we've played. I can think of a little segment in the second half where we let down our guard. But 40 minutes is what it's going to take to beat that team. We had some players get off the bench to give our starters a breather and anytime you can get them contributing it's really good.”
On Beating A Highly Regarded USC Team
“I think it was the only thing we were missing. It's a good thing, I think now we can prove play with the best of them as long as we get better. We're taking care of the ball a little bit better; we're getting it on offense a little better. All in all our players are in a good spot, they're confident, they believe in our system and they believe in each other and when you have that you have some good things happen. I'm just happy for our team.”
On Chucky Jeffery's Performance
“She made the commitment to not think so much and just play. Going from non-conference to conference she saw some better players, more athletic players guarding her. I think part of her offense has come because she knows when she's going to get her drives so they can't converge. A lot of times she was stopping herself; I talked to her today and said she can't stop herself. As long as she can get to rim, she can [do some good things].”
On Where The Team Is At This Point
“I try not to think of the first half of Arizona State, we've been able to regroup. Every team has a different time during the season where they need to regroup. Every team has it. Every time you're winning, you don't want to miss with anything. It was really a time we needed to step back and [reevaluate]. It allowed us to take a look, we only played a half. It helped us in Arizona and it helped us tonight as well.”
On Brittany Wilson's Improvement
“With Brittany, I always talk about pace. Sometimes she almost plays too hard. She had a nice demeanor, she didn't force too many things, she had a good balance of those two things of not being too aggressive and being aggressive enough. She knocked down her outside shot and that opened up some of her drives. She was getting on-ball screen set on her all night. I thought she did a really nice job.”
On Jen Reese's Performance
“Jen's playing really well and we've put the ball in her hands a lot more, to make reads and make passes. She's one of the best passers on the team; she sees the floor probably better than anyone. Putting her at the high post, she's better there than in the low post. It was good that last shot that she made in the low post. She's learning how to play defense a bit, but now she's figuring out. She's also looking for her shot more because that's what we need for her to do.”
On Jasmine Sborov's Performance
“It was hard for me to take Jasmine off the floor tonight. She's strong, physical, she's athletic, she can jump and defensively can do a lot. She's versatile - she can guard in the post and the guards. She's making better decisions now and the game's really slowed down for her.”
On Chucky Jeffery's Game-Winning Free Throws
“You get feelings as a coach, I visualized it going in. That's what I do in that scenario. You could tell in her expressions and demeanor. I felt she was confident and felt that she was going to hit that shot. It was great being able to see her step up and hit that shot. Sometimes she puts so much pressure on herself and that's easy to do when a lot of things go through you, just knowing that she doesn't have to do it all. I think that's important for everybody. You could see the last couple games, she was having fun and she was comfortable out there. She has to understand that she is a major part of it. She has to make the other team stop her.”
On This Win's Importance
“I think they're all big because it puts us at 4-4 in our conference. I think it's big for our confidence level. We lost to USC twice last year. After watching the film, I thought we were the better team. I thought we could beat that team. I think it's great for a lot of different reasons.”
Colorado Players
Chucky Jeffery, Jr., G
On How Big This Win Was “That's huge. We had that confidence coming out of Arizona and we wanted to get USC back. They beat us twice last season and now that we are in the same conference as them, I felt like they wanted to come in here and shut us down. But we fought the whole game and it was a team effort.”
On If This Is Their Best Performance This Season “I definitely think this is our best game so far this season. We are learning how to put a full 40 minutes together and we are playing as a team. It's getting good. We have all kinds of players coming off the bench and scoring. This was a huge game for Jen, as well as Brittany. It's just starting to come together really well.”
On Her Free Throws To Win The Game “It was the most nerve-wracking thing ever. I just had to calm down when they blew the whistle. It was all about confidence. Stepping up to the line and knowing that you're going to knock down those shots.”
On Getting To The Line More Tonight “When I got pulled out in the first (half) Coach Jennie (Baranczyk) just told me to keep being aggressive and go to the hole and if you just go strong you either will shoot it or you'll get fouled. I just had to be aggressive, this was an aggressive game. So I just tried to take it to the hoop as much as I could and finish and get to the free throw line.”
On If Arizona State Game Was Their Turning Point “We had a real tough time after the Arizona State game. We sat in the locker room for a while without the coaches and had a talk amongst ourselves. The way we ended the second half at Arizona State is the way we started the game at Arizona and how we started tonight. We know our aggression is what is going to win us games. You can't turn it on and off when you want. We have to have it for a full 40 minutes and that's what we did. We are going to start winning a lot more games when we do that.”
Brittany Wilson, So., G
On The Team's Aggression “We knew we had to be aggressive and take it to them or they would take it to us. That's just how you have to play against good teams. We had the win from Arizona so that's how I think we got our momentum, at Arizona. We figured, why change up things. Let's keep this momentum, keep taking it to the basket, and start from the inside, then work out.”
On USC Shooting Before Half “We knew that they wouldn't keep shooting like that. We just kept playing defense. They hit some tough shots, but those don't always go down. So we knew we just had to keep playing defense, keep our hands high, keep our momentum, and keep our confidence. We were only down six, we knew we just had to keep our confidence and know that we could win the game, and we did.”
On If This Was A Personal Win “This meant a lot. It doesn't mean I played differently though. I wanted to win that game so bad. I always want to win, but that was the one that I had circled on my calendar since the beginning of the season.”
Jen Reese, Fr., F
On Her Confidence “I feel like I am pretty comfortable in the game now. My teammates and the coaches have helped me a lot to gain my confidence.”
On Taking The Charge At The End Of The First Half “That hurt. She was coming at me so I thought, I should take a charge. I couldn't breathe there for a second, but I'm okay.”
On Starting “I was excited my first college start, but other than that I just like to play. As long as I'm on the floor I will play my heart out and if I'm on the bench I will cheer my heart out for the girls on the court.”
USC Head Coach Michael Cooper
On Christina Marinacci's Second Half Play - “We came out and we took advantage of what we had. We saw that (Julie) Seabrook couldn't guard [Marinacci] and we took advantage of that.
On Struggling To Rebound - “You have to rebound. We have our success when we are out rebounding teams. We let this team out rebound us.”
On Colorado's Victory – “It was what we didn't do. Colorado played a very good basketball game. Their record is an indication of that. But, it comes down to what we didn't do. In our four consecutive road wins, we were out rebounding teams. We just weren't doing that tonight. We weren't boxing out.”
On Needed Improvements - “Everything. We have to work on everything. Execution down the stretch, defense and rebounding.”
