Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech - Texas Quotes
January 28, 2012 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2012
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Lady Raiders vs. Texas
January 28, 2012
Texas Tech Head Coach Kristy Curry
Opening Statement
"You know a lot of people want to ride in the limo, but what you want is someone when the limo breaks down to ride in the bus with you. We had 10,000 people riding the bus with us. I cannot thank the students the High Riders and that crowd today for sticking by us they were the difference down the stretch and gave us a lot of confidence, and I feel like I'm always thanking them but we had a little car trouble but we are getting it back and I just want to thank everybody for getting on the bus with us lately and we are going to stick together. It's like I told them we've had to have short term memory here lately and we've got to have short term memory and enjoy this until midnight and take a day off tomorrow and come back and get ready for Wednesday night, so that's all I have to say."
On what was the change for Tech this game
"You know I think it has to do with this one right here on the left of me (Jordan Barncastle) when I woke up yesterday morning I had trouble sleeping and had to start her because I felt like she could give us that confidence that calmness we need. Kelsi (Baker) hadn't done anything wrong and I think a lot of it had to do with Barncastle's leadership today, she was tremendous."
On if this was Jordan Barncastle's best game
"Oh, it's hard because she's done so much everyday that's hard for me to think about that's anything but good. I'm really proud for her and the team and again, it's short term memory and she was just really aggressive for her to do what she did on the boards which I'm always on her about says a whole bunch, so great effort today."
On losing their lead 15-point lead
"Well we knew they were going to make a run because we know how good they are, so we just have to stay together and that's the way the Big 12 is. Just take it in four-minute segments, win every four-minute segment and stay together and stay strong. I thought we executed at critical times today and maybe in the past our decision making where we haven't. A couple of examples that caused that were maybe we ran too much when we wanted to pull it back or there was a time late in the game where we should have pulled it out and the whole bench is screaming pull it out pull it out, but I thought we made better decisions at critical times today not enough where we can always learn from but more so than we have."
On if this was the most consistent second half they've had so far
"I think it was the most consistent game, definitely the second half as far as our execution and we tried to get everybody involved early in both halves and if you go back and watch we did that, we might of missed a shot but we got a move and think we can score and I thought that really helped our team today. We were looking a little lost without our leading scorer and rebounder (Kierra Mallard) and waiting like where's she at the other night and where's she at in practice and again they are all here because they are talented offensively and I felt like we needed, as a staff, to get them more involved and like I said we might have missed some shots when we were trying to get the first four folks involved and the first four folks in the second half and I thought that really helped our confidence, for us to know we were looking to get great balance today."
Texas Tech Player Quotes
On beating Texas
"I think it is really cool to go into these next couple games with this momentum, and kind of get in the swing of things again. It was nice to do something we haven't done in a while. I haven't won here against them and hopefully we'll go there and win again."
On starting
"She's (Coach Curry) been saying about how we need balance and that everyone needs to be aggressive and everybody has the green light. All those things, and how much confidence everybody has in each one of us. I think that I was trying to be a little bit more aggressive offensively and defensively. With great energy I think that a lot of things fall into place."
On breaking losing streak
"It was a tough win, a tough loss for them a tough win for us. I think it will prepare us for Wednesday and we are just looking ahead, taking it one game at a time. I definitely think that this gives us momentum and positive encouragement that we needed."
On perimeter defense
"The goal was to just put pressure on the guard to help my other teammates get in the passing lanes like they need to. With defense we are very good, and getting in the passing lanes we need to do it every game, every time."
Texas Head Coach Gail Goestenkors
On almost breaking through in the second half
"I think Tech was more determined than we were from the start, but even when we were making our run it was like they would never let us get that lead. It shows with rebound. Rebounding to me is what shows determination, especially offensive rebounding. They out-rebounded us by 14 in the second half nine offensive. So that shows the determination that, even when they miss shots they go get that offensive rebound and put it in."
On message to team in locker room after fighting back but coming up just short.
"Just very frustrated. I said, we've got to make a change. We've got to find a different way because this is about the fourth game that we have started off and had either zero or two points at the first media timeout. It looked like we weren't ready to play. Tech was very ready to play, and I give them a lot of credit. They came right at us and we were just lazy and fouled and turned the ball over. So, something has to give, something has to change. Because when we start off games like this we lose."
On Tech's interior defense
"They were very physical. They did their work early, they bumped us early. Our posts were posting up about five or six feet away from the basket. When we did get the ball they doubled us, and we put the ball down and turned it over. So I just thought they were very very determined."
On Yvonne Anderson and Chassidy Fussell
"Yeah, I was proud of Yvonne in particular. She showed that determination and the passion that we need. I thought Chaz showed it on one end of the floor, offensively she showed the determination and passion but not on the defensive end. To be successful you have to play both ends of the floor."
On final possession down 2 with 20 seconds left
"We had four guards in at that point so we were looking for our penetration and the skips. We had AG (Ashley Gayle) just come out and set a ball screen, which had been effective for us throughout the game."
On what was working during run
"Well we were attacking. We got 15 free throws in the second half, and that was because we had that attack mindset and really pushing the ball in transition, making good reads. So we got to free throw line a good bit, which was good. We hit the open player and we were ready to score."
