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Women's Basketball
vs Countdown to Craziness
Quotes: Duke 121, Carson-Newman 65
11/7/2010 5:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie
On team's performance:
"Just a good, strong team game for us today. We've been working on a lot of things: better energy, better looking for each other. I think 30 assists is outstanding and indicative of the direction we want to move in terms of creating for each other and finding each other. When you make the right pass or you make the extra pass or you look for your teammate, shooting percentages tend to go up. Because you might just do a better job of delivering the ball and timing wise. I really like that stat, the 30 assists. That sticks out the most to me. I just thought that Tricia and Chloe were very strong energy wise, very positive and very aggressive. Jas (Jasmine Thomas) obviously, [was] very aggressive herself, and finding other people with the assists. Those are the kind of stats that Jas can obviously create and do. I thought everybody did something special, and I thought we got better as a team. We're looking forward to the next game."
On mistakes of aggression:
"I love aggressive mistakes. I think our fouls though, a fair amount of fouls that were just not real smart. Bumping into people, knocking people over, that type of thing. But I think that that comes with playing hard. That comes with going after it a little bit. Haley fouling out, I don't want to see that happen in a game, but I love the fact that Haley's going after things. I think there's a balance in there, and as you said, an aggressive mistake is so much batter than a passive one. You can coach that, and you can be motivated by that. That's important for the team."
On looking at tape this week:
"That's going to be very good for us, to see that kind of offense. To see them spotting up as they did, and us not getting back into transition defenses and spotting up. I think the better thing, rather than what I tell them is what I show them. On film, it's going to be a little eye-opening. A little irritating to see people so open. Or us not back, not talking, not being there on the catch. Over helping in some instances. Or just not being aggressive enough. I just don't think we went after these shooters. I don't think we went after these shooters like were supposed to go after shooters. And you can't just go after shooters because they have a big name, like a Maya Moore. I just don't think we had any intensity."
On passing game to freshman:
"I think actions speak louder than words. I think when Jasmine is creating offensively, and dishing like that, she's almost impossible to guard. And then the impact, the empowerment part of it is huge. Jas is an extremely productive player and we all know that, but the empowerment piece is backbreaking. Because people are so geared at trying to slow Jas down. But they're hoping Jas will take a ton of shots, or make that extra pass because that's what her assignment is. And so when Jas mixes it up like she did today, it makes it very hard to tell what's going to happen on the floor, and that makes it special"
On performance of Allison Vernerey:
"I think just trying to bring her back slow. That's all. She has missed some practices, and she feels badly about that. She's back in practice. Allie's just a true, genuine, authentic person. She has to come back as the other players play because you know all the other players have been active in practice. She's going to work her way back. And she and I talked on the bench and she was comfortable with that. Chelsea is just day to day. And we've held her, so now she has to get back in practice, which means tomorrow, which means on Tuesday. So she's now starting to get back into the fold."Duke senior Jasmine Thomas
On help of film:
"You just learn from film because the way things feel in the game may not be how it's really happening. In film, you get to see the difference."
On her getting younger teammates involved:
"When I think about my previous years, I forced a lot of stuff, to some extent because I had to. I don't feel that way now. I feel when we're learning and growing as a team and building chemistry, the best thing to do is to make the extra pass right now. So everyone gets used to making the extra pass because everyone on the floor at any given time is capable of scoring."
On importance of team's passing:
"That's just part of playing as a team. You need to know how to move the ball; you need to know how to execute your offense. That's been a problem for us in the past. That's something that we've put an emphasis on getting better at, is our chemistry. It's not something that I'm conscious of, like "I'm going to make the pass," it's a team decision to pass more, to set up each other more."
Duke Freshman Tricia Liston
On her keys to success in this game:
"For me in the first game I thought I was a little bit more passive and a little bit nervous for my first game. This game I got into the motions of playing with the team and getting into the offense and being more aggressive as well as rebounding and being more physical."
On improvement from watching tape in practice:
"I think it helps a lot being able to watch yourself. You can watch other people and learn from them, but also seeing the mistakes that you make, and then being able to have that in the back of your mind and know that that's what you need to fix. Having it on film and also the coaches commenting on what you should have done and where you should have been helps a lot for your future, your next game and your next possession of that particular spot on the floor."
Duke Freshman Chloe Wells
On her keys to success in this game:
"Last game I was a little nervous also. I was more into myself. When something wasn't going good for me, I had my head down instead of playing for my team. Today, I came out and played really aggressive and with the team."
