University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn-Fort Hays State Postgame Quotes
11/7/2021 4:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On what impressed him in the scrimmage:
"The crowd, I was most impressed by the crowd. I thought 8,400 for an exhibition game says a lot about our fans and how excited they are to be back in the building and see this group of players play. That was really good. As far as the basketball part, I was impressed by the first quarter. I thought we did a bunch of really good things. After that not so much, but that's why you play exhibition games. To find out what's good, what's mediocre, and what's not so good."
On having two post players in the starting lineup:
"It was the same group that finished the season last year. We figured let's give it a shot and see how it looks. It doesn't mean that is what the starting lineup is going to be Sunday, or next month or two months, or three months. That just happened to be what it was tonight. Sunday could very well be the same and could very well be different. It may be game specific this year, who knows. We have options so that's good."
On Dorka Juhász's performance:
"Well the one thing you notice, Dorka plays exceptionally hard, right? She competes and she's skilled in the lane, she's really long and can't get the ball on the rim a lot of different ways. It doesn't take her much. It was really good to see her make that three. I knew there was an airball there, I'm glad it was the second one, not the first one. But if she can make a couple of those on a regular basis, I think that's a huge help with what we are trying to do. She also plays good defense. She's got an aggressiveness about her, and her footwork is pretty good. You can see that she's played a lot of basketball, it's not like we just brought in a freshman who needs a lot of work. She missed most of the preseason so she is still getting caught up. This was probably her best week of practice so far. Her conditioning is still a work in progress, so that's what I'm keeping my eyes on. I thought she had a pretty good tempo today. She played at a pretty good pace, for her and for our offense."
Sophomore Guard Paige BueckersÂ
On playing her first game at Gampel in front of fans:
"It was a lot of fun. I sort of feel like a freshman in a sense where we didn't get that experience last year so just to be able to have them [the fans] and their presence and their energy made it a lot more fun playing."
On her first three assists to Azzi and her thoughts about playing this year with her:
"Yeah, if she makes them, if she makes them, I'll be happy. But, no really, I'm excited to play with not only her but we have a great shooting group, not only with Azzi, but with Caroline, Christyn, Nika, [Evina] even went three for three today. Yeah, Dorka's a sharp shooter, I mean everyone on this team can shoot so I'm excited to play with them all and when I get in the paint I can create for others and I am excited for all of those opportunities."Â
On her passing abilities and need for scoring this year:
"Yeah, I'm excited just because I can get more into my passing ways this year I think. But I'm always a person who has loved passing way more than scoring, so anytime I can pass I am going to pass."
On why this team will be a better offensive team than last year:
"I think we have more versatility. We have drivers, we have shooters, we have great post players, we have great passers. When you mix all those together great things can happen. I think we were good on the offensive end last year, but now we are just adding new pieces with Dorka transferring and our new freshmen class. I think it's a really good mesh and a lot of great things can happen on the offensive end."Â
On her friendship with Azzi and playing together in college:
"Yeah, it's fun. I mean our friendship is a lot better when we are both making shots and she's making them when I pass to her so today was really nice, it was really good. We obviously have great chemistry on and off the court, we play really well together. We see our strengths and we see our weaknesses and we try to play and test to that. We only got to play together one time, with USA basketball, and it was great. It was a great experience and I wanted to do it again and I want to do it again for three more years here. I think as long as we are on the court together great things are going to happen."
Graduate Student Forward Dorka JuhászÂ
On playing her first game at Gampel in front of fans:
"It was great. I remember just my freshman year playing here, and obviously that was a little different because I was on the other team, but I knew the atmosphere was similar. Last time being on the other side and wearing a different jersey, it was a great experience for me and I think for everyone."
On her injury and her ability to get back on the court today:
"I definitely feel like that injury just kind of took me out of practice and it was hard to just watch them for like 3-4 weeks. It kind of took me out of my rhythm and everything so as we got closer to the game I just felt my confidence in practice get higher and higher. It was just extra motivation to come back stronger and obviously I had some conditioning problems just not being on the court for like 3-4 weeks. I had a hard time getting up and down [the court] but I feel like I'm back to myself now and I'm ready to go."
On playing with a group of post players with such depth:
"Yeah, we have a really deep group of post players so it just takes a little bit of pressure off of all of us. I do think that everybody can come off the bench and everybody can bring something so that was kind of my mentality coming off the bench - just bring something different, some energy. And obviously my teammates are looking for me in the post and I think we are just looking for each other, so it's easy, it's fun."
On being on the court with Olivia:
"That's a great opportunity for both of us to use our skills. We are pretty different, but we have some similarities, but we are different so I know when we are on the court I'm still learning to play with everyone. I think I got much better throughout the summer and the pre-season just to get to know them and see how I can move with them. But I know that we are looking for each other and we are helping each other out. We both can make shots so we can spice it up a little bit too."Â
Freshmen Guard Azzi Fudd
On playing her first game at Gampel in front of fans:
"I thought it was super exciting just seeing how many people, I've never played in an environment like that. Especially just for an exhibition game, I thought that was super cool. And, I get nervous before a game so that kind of made me more nervous for our big games, having it [Gampel] completely packed, but I'm excited."
On her first three shots (three pointers) going in:
"On the first one I was really just excited. Before the game, I knew I would get at least one open look and I was hoping that I would get a chance to run up and down [the court] so that I wouldn't airball it. When the first one went in I was just excited to see it go through the net. Paige makes it so easy when she finds me when I'm wide open and it makes it a lot of fun."Â
On Caroline's debut and performance in the game:
"Caroline is one of those very sneaky players where you don't expect her to do all the things she does whether it's rebounding, scoring, layups, or backdoor cutting. I think for all of us, especially the freshmen, we were all very nervous for today. So, I think today being an exhibition game and getting it over with definitely calmed our nerves. So next game, even though I thought we did well today, will still be better. But I am excited just to see me and Caroline continue to play together because she brings a lot to the table. She is really versatile and can do basically everything."Â
On her passion for defense:
"I used to love defense a lot more than offense and that was from my parents. They were my coaches and my dad was huge on the defensive end. Our teams were super fundamental defensively and I took that with me. But then I got hurt and COVID hit and so I hadn't really had a chance to really work on my defense consistently. I told Coach that this year I really wanted to get back to my passion for defense and show it out on the court."Â
On her friendship with Paige and playing together in college:
"I would agree with her on everything that she said except that there was one moment, I don't know if we were on the floor together, but I took a step back and it was weird that we were playing together. I couldn't believe that this was finally here, that I was playing with her, that I was at UConn with everyone, that I was playing for Coach with fans at Gampel. It was a weird moment. I just couldn't believe that this time was finally here."
