Colorado University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Colorado 83, Alcorn State 33
November 16, 2013 | Women's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe
General
"I liked our effort tonight. We had a lot of players play a lot of minutes and really play together well and both the offensive end and the defensive end. Anytime that you have as many players as we did play significant minutes, share the ball, score, and defend it's a good thing. I think our depth this year will be one of the keys in how we do as we go through the season. I liked what we saw tonight in terms of that [the team's depth].
On Offensive Efficiency
"It [the offense] was better tonight. We still didn't get some done some of the things we worked on in practice. We are just going to take a little more time to pressure the rim and do some different things, but we shared the ball well and we knew where we were going to be. We moved much better in general tonight and we did some good things in transition as well. We gave up on a few too many things in transition where we just need to be a little bit more patient and let things develop. When we did that we usually scored some easy baskets. So transition we need to do a little better job, but overall our offense was way more efficient, especially in the second half.
On the Defense
"We followed the scout [report] to a T. I liked our mental preparation in terms of how we were defending them, and what we had talked about in practice. We followed the scouting report really well. That is kind of a trademark of our past teams so it is good to see this team really take pride in understanding what we wanted to do defensively and how we were going to guard them. We communicated well and we helped each other out well. The one thing that I am a little displeased about is our rebounding. That is just something that needs to get a lot better as we go forward.
On the 50 point win
"We got a lot of things out of it [the win], both offensively and defensively. Like I said rebounding was probably the biggest thing defensively. Offensively, in the first half we missed way too many layups. We need to work on making easy shots, making layups, being stronger in there, and getting some and-ones. In the second half we saw that we needed to work on pressuring that rim with action, either with cuts, with curls, with different things off of screens. They played zone a lot of the second half so it was a little bit different. We haven't worked a ton against a zone. We hadn't really worked against a 3-2 which is what they were playing so we had to do some things on the fly and you have to credit our players for being able to just go with the flow. That's what you like about a veteran team. They can remember a few things from previous years and take those things into this year.
"She works hard at it [shooting the ball]. She did a better job tonight at getting her feet squared to the rim. In the CSU game she was not getting quite squared enough. She has deep range and that's what you like about her. She is a 6'1, 6'2 shooter with deep range and a high release. That's tough to guard. The shots that she has been taking in games are the exact same shots she takes every day in practice. Her teammates have confidence in her and she has confidence in herself. That's what she does, that's what she brings, that's her role on the team and she knows that so she has to be ready to take those shots.
On Lexy Kresl
"She is doing a nice job. She is getting us into our offense. She is being very coachable right now and that is what we need from our point guard position. She and Brittany [Wilson] don't have a lot of experience at the point and neither does Jaz [Sborov] so they have to be really coachable within the games and in practice. Lexy made some good changes from things that we talked about against CSU and she put those into play tonight. She was efficient, she got the ball where it needed to go, she had some nice passes, handled the ball well versus their pressure so I was very happy with the way she played.
G Lexy Kresl
On Offensive Performance Tonight - "They worked a lot on offense. We kind of figured out the areas that we struggled in last week and I think we put together a more complete offensive game."
On Reaching a Milestone Tonight – "I am just happy about the win. I would rather just have a winning season – so it is not as important to me – I am taking more pride in my defense at this point."
On The Fifty-Point Win – "We still need to work on ourselves. You don't want to disrespect the other team in any way, so you just have to think about executing things that we have been implementing in practice. We also want to start looking ahead to our next game, which is probably going to be a little bit more of a challenge."
On Improving – "We definitely have some things to improve on, like boxing out. It is important for later games, in conference, and especially when we play Iowa."
G/F Lauren Huggins
On Playing an Exhibition Game vs. Regular Season – "I said it the first time and I will say it again, that I owe it to passes and screens. My teammates have been working hard on their offense and I am just in the right place at the right time. When I am cutting and they are passing, they are hitting me and I am hitting open shots."
Alcorn State Head Coach Tanya Edwards
On Altitude Effecting Play- "You really can't look at those factors coming into a game. Bottom line you have to compete no matter what is going on. Whether it's the altitude or your short some players, you still have to compete. I thought Colorado came out and competed. They came out and competed early, they stuck to their game plan, and we can take a lot from them in that aspect. [Our team] has to compete. We have to play hungry for forty minutes or however many minutes it takes."
On Colorado's Defense Compared To Recent Years' Opponents- "Thus far this season Colorado is the best defense we've seen. They're definitely on target to being one of the better defensive teams. One of the stingiest defenses I've seen in my coaching career over the last seven years is Kentucky, but [Colorado's] definitely on the right road to getting their defense up to that status."
On Turnovers Attributed to Colorado's Defense- "You definitely have to [attribute it to Colorado's defense]. Like I told the young ladies tonight going into the game, just by watching film prior to the game [Colorado] is extremely active. They play with their hands quite a bit. Although the rules have changed being able to really body the ball handlers, I think they're doing an extremely good job of using their hands to compensate for not being able to ride players. We're used to being able to get up and be aggressive. They're definitely extremely active with getting their hands on balls, and really causing the players to second guess what they're doing because anytime you have hands constantly coming at you have a tendency to really climb up."
On Goals Coming Into The Game- "Our goal is to always compete. When we come into a place where a team is ranked 17th in the country the number one goal is to compete. Our second [goal] is rebounding. I don't think we did a very good job of rebounding. Transition defense is another goal, and we have to do a better job of getting down the floor. As well as matching up and coming out of our scramble. Anytime a team is trying to push the ball you have to scramble. You have to get anybody. I didn't think we did a very good job of scrambling out and picking up players tonight."