On improvement from watching tape in practice:
"Seeing us on tape, you could tell that our effort wasn't there. So she [Coach McCallie] said pick it up and no more passive mistakes. I think we did a good job with that."
On returning to action after missing last year:
"It pushes and motivates me. When I was out all last year, I had more passion for the game. I was seeing stuff that I could do that I could fix. Playing this year is pretty good. Things are going pretty good. I was always practicing with the team [last year], I was coaching on the sidelines, and everything team-wise, I was still their point guard, just off the court."Carson Newman Head Coach ...
Your best returning player, Kurie Washington did not play tonight, what was the reason for that?
"She did not. This summer she had a tear in her meniscus that was pretty good and kept catching so we did surgery at the end of July. She had been out about eight or nine weeks, came back, did not miss any practice until last Wednesday night, when we thought she tore the whole thing again. But we were blessed, on Monday we found out she did not. The doctors put her on a six-day steroid regiment to relieve all of the inflammation and she will be let out next Monday."
Considering she did not play, how proud are you of your team's effort?
"I am really proud of them. She averages 20 points a game for us. She's the kid who, when we are struggling, we run everything through her. All of our sets are run through her. Tonight they were run for #11, who's a freshman, and #3, who's a transfer. So they are new kids in our program. I was pretty proud of them, they did a good job when they were called on to step in and play more minutes to replace our leading scorer."
Does playing a team at the caliber of Duke have a positive impact on your program?
"I think so. We did not play scared. We have five freshmen, four sophomores, three juniors and one senior. Last year, with a young squad, we came here very scared and Duke jumped on us very early. We went away whimpering, I think we lost by 69 last year. This year, down by 16 at the half, it was a much more respectable game. We were in it to some level. We are not going to fool ourselves to think that we can beat them. As long as we can compete we will be pretty happy. I think that their size and their rebounding wore us down eventually."
Are you confident that the team will have a better record next year?
"Absolutely. I definitely think so. I think #14 gives us a solid presence inside, Simone Rutledge. She had trouble scoring inside with Krystal Thomas today. In our league we have on 6'8" girl at Tusculum and everybody else, their big players are 6'2". She will be fine in our league. I think she defended Krystal (Thomas) pretty well for most of the game. Most of Krystal's baskets came down the stretch when she wore us out on the boards, then we couldn't keep her out."
Speak of the effect that playing against players like Karima Christmas and Jasmine Thomas has on your team?
"As I told the girls as we were preparing for this the last two days, the goal was not so much to come in here to win. The goal was to come in here and be competitive, see where we are offensively and defensively. I think it's ok for us to recognize where we are and be proud of the fact that we were competitive and worked hard and never quit. I think we played hard all the way down the stretch, and I think we made them play hard down the stretch."
Who else have you played during the exhibition games?
"We played Presbyterian, which is a low division I, a Big South team. We beat them by four without Washington so we were pretty pleased on Sunday. I don't know what you know about Division II, but we couldn't start until October 15th. We are behind any Division I team because they start on October 1st, and I believe they get 30 practices during the 45-day period. We're a little bit behind in the physicality, the size, and the time. We have 13 kids, eight of which are new so we are pretty pleased with where we are right now."
What does playing against teams in the ACC do for Division II programs?
"I think for us it is neat for our kids to come here and get into Cameron. We got here early and they were all on the court, taking pictures of themselves on the "D". They are pretty excited to be at Cameron, and Duke always treats us really well. We get to drive right up to the back, we are escorted in. Duke treats us as they would any other Division I team that walks in the door. They treat us with tremendous respect, and we admire that, and we enjoy having the opportunity to get that once in a while. I think our girls are excited about the opportunity to play an ACC team. I felt like last year we were too thankful to be here, and less competitive. I felt like this year, we felt as a team that we should compete so that I was much more pleased with what we brought. It helps that they (Duke) are young. They have five freshmen. They are fabulous, the new "Fab 5" if you can use that term again. They are pretty phenomenal, and they are going to be great, and they are going to have a great ACC career. At least it evened the odds a bit that they had players trying to learn their system as well. Well, maybe not even, maybe 10%. I think if you look at the stats, the boards are the place where we knew we would get killed. They had 27 offensive rebounds, that is pretty amazing."
Players Mentioned
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