University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn 91, Notre Dame 81 Quotes
12/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
UConn Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On Morgan Tuck
"Morgan is a player that we can always count on. She is nothing flashy; she just does all of the little things that help you win games. It's been like that since her first year here. She isn't great at anything but she's good at everything, and she's good at winning games."
On implementing strategies during competitive games
"There are times during the course of a season, and tonight was one of them, where you just have to outscore them [the opponent]. Sometimes you just have to score more points instead of focusing on how you're going to guard them."
"Whatever she gives up size wise, and sometimes it's significant, she makes up for in speed, toughness, and she is very disruptive. Also, she wants to, that's the biggest thing. She came over to the bench and we suggested she take a break, and she said 'No, I got it.'"
Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw
Opening Statement
"We can't afford to make those kind of mistakes. Our margin for error against this team is pretty small and for us to have 20 turnovers, I think that was the difference in the game."
On the play of Marina Mabrey
"She's coming off an All-Tournament selection in the Bahamas against really good competition. She's played well for us this year. But as a freshman, to come into an atmosphere like this, that's the fearless quality that she has. I think the thing I love about her is that she is not going to back down from anyone and that is really going to bode well for us in the future."
On how this game is going to help her team going forward
"There are so many good things to take away from this. The way we shot the ball from the 3-point line I thought was really good. That's what we have to become now that we are not as post oriented as we wanted to be. I thought we did a lot of good things execution wise. I thought we got a lot of really great shots. Even defensively I thought there were times that the zone was better than others. The turnovers were really kind of the bad part of the defense."
On when the first time she saw the fearless part of Marina Mabrey's game was
"High school. I think I saw her in AAU first, I can't really remember. I knew that she was going to be that feisty personality, a bit of a swagger. Just what we were looking for. We really need that. We haven't had that since Skylar (Diggins) so it's great to have it."
On the play of Morgan Tuck
"I think she really hurt us. She was the difference in the game. You expect (Breanna) Stewart to get what she got, but to have Morgan Tuck come in and get eight assists, one turnover and 21 points? She did everything she needed to do. I think she was the x factor for them and I felt like she really played well. I've always admired her game."
Redshirt-junior Morgan Tuck
On Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw calling her the difference maker
"It feels good. It's good to know that I had an impact but I think as a team a lot of us stepped up and made big plays."
On if there was extra motivation playing Notre Dame
"We always want to beat Notre Dame just how they always want to beat us. It's one of the biggest rivalries in women's basketball and there's always that motivation to play your best game."
On the team trying to maintain a balanced attack against opponents
"We try to help out Stewie because all the teams are going to focus on her so we try to make sure we're contributing and make it a little bit easier for her."
Senior Moriah Jefferson
On Notre Dame's guard play
"It's definitely harder for our bigger guys to play against them because they have to make sure they're staying in their stance the entire time but, for me, I love it. That's the type of game I love to play."
On defending opponent's three-point shots
"We have to do a better job of making sure shots are contested and that teams don't have any wide open looks."
Notre Dame freshman Marina Mabrey
On playing without two injured teammates
"I think coach prepared us really well for the injuries that we have. I think our game plan worked well. Just the third quarter really hurt us."
On the play of Moriah Jefferson
"She's a great defender. I've never had that before in college and it's something that I will be able to learn from."
On her mindset in the first half
"It was just another game to me. Our team was looking for someone to step up and I was able to do that in the first half."
