Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech - Penn State Quotes
December 03, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2011
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Lady Raiders vs. Penn State
December 3, 2011
Head Coach Kristy Curry
Opening Statement
"Well I thought today was a lot of fun. I hope every single person in that crowd today had fun because they were incredible and I just want to thank the group that came out and I know they really inspired this bunch. We are all in this together and we need everybody to come back next week don't we (asking Kierra)?
It was awesome. I am so proud of these kids and the way they competed down the stretch. I want to credit Penn State, they gave us an opportunity to get better today. They are going to compete for a Big Ten title. There is not a better backcourt that I have seen in a long time, but I thought ours was pretty good today too though. It was a lot of fun to watch, I wish Penn State well. They are going to have a great year and I am really proud of our team and how we competed. We were just able to make a couple more plays down the stretch."
On coming back after being down by eight
"I think they just had to stay positive. We thought we were getting really good looks. They packed it in on us and I know everybody in the stands was wondering why we kept shooting the outside shot but that is all they were really giving us. We got some good shots, shots we have confidence in because they can knock them down. We just told them to stay together and get your feet set and be ready to shoot at all five spots. We felt like our balance was going to help us today and we wanted to not tell anybody not to shoot. You just got to look to score. We just got to be aggressive, we want to be an aggressive team and play together."
On the halftime message
"We wanted to get it more in the paint, you've got to get the ball against the zone, the heart of the defense. We actually talked about it at halftime, getting her (Kierra) some touches and if they brought the double go to the backside and if they didn't go up strong. Those are high percentage shots for us and you have to hope they go in, on a game like today and we finally made some down the stretch and we were able to sustain the lead."
On Tech's offensive rebounding
"Well we always talk a lot about if you're missing some shots and some free throws there is not an excuse to defend and get the rebound and again if you look at that one line we've been very consistent on our effort it shows this group is playing really hard when they get 22 offensive rebounds. I thought Kierra and Shauntal, Shauntal Nobles may be the unsung hero of the game as far as coming in and just being so aggressive and getting her hands on a lot that maybe she didn't get but that we cleaned up and Kierra, both these kids beside me (Jordan Barncastle and Kierra Mallard) did what seniors do in games like this and that's make plays, and I'm just really happy for these two."
On Maggie Lucas and Zhaque Gray
"Well, we watch so much film that we know Lucas and Gray are going to want the ball in their hands and they can attest to the fact that every single timeout we were talking about who was going to take a shot and we just left her (Lucas) too open at that one point. We were just trying to do everything we could do to make them uncomfortable, and force them out of their comfort zone so they miss, they are that good."
On Penn State's free throw shooting
"Well they did but I think you have to understand that at the one, two and three, Gray, Bentley, and Lucas are around 80 percent from the line or better so if you were fouling you understood who you were putting at the line. Nikki Green may be the most improved free throw shooter in the country from a year ago, she has really improved that, as has Nobels those two have really taken that weakness and really worked on it and you can tell. We had five fouls at the first media and I was really concerned about that if it was going to depend on who we were going to put on the line for them was really critical because they're not going to miss."
On how Tech played down the stretch
"Well we were able to make a few plays and then down the stretch a few more, but we gave up way too much middle penetration and we gave up too many looks in transition but it's like I told the kids every coach in the country will say you can really learn a lot from a loss, well I don't believe in that. I believe you can learn everyday and I'd much rather win and learn and continue to challenge them as a staff on areas of improvement. We are far from satisfied we've got so much work to do, the room for improvement is the biggest room in our house right now and we've got to continue to get better."
On Tech's defense the second half
"We feel like if we can defend we give ourselves a chance and we take so much pride everyday in just working and defending every breakdown drill we can and these kids play really hard and if you can get them to understand to play smart with that and defensively understand the angles and the things you need to do and the tendencies of who you are playing, these kids down the stretch are going to defend if we give something up you don't want it to be unearned. So just how hard we play defensively you can give yourself a chance to win if you defend and rebounding, and it think this bunch has started to understand that a little bit."
Lady Raiders vs. Penn State
December 3, 2011
Player Quotes
On Tech's game plan for Penn State's post play
"They just told us from the jump to go up and just to be aggressive with them and don't ease up so me and Shaunie (Shauntal Nobles) and the other post just went in and went hard."
On shooting the last shot
"Well there wasn't much to it there was one second left on the shot clock and you just get the ball and shoot it, what else are you going to do with it, you can't pass it with one second left."
On what she thought of the shot when she released it
"Well I already tried to tell them that I thought we had the game won before I even took the shot so that was just a little extra boost."
On the crowd
"Well like she said the enviroment was unreal, it was one of those that when you walked in it just gave you chills. They were with us the whole game, the crowd, and they never lost confidence in us and neither did we and when the shot went up they were pretty excited."
On how important this win is
"They're an awesome team and like she said I think they could compete with anybody in the Big 12 and I think come March this will be a big win for us, it'll be up there with other Big 12 schools and I think it will mean a lot for our future and gives us confidence going into Christmas break."
