Jan. 31, 2009
Head Coach Muffet McGraw
On the play of Becca Bruszewski and Lindsay Schrader…
“I want to say that I was so proud of Becca and Lindsay today, how they came out with an attitude that they were not going to lose today. They showed passion and emotion, and I think the whole team had a new attitude today. We came out with a new frame of mind, and we were the aggressor and continued to try to increase our lead.”
On the success on the defensive end…
“I thought it was a total team effort, especially on the defensive end. We held (Kahla) Roudebush to 13 points; she’s a great player and one of the best in the conference. To be able to shut her down was encouraging. And we have not shut down an opponent from the three-point line in the BIG EAST like we did today.”
On the team’s hustle during the game…
“I thought we did a great job of staying with the play. We were diving for balls, double-teaming people, and being aggressive coming out of the traps. It pumps everybody up, and it’s a great momentum swing for us.”
On getting contributions from many players…
“We need everybody on our team. We need all eight players that we play to step up and work hard. We are getting back to how we were at the beginning of the year, when everyone was contributing. Everybody did something to help us win today, and we’re back to being a balanced team with a lot of depth.”
Freshman Forward Kellie Watson
On making two key three-pointers at the end of the game…
“It felt really good to finally start hitting them again. We were only up nine before I hit the first one, and I just wanted to be productive and help the team score some points.”
On persevering through a shooting slump…
“A lot of it is the support from coaches and teammates. Knowing that they believe that you can make the shots helps a lot. That’s really more important and more helpful than how you feel in a game. With them behind me, it’s much easier to keep my confidence up.”
On continuing to shoot despite struggles…
“The first one is always the hardest to knock down. After that, it’s a lot easier to get into the rhythm. It’s just a matter of looking for open shots; it’s not a matter of shooting 30 seconds after I get into the game or anything. It’s not a matter of time, but a matter of taking good shots.”
Senior Guard Lindsay Schrader
On having a career high 15 rebounds…
“I really wanted to get on the offensive boards. I really wanted to push the ball this game. I really tried to run the floor today.”
On the team’s success rebounding in the game…
“We had some tough practices leading up to this game. It was in everyone’s mind to rebound today. When we rebound, we get to run, and that’s our game: transition and running. Our press did well today too, and some of the turnovers helped us get into a rhythm.”
On having a different mentality…
“I think our team had fun today. A lot of times in the past couple of weeks we haven’t been having fun. I think the mentality we had today was just to go out and have fun. There were a couple of smiles and a couple of laughs today, and that relaxes us a little bit.”
Sophomore Forward Becca Bruszewski
On starting off the game well…
“We didn’t really like how we started out in the Rutgers game. We always talk about coming out strong, and that it will set the tone for the rest of the game.”
On getting back on the winning track…
“I think this game will set the tone for the rest of the season. Showing that we can come back after losing three out of four and win at home and play well is huge. I think everyone’s attitude has changed.”
J. Kelley Hall, Cincinnati Head Coach
On what caused his team problems…
“One, they rebounded the heck out of the basketball, too many offensive rebounds, I don’t remember anyone doing that to us, which allowed them to get 16 second chance points in that second that you can’t defend defensively. It’s like handing them the ball right underneath the basket, so I give them credit for doing that. The other thing, the 26 turnovers allowed them to get 26 points off turnovers, so that’s 42 points right there that its hard to defend. When we get set we have a pretty good defensive team, but you have to give them credit for what they did. Those were two things that I thought was a huge difference.”
On his team’s 26 turnovers…
“We had 26 turnovers but they also had 21 steals. We had a chance late, but we made a poor decision on a 3 vs. 1 when we could have cut it to a two possession game and then the kid, Watson, just two daggers, back to back, that ended it.”
On Notre Dame’s defense…
“It’s a trap. That’s three games in a row, top 10 teams {Louisville, Connecticut and Notre Dame], you know who were top ten until Monday or Tuesday. It is a trap, 1-3-1 type of deal, and the thing about it was, I’ll tell you what I told our kids, ‘it’s not like we were trapped in all situations, but they were funneling us that way, and we made poor decisions.’ I give them credit, they funneled us, and we threw it a little high or a little low and allowed them to get their hands on it. That is where you have to give them credit.
On coming back from the nineteen point deficit…
“What we told out kids, ‘if you just quit turning the ball over we can get our defense set. If we can get three stops and three scores, we can get it somewhere back around 10 or 11 and if there is four or five minutes to go, we still have a chance.’ And that is what we did. The killer was that 3 on 1.”