Colorado University Athletics
Colorado-Rice Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe
General
GÇ£That was a really fun game for
our team and for our staff. We did not play our best, and we still
found a way to win. You have to give Rice a lot of credit. They
were tough, and (Kuster) is a great player. We tried everybody on
her in terms of guarding her, and she found a way to make things
happen for them. I like the way that our team bared down and got a
certain level of toughness at about the eleven-minute mark in the
second half. That was really where the game changed. We started
defending, we started rebounding and that allowed us to run and
transition to score.GÇ¥
On Adjusting To Jessica KusterGÇÖs Offense
GÇ£We tried a lot of different things. We tried a lot of different
people and we tried not to let her catch. SheGÇÖs a tough matchup
because sheGÇÖs a 6GÇÖ2GÇ¥ guard who can post up. She jumps well, sheGÇÖs
really athletic and she was shooting really well tonight. The kid
couldnGÇÖt miss. We tried length on her, which we thought would help
because she was shooting over us. At the end, we tried Brittany
Wilson on her who was our defensive stopper last year and she did a
fantastic job. What we told Brittany was, GÇÿdonGÇÖt let her catch a
ball.GÇÖ She was tough on her and I think that helped our team. She
did a nice job on her. Now, I donGÇÖt know if she could have done
that all game, but maybe couldGÇÖve gone to that a little bit
earlier.GÇ¥
On Making Changes In The Second Half To Cut Down On
Turnovers
GÇ£We were playing really tentative in the
first half. We were not being very smart. We have a really smart
team, or at least we have been so far this year. We make good
decisions, we move the ball, we play together and we were just out
of sync a little bit, out of rhythm. That caused a lot of our
turnovers. We werenGÇÖt quite sure where our teammate was going to
be. We left our feet and made some jump passes. We over passed a
few times when we couldGÇÖve just shot the ball. We just needed to
settle in a little bit, and I thought we did that in the second
half. We came out, and Lexy Kresl did a nice job of controlling the
tempo and where the ball went, which was a huge key for us.GÇ¥
On Lexy KreslGÇÖs Improved Shooting Versatility This
Season
GÇ£Lexy is a really unselfish player. She came
here to score the basketball and has had to really play a lot of
different roles for us. This year, she has moved to the point guard
position and I think is really doing a great job in terms of
understanding what our team needs. Being a point guard doesnGÇÖt mean
you have to score. She is finding gaps to score, finding ways to
score and sheGÇÖs picking her spots. What I like about what sheGÇÖs
doing is that sheGÇÖs not forcing anything. SheGÇÖs taking what the
defense is giving to her. It helps when you have teammates around
that can score. TheyGÇÖre staying out on our shooters, and so sheGÇÖs
getting driving lanes and doing some different things there. SheGÇÖs
doing a nice job of creating the tempo, getting the ball where it
needs to be and running our team as the point."
Colorado Players
Lexy Kresl, Jr., G
On controlling turnovers late in the game - GÇ£We talked at halftime about how we werenGÇÖt playing like ourselves. Our tempo was a little faster than we wanted, so when we came back out in the second half, we focused on moving the ball and making smart decisions.GÇ¥
On changes before the 14-0 run - GÇ£We talked about getting stops. We were playing more steady defense and actually changed who we had guarding their key player. We put Brittany Wilson on her and she did a really good job.
Jen Reese, Jr., F
On changes before the 14-0 run - GÇ£I think overall we just had a different mindset. We bared down and got stops when we needed to.GÇ¥
On the physicality of the game down low - GÇ£Refs are going to make their calls either way. ThatGÇÖs coachGÇÖs job to talk to the refs, not ours. We just have to play through, get our hands off and stop hand checking in the post. We have to forget about it and move on to the next play.GÇ¥