March 23, 2009

Head Coach Pam Borton

On the differences of style between the Big 10 and Big 12 Conferences…
“I think there are a lot of differences within the Big 12. In the Big 10, we’ve got more athletes and athleticism. I think a lot more teams are pushing tempo. We do have a couple of big kids on our team, and we use their strengths such as their power and strength. If you look at our perimeter players, most of our kids are athletic and we do play an up tempo style and aggressive defense. They do have more athleticism than we do, but we play to our style and our advantages to win basketball games.”

On Texas A & M’s defense…
“They pressure the ball, they deny the passing lanes, and they deny the high post. These are things you can take advantage of and that’s our job as coaches to find those advantages. There are strengths and there are weaknesses, and we’re going to work to take advantage of what we can. We have to use their pressure defense to our advantage. There are some things we can exploit, and hopefully we do that tomorrow. We’re going to have to set great screens and execute at half court.”

On senior guard Emily Fox…
“She’s put a lot of pressure and expectations upon herself. I think [Emily] has grown her senior year as a person and as a player. I think she’s become a more well-rounded player. She’s had a great season, and she’s made sure her team had a great season this year. She’s playing more under control. She’s taking what the defense is giving her and learning when to slow things down and execute at half court. She’s more understanding of what we need to do out there on the court to take control of the game. She’s making shots and stepping up and playing like a senior.”

On playing three freshman in an NCAA Tournament game…
“They’re freshman, and they have no idea where they are at. They played absolutely outstanding. At first, I just put them in for a minute, minute and a half to get their feet wet and see what happens. I think they came out and played with poise and played with confidence. I give all the credit to our veterans. I talked to our freshman about just going out there and having fun. They need to learn everything they can right now and pack it away for next year.

Emily Fox – Sr. – G

On the possibility that tomorrow’s game will be Fox’s last…
“It’s a weird feeling being a senior and knowing that my next game could be my last. Just for this team, for Kay [Sylva], the other senior, we just want to keep playing as long as we can. We’re really excited to have another opportunity to do that tomorrow night.”

On Texas A&M…
“We need to take control, we can’t get out of control out there because they are a very athletic team. We can’t get in a track meet with them because they are too fast for us. We’re just going to work on making sure we’re in control of the game and settling things down and not getting out of control.”

On the two teams’ different styles…
“It’s a very different style of play I feel like so we’re going to have to adjust to that. They’re obviously very quick and fast, an athletic team. We saw them get their hands on a lot of balls. We’re just going to have to balance it out with our power. We’re a strong team; we’ve got some quick kids too. I think it’ll be a good match-up.”

On Fox’s view of Minnesota’s year…
“Right now, I feel really good how we’re ending the season. Honestly there were some ups and downs as a team the whole season, especially how we ended the year. But, as I said before, it’s a new life, it’s a second chance for us and I think we’ve already taken great advantage of that in our game yesterday and I just want to keep going, our season’s not over. But overall, I feel really good, we’ve put ourselves in a great position to be in the NCAA tournament and its just been a fun year with the team and we’re excited to keep it going…I never thought winning a game in the NCAA tournament feels this good.”

Brittany McCoy – Jr. – G

On Texas A&M…
“They’re a good team, obviously they’re the two seed. They’re very athletic, very strong so it’s going to be a good challenge for us. We’re up for the challenge, we matched up well against Notre Dame, pulled out the win and I think we’ll be able to match-up well. We’ll just have to focus on closing down the gaps, closing down the lane because I know they’re a very good team at penetrating, getting in the lane, and that’s kind of where they get their mojo.”

On the two teams’ different styles…
“We have played against quick teams…they’re very similar to Penn State who we’ve played twice this year, they’re just really into penetrating the gaps. We’re just going to have to make the focus on working on our defense. We played good defense against Penn State and we were able to close down the lane and I expect nothing less tomorrow.”

Ashley Ellis-Milan – Jr. – F/C

On the two teams’ different styles…
“We’re big, but we’re not that big. I think that Texas A&M is really fast and I think that if we control the tempo and we do what we’re supposed to do and follow the game plan, we’ll be just fine.”