University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn-DePaul Postgame Quotes
12/29/2020 9:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On Olivia Nelson-Ododa's play:
"The teams that we've played so far, Liv's had a huge advantage, so she's had her way inside. I want Liv's perimeter game to keep improving. When you get to be a junior at Connecticut consistency has to be your middle name, and she's doing that, and that to me is the next logical step for her. Aaliyah gave her great help, some great minutes. It takes some of the pressure off. The two of them are functioning pretty well together."
On Paige Bueckers' play:
"She looked a little bit tentative, a little bit unsure a few times. I think she's still not comfortable shooting the ball as many times as I want her to shoot it. Tonight wasn't one of her better efforts, even if the stat sheet says it was. I think if you asked her, she'd say she wasn't too happy with how she played."
On Aaliyah Edwards' play:
"When Liv comes out and we put Aaliyah in, the physicality of the game changes. What I like about Aaliyah too is she gets out on the perimeter and is good at guarding people out there."
Junior Forward Olivia Nelson-Ododa
On the plan for tonight's game:
"Instead of forcing it against their defense, the main focus was to find the open person even when there was maybe two or three people wide open. It was just about getting that extra pass, finding a cut, and also allow them to be comfortable spot up shooting was the main goal."
On playing a ranked opponent:
"It's definitely more fast paced; we can't be careless with turnovers because those can cost us. With Baylor coming up that is something we're going to have to be really careful about, just making every possession we have really count. Getting after it on the defensive end as well. We're getting better but we still have a lot to work on."
Freshman Guard Paige Bueckers
On adjusting to shooting more:
"Yeah I'm a pass first player so it's definitely different for me being new to the team for him [Geno Auriemma]Â to want me to take so many shots but I'm trying to adjust to hit each and every day. I want to do everything my team needs me to do to win. Every game I'm trying to get better and shooting the ball more."
On the team's focus on defense:
"I think we can get our points easier on offense if we play better on defense. That's just playing with intensity and heart and having that mentality that we don't want the other team to get any buckets. I've been trying to step up my defense and I know that's the same for the team as well."
Freshman Forward Aaliyah Edwards
On playing a ranked team:
"It feels good to play some ranked teams just because it's different competition in our conference play. So, it's good and exciting but we just need more discipline and making sure as a team we can stay flowing. So, these games are kind of an indicator of where we are right now."
On DePaul's talent level:
"Yeah they were definitely better than the teams we've played. Definitely more competitive defensively and on offense we really had to lock down a few players so they wouldn't get as much as they usually average. So we did well defensively, offensively we started a little slow but I think we picked it up as the game went on."
