University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn-South Carolina Postgame Quotes
2/11/2019 10:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On the third quarter:
"I mean given who the competition was, yes. We have had quarters where we played really, really well. Given the quality of the team we played, that was a really great quarter. We did things very well on both ends of the court, offense and defense, and pretty much ended the game right there. They [South Carolina] had to work harder to get them [the shots] so when they shot and missed, we were in a better position to run. We ran the floor pretty well the third quarter."
On Napheesa Collier:
"I said this the other night and every coach talks about their players as if they are the best players ever, and I try not to get caught up in that, but there can't be a player who is playing better or does more for their team than Napheesa. It's impossible. She's rare. She has the perfect temperament for a great player. She's never in a hurry and she doesn't shoot a shot she doesn't want to shoot. I thought she made some tough mid-range shots today."
On how much the win matters:
"In the big scheme of things it doesn't matter. When you play a game like this I don't know if you win or lose the game means anything. But I think of the way the Baylor or Louisville played out,  it was important that we come out of this with something that made us feel really good about ourselves. I don't think we felt too good after the Baylor game, I don't think we felt too good after the Louisville game. So today, not only did we win, which is obviously the end goal, i think we came out of there feeling pretty good how we won the game."
On common threads between UConn's toughest games:
"We have some deficiencies. And teams who exploit that, teams who can score from a lot of positions were gonna struggle with that. Unless we make shots. If we make our share of shots we are gonna be fine. There's a couple teams out there, because of what they have, we can't handle it."
Senior Forward Napheesa Collier
On the play of Christyn Williams and if something has clicked:
"I do think so. One thing with Christyn is she's really confident, even though she wasn't playing as well, she stayed really confident. She knows she's a good player, she knows that we think she's a good player. Freshmen have ups and downs. She went through a down stage, and I think she's back on the rise right now. She's still as confident as she ever was, and I'm not worried about her."
On if there's a sense of urgency this late in the season:
"I wouldn't say a sense of urgency, but more dialed in, more focused because we know we're running out of time. The things we go over we have to do it quickly, and we have to be focused on what we're doing. We don't have time to screw around for a couple weeks or take a couple days to learn something. We need to do it efficiently."
Freshman Guard Christyn Williams
On what it was like to get her confidence back:
"It was really good. I've been struggling a little bit, but I've been trying to be more consistent, focusing on getting my groove back. I thought we played really well today as a team."
On what she's learned this season through the ups and downs:
"Just to stay positive and listen to what Coach says. If he says 'run through a brick wall', you ask how many times. Just listen to everything that he says and go out there and do it."
Senior Guard Katie Lou SamuelsonÂ
On how she's changed her game:
"Just getting extra work in, getting into the gym a little bit more. I have tried to get myself going with free throws, I have been trying to get myself to the free throw line more than I have before. What teams give me, I have to take. If I am just going to be a three-point shooter, I am not going to get many shots because I have done that a ton since I have been here, and people know that's what I like to do, so I have to make sure I am doing other stuff too."
On the importance of tonight's win:
"It was huge. We needed this game and we needed to be ready to go for this game. I think we all are feeling good based on how we have been practicing, and based on how we brought it into the game today. We are always going to be confident in ourselves when we play this way, and I think if we can keep it going forward we will be pretty happy."
South Carolina Head Coach Dawn Staley
On playing UConn:
"When you go outside of your conference ,it's always is nice to get some new competition. There is no team like UConn in our conference so this was a good opportunity for our team."
On Napheesa Collier:
"Napheesa is just relentless. She is relentless on both sides of the ball. She is great around the rim and has the ability to attack you driving both ways. She never stops and if you don't match or exceed her energy she's going to win that battle."
