University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn 85, Houston 26 Quotes
2/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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UConn Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On not allowing an opponent free throw for the second consecutive game
"We played two teams that shoot a lot of jump shots. They try to attack the lane and force you to guard them off of the dribble. That's part of it, the other part is us working really hard to not foul. This team has become pretty good at it, but being good at it and saying no free throws two games in a row is unusual. It just doesn't happen. I can't attribute that to our defense, that's for sure. "
On being creative on offensive play calling
"Generally, we're not a team that tries to identify with one player that we would pass the ball to more so than any other player. But in a game like this, I thought there was a huge advantage with Stewie and Morgan. We took enough threes, we just didn't make enough of them, and we probably would have taken more if some had gone in. But it was the kind of game where it was available to us, and we took advantage of it. Stewie was aggressive right from the beginning and she stayed that way."
Houston Coach Ron Hughey
How do you think your team responded to the challenge?
"Not as well as we would have liked them to. I think they were a little nervous and didn't step up like we expected them to. I thought they fought in spurts, but I wanted them to bring that fight for the whole game."
What does your team learn playing a team like UConn?
"They are bigger, stronger, more talented players, but they also do all of the small things. They get balls, they set solid screens and they communicate. I think those are the things we can take out of this."
How do you decide who to try and take away on defense?
"We want to try to dictate the flow. We want to try to dictate the flow and not settle for what they want to do. But again, when you are playing against a team like this that has two inches on you at almost every position, it's pretty hard to get that."
Rebounding has been an issue for you this season, you were right with them for a lot of the first half, were you happy with the effort?
"We were happy with probably 10 to 12 minutes of the first half, not the whole 20 minutes, and rebounding was something that we talked about. We were down I think five at the half."
