Postgame Quotes: Virginia at Duke
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Virginia at No. 7 Duke
Jan. 2, 2012
Postgame Quotes
Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie
Opening statement:
“I really liked our team’s attack. Shooting 56 percent against an ACC opponent is pretty outstanding, and we might have been able to put a whole lot more points on the board if, in fact, we didn’t turn the ball over so much. That’s something that we’re going to have to work on as a team a little bit, are the turnovers. But offensively, I thought we were very aggressive, very attacking, and I love to see that from the team. Yes, rebounding-wise, I think we need to get a little bit better there and some other areas. But again, any time you shoot that kind of percentage against a strong team, it shows a lot of good ball movement – you see the 18 assists – it shows a lot of team play, and that’s important to have. We’ll grow from there and go on to next.”
On Virginia’s defensive effort:
“In some respects it was very good, meaning obviously we turned the ball over too many times. But in other respects, we got a lot of great looks – the 56 percent. Again, if we had handled that ball better, not turned it over and had more possessions – we only shot the ball 48 times. Usually we’re going to shoot it a few more times than that. So I think it was one of these. In some respects, I’ve got to look at those turnovers and see what’s happening, especially [Elizabeth Williams]’ turnovers – six for a post player – because they weren’t all guard-driven. But overall, I thought our team showed great poise in finding each other. I love that the balance in scoring was pretty much five, almost six, people in double figures.”
On the team’s aggressive approach early in the second half:
“I thought they just played off each other beautifully. I thought we kind of got after it. We had great defensive intensity at that time, and we were finding people and being patient enough to find people. One play in particular where we sort of worked the basketball and there’s Haley [Peters] wide open. Now earlier in the year, we might not have found Haley wide open. The ball would have gone somewhere. But instead they worked it through, hit Haley, she hit a three – that’s what sort of summarizes the patience, the poise. I still thought there was a lot of patience and poise. Again, some of the turnovers, sometimes you’re rushing because you see openings a little bit.”
On the tempo of the game, especially coming out of halftime:
“We didn’t come out of the gates attacking in the speed at which we wanted to. Kind of passed a little what I called east-west. We were going sideline-to-sideline more than attacking the high post and middle, and I think that sort of gave us a little bit of a slump.”
On the play between Elizabeth Williams and Chelsea Gray:
“I think Elizabeth – that time sitting on the bench. She sat 10 minutes in the first half and I think she was ready to play and I think Chelsea’s a great passer. I just think they were looking for each other a little bit there.”
On the contributions of the Duke bench:
“I thought everybody gave us a little something. I liked Ka’lia Johnson came off the bench and gave us some energy there and attack. I thought Kathleen Scheer was very confident, played very much like a senior and did some great things. Shay [Selby] was back for the first time. I think she helped us in some areas. She turned it over a little bit, but I think it was just great to have her back and get in the flow a little bit. So yeah, I thought the bench was steady, good and energetic.”
On the team’s youth and development:
“This team is approaching dangerous [laughs]. Every game. We’ve had such a hard schedule. This team’s been to Provo. This team’s been to Philly. This team’s been to Lexington. This team has been absolutely everywhere, and I think they should have great comfort in playing with each other and knowing that they have done what most have not done. But in the same sense, we’ve got a lot of work to do daily to keep getting better. So a fun and exciting work in progress.”
On Tricia Liston at the point:
“[She] is a point, four. She can play one, two, three, four for us. She hasn’t played a lot of one, but I think it’s a very natural position for her because she’s such a heady passer, and she kind of feels the defense a little bit there. So I think it’s important that her and Chelsea kind of enjoy trading off with each other, and good things happen – good attacks, good passes in the lane. I think Tricia should be able to play all four of those positions.”
Duke Sophomore Guard Tricia Liston
On controlling the game in the second half:
“I think we were finding people in open positions. We were pushing it, looking for the fast-break points and we were getting that. Once we started getting in the flow, everything started clicking, we were hitting shots, we were getting open looks and we were getting stops on defense that kind of pushed into our offense.”
On being disciplined in the game plan against Virginia:
“The game plan was just to attack – get in the gaps. In a zone, you tend to sit back [and] shoot outside shots. That’s what they want you to do. We really tried to get it inside, then look outside, back inside, hit the gaps and then we were getting open from there.”
On what has got her offensive rhythm going:
“I like playing with Chelsea (Gray) at the guard spot, but I think just getting into it at the beginning and knocking down open shots at first kind of gets me going – just playing off my teammates’ confidence.”
Duke Junior Forward Haley Peters
On how it feels to see the team’s chemistry grow during the game:
“It’s really fun when you start playing like that. I think when you’re playing against a zone it’s easy to sit back a little. I think when we start getting stops and running a little bit, then those sorts of things start to happen. Chelsea (Gray) is great against a zone in the high post, passing out of there, she does a great job. It’s really fun. Those are the best stretches of the game.”
Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle:
On Chelsea Shine’s injury:
“She got two of her teeth knocked back, so they were just sitting there. They were able to talk to a dentist over the phone and get them back in place. We’ll get her to a dentist tomorrow.”
On her team’s first half performance on defense:
“We were really active in our zone. We were limiting their touches and we did a good job of getting loose balls, tips, and steals. We didn’t necessarily convert in transition but we didn’t give them touches early in the zone.”
On how special it is for her to return to Duke:
