University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn vs. Ohio State Post Game Quotes
11/11/2018 3:44:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On sophomore guard/forward Megan Walker
I don't know how you really describe it. She's a big guarder, a small version of a forward, I don't know what she is but she's got a lot of skills obviously. She's a very talented kid who obviously has to add a lot to our team for us to be the kind of team we want to be and today was a really good start.
On today's defense
I try not to think about it. They're not an easy team to play against, it's not ideal. They kind of forced the refs to blow the whistle almost every possession. I thought the first half we played really well at both ends of the floor considering all the questions that I had going in. Second half was not a lot of fun to watch but I thought the first half we did a really good job and our defense is going to be a work in progress as all the coaches like to say, it's a work in progress.
On Megan Walker from last year to this year
I mean, I think when you come into a program like ours there's such a high premium put on competing and you have to be a very very competitive person in order to be successful here and I thought last year right from the beginning, right from her first week of summer school she was almost unaware of the fact that, oh I have to compete and it may have been a shock to her system but there really wasn't any of that last year. When we did see it and we thought we were getting some place it would disappear and this year she's been much more consistent. There's a lot that I'm constantly on her about every day in practice because she's got an awful lot of mobility, she can do a whole bunch of things. I show her (senior forward) Napheesa (Collier) all the time and I say, look, that's your role model right there. That's how you have to approach this game with that kind of motive. Napheesa, she goes and with Megan's talent if she gets a motor like Napheesa's and goes, she can be incredible. It wasn't there last year and it's there more often this year.
On freshman guard Christyn Williams
Again, you say to yourself, how can a kid who scored 4,000 points or however many she scored in high school come in a game and show a couple flashes of her doing some things. That's okay though, she's a freshman. I want her to do more because the kid is really good, I mean really good. She's going to get better every game and I think when she looks back on this game she's going to realize that that's not who she is, playing 28 minutes and hardly getting anything done, you didn't even notice her out there most of the time. For us to win like we did and play the way we did and her just be like a bit, I think that's a good sign
Team IMPACT:
"This is Daniela, you all know that. She is six and been diagnosed with Coolie's Anemia, a rare genetic blood disorder that requires blood transfusions every three weeks to live. Daniela's strength and perseverance make her a perfect fit for UConn Women's Basketball and we are excited to have her join our community. Daniela comes to us through Team Impact, a national non-profit that connects kids living with serious and chronic illnesses to college athletic teams across the country. In the seven years since Team Impact's inception, UConn has matched twelve teams with Team Impact's children. All of them are still involved with their teams today. Our campus is currently #2 in the country for most active matches on campus and we hope to match even more courageous kids with our teams in the future. As a member of our team, Daniela will be present at our practices, games, team dinners and more, serving not only as teammates to you all but as inspiration. And though the program is known to improve the lives of these children and families, I anticipate Daniela and her family will have a much greater impact on all of us."
"The things that we do here, obviously in the public eye, our kids get a lot of attention, they get a lot of notoriety because they happen to play a game and they play it really, really well. But after you break all that down, they're still kids, they're just older kids. And they probably can identify with Daniela because at some point they remember when they were her age and they probably had family members, any relatives, friends that are battling something, so they understand that. Kids are the best at understanding what other kids are going through, so that means even more to us to have her be here with us today."
Player Quotes:
On Megan Walker and Christyn Williams
I think Meg had a pretty good game today. I think we could have cleaned things up a little bit, there was some turnovers that shouldn't have happened and offensive rebounds that we need to get better at but overall we had contributions from everyone on the team, and like I said, Meg had a pretty good game, Christyn comes in and does what she does. Me and Napheesa and Crystal are going to continuously do what we do every day.
On depth:
There's always a question of depth at the beginning of the season. You don't know necessarily who's going to be consistent for you to come off the bench and be that person. Before, we had 6 or 7 that we knew what we were going to get from. This year, we're kinda going off 5 people and then seeing who's going to bring the energy for us and I think Mikayla's been doing a pretty good job and I think Kyla's been doing a great job. We're just getting comfortable with each other and that's the biggest thing because Mikayla has her own struggles that she faced last year and she's just going to get used to playing with us. She didn't really even get a chance to really play with us until this year started so having her get in and seeing what she can do is going to be helpful for us. Overall, I think we understand what we have and we understand that some people are going to have to play a lot of minutes every single night and that's just the way the cards are dealt.
On partnership with Megan Walker:
I do think we work really well together. I think we see each other and know where we want to be with the ball. I think we do a really good job getting each other in good situations so it's really fun to play with someone like that
On comfort:
This year I feel more comfortable on the court and it's just excitement getting back to what I'm used to.
