University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn-Cal Postgame Quotes
11/10/2019 5:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On what he took from the game:
It was a weird game, you know? We just looked like we had a hard time getting any continuity on the offensive end. So I was really disappointed in that because I've felt that we have spent a lot of time on that, but that kind of surprised me. The fact Christyn, Crystal and Megan scored most of our points, that doesn't surprise me. That kind of how it's going to play out for most of the season. Defensively we were good at times and not that good at times. You know, you win and you move on. As far as first games go, I've seen better and I've seen worse.
On the freshmen:
I think when you look at the way the offense was moving, not moving, lack of movement, there's not going to be a lot of people touching the ball. Normally there's going to be more opportunity for people, but today for whatever reason just it got stuck and we had to go to a lot of one-on-one stuff a lot of isolation stuff and simple ball screen stuff. We're not quite fluid on the offensive end, but Anna and Aubrey have struggled the last couple days, I don't know whether it's nerves for the first game but I don't know just a weird game. Not what I hope to see into the future.
On defensive changes:
I thought we got a little bit tired quick, I thought we came out with a big surge and I thought we can conserve some energy and play a little zone. We intended to give it a shot, especially when we have a couple fouls on Liv and Meg, we're not going to be able to stick to one thing. I guess as the season goes on, we're going to have to be more creative on how were going to get stops, there were a lot of open looks today, but I don't think our defense was as bad as I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be a lot worse than that.
Senior Guard Crystal Dangerfield
On the slow start in the first half and what was said at halftime:
I'm not really sure about the slow start. I thought shots just weren't falling, we got good looks. At halftime it was just trying to create offense from our defense. Being more aggressive, trying to get in passing lanes and trying to get more steals.
On giving up offensive rebounds and how they can improve on it:
At halftime it was definitely a point that we had to keep them off the boards. In the first half that's where most of their points were coming from. We know we're not a very big team, so that's going to be a point of emphasis going into every game. No matter if they're smaller than us, we have to find a way to get two hands on the ball and make sure it's ours.
Sophomore Guard Christyn Williams
On if she made a conscious effort to do more without the ball:
Yeah, I did. I tried to crash the boards as much as I could. My teammates were open, I tried to give them the ball. Coach asked me about doing more than scoring so I tried to do that tonight.
Junior Forward Megan Walker
On recovering from slow start:
Things happen like that, things that you can't control. I just want to play hard for my teammates.
On Coach's message after the game:
We gotta figure some things out, and that starts in practice.
Sophomore Forward Olivia Nelson-Ododa
On passing:
I think as the game progressed, I was definitely trying to look for the open people. We were back cutting and making hard cuts to the basket so I was just doing my best to find people that were open.
