University of Connecticut Athletics
Post Game Quotes
2/13/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2011
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February 13, 2011
Connecticut vs. Providence
Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun
"The best thing that happened, I thought, was that three kids, really - Kemba was Kemba. Kemba was a hundred percent in control. He gets six rebounds, seven assists. I heard that maybe it was a fluke. No, he's a terrific basketball player. He really, really can play…. - Charles - I don't know if he has quite all my wrath, but he's got enough of it….Donnell Beverly, who always gets blamed if someone else drops the ball, even if he has nothing to do with the play. And then Jamal Coombs…I was trying to think about how I would describe our relationship. 'Stormy?' You think 'stormy' would be a good way? For the three of them to step forward to play basketball - and we expect Shabazz to do things, we expect certain guys to do things, but a couple of our freshmen just couldn't understand because it was a hard grind game before we finally pulled away. So when they came over, they just didn't have the kind of body language we would like."
"I couldn't be happier for Charles and Donnell and, particularly, for Jamal Coombs. Jamal Coombs' ride here, when we expected so much of him last year, coming off the bench…We've had a lot of talks, and push, and shove, and a whole bunch of different things."
"The win is, for us, another step towards our goal, which is to make the NCAA Tournament. But it's about 'program.' In some ways, if you stay with things, good things do happen….It was just a sensational win, and it speaks more to the programming - by 'program' I mean this basketball team. For three kids who have been ups and downs with us, with all the young kids coming and all the stuff in Maui. And we have all these great young players. Well, there are other guys in our program. And I think those three guys make the win even more special to me."
"It was a great win for us. I thought we would come out and try to take advantage of our size, but that wasn't working out real well. And so we went to the smaller lineup."
"I'm particularly happy that we started playing defense, started rebounding, doing some of the things we haven't been doing."
"I thought we were a little better basketball team tonight."
February 13, 2011
Connecticut vs. Providence College
Player Quotes
Kemba Walker
On Jamal Combs-McDaniel's game
"He was big-time. He was in all the right spots. He just played smart basketball. Our guards were able to get him the basketball and he was able to make plays."
"A lot of the focus was on me, and I was able to find [Jamal]. He's been working extremely hard. We're happy for him."
On end of first half and second half run
"We played a lot harder. We challenged ourselves to get stops. We didn't want to have a back-and-forth game with those guys."
"We needed this game. It's about that time to start thinking about our future."
Jamal Coombs-McDaniel
On career high 25 points and 8 rebounds
"I just found myself in all the right spots tonight. My teammates found me."
"It's definitely a boost for my confidence like it would do with anyone else's. I've just got to keep working. Hopefully it will just keep happening like this."
On the win
"It was a good team win. Everybody contributed."
"The more the bench gives, the better our team's going to be."
Donnell Beverly
On big games by Jamal Coombs McDaniel and Charles Okwandu
"It's kind of ironic because they both said they were going to have a real good day."
On energy of the team after St. Johns loss"
[Against St. Johns] we didn't have too much energy as a team but today guys were feeling good. It's up to me and Kemba to keep the guys feeling like that."
Charles Okwandu
"We decided we had to play defense together."
"I needed to give everything I had today."
"Winning feels good, and that's what we need every game."
February 13, 2011
Connecticut vs. Providence
Providence Head Coach Keno Davis
"I give credit to UConn. I thought they played an extremely great second half. I thought both teams really battled in the first half, and it was hard to get a flow going. But, in the second half, they really exposed some weaknesses on our team. And we weren't able, on the road, to react as I had hoped we would. You see in stretches why UConn's been one of the best teams in the country and, when they've got it going, they can beat anybody."
On Coombs-McDaniel
"When somebody who hasn't been averaging a lot of points comes out and has a big game…It's always possible, especially when you're playing at home. But he's a very talented player. I know a lot of those guys from the recruiting circles here in the Northeast, so it's not surprising that they would step up and have a game like that. But in your scouting report, it's going to start with Kemba Walker. And if their second or third or fourth or fifth option has a night like that, you hope that you can respond and learn that 'OK, he's got the hot hand, let's not let him have the open shot.' But it's something we're still learning as a team and I hope we get better at it."
"I thought it was a very physically-played game. They didn't let us run any continuity in offense and were very aggressive out on the perimeter. And we settled too much for the three-point shot. We were doing a good job of getting it into the basket and sometimes making the extra pass and getting to the free throw line. We're trying too hard, and sometimes that results in forcing up too many outside shots."
"We have to learn how to play as hard as we did tonight, but play a little bit smarter."
