University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn vs. Richmond Quotes
11/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 28, 2009
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Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On the game after the 700th win (jokingly)
"I think the one after 700 is the one that separates you from everyone else. No question about that. I feel really fortunate to be in that situation tonight."
On team's performance from the start
"You know, I told Mike Shafer - their coach - after the game, I don't know that defensively, we could play any better than that. I don't think they were able to generate any kind of offense at all in that first half. And it seemed like we had everything guarded the way we want to guard it, we were exactly where we needed to be. I knew yesterday was going to be a little bit of a struggle because of all the time off and I knew today would be better than yesterday. And I didn't know how much better, but it was a lot better than yesterday. And that's all you can hope for, you know, that every game you play a little bit better than the game before."
On Caroline and Tiffany's assists
"Well, believe it or not, the last couple games, I've made a specific point to have Caroline with the ball up top, which kind of would free up Tiffany to do some other stuff. And tonight because she was making so many shots, I think it just kind of flip-flopped. And that's why I don't buy that point guard, two-guard crap, you know. I mean if you play for us and you're a good guard, you should be able to catch it, pass it, dribble it, and shoot it. And both of them can do that. So, we're really lucky that we have the kind of team where you've got two guards like that and you throw Kelly (Faris) in there and you've got three really good ball-handling guards that are pretty good passers and know how to play the game a little bit. You know, that's where the game starts. It starts with the guards and it ends with the guards."
On whether or not Caroline and Tiffany feed off each other
"I think they do. I think they both - they both understand their strengths and weaknesses. They know what they can do and they know what they can't do. And there's a rhythm to the game, you know? And yesterday we were kind of out of rhythm. We were kind of out of sorts a little bit. Today, we got into a nice flow and everybody just kind of read off of everybody else. And we made a lot of shots. I turned around and said to one of the coaches at one point, I said 'You know, we shoot so much in practice that we don't miss open shots a lot of times. We just don't miss 'em because we just spend a lot of time shooting the ball and it's contagious. People start making them, everybody starts making them. That's what happens."
Sophomore, Caroline Doty
Was there a concerted effort to shoot the three coming out of the locker room or did it just happen to develop that way?
"Our post players gave us opportunities by screening and opening up. They went behind the screen on defense which gave us the green light to go ahead and shoot the three and we took it."
How much of an emphasis was there on your part tonight as a team to come out to a better start than you did last night?
"It was huge because we were not happy with the way we came out yesterday. We knew we had to come out with more energy and coach even said that we had to have more motivation rebounding the ball and the fact that we did was huge. Hopefully we could come out with the same energy tomorrow."
Sophomore, Tiffany Hayes
Yesterday Caroline had nine assists and tonight you had seven assists. How much fun is it to run this style of offense with both of you sharing time at the point?
"It is definitely fun especially when Caroline had nine yesterday and I had seven assists tonight. We just try to combine together and be good point guards. We were able to find the open person yesterday and today, so hopefully we can do that tomorrow too."
Richmond Head Coach Michael Shafer
What is the biggest thing you can take away from playing UConn?
I believe the biggest thing Richmond basketball could learn would be that UConn is the team who plays the hardest in the country and are the best at exposing your weaknesses. Our team can learn that is what it takes every game in order to be the best team in the country.
Final score aside, is this a good game for your team?
From a coaching standpoint I believe it was. We addressed the little things that we practiced such as anticipating screens, reading the defense, and attacking the basket. If we use this experience to understand that we need to use the little things in order to be successful then I believe it was a good game for our team. I believe in our basketball team and believe they will do better.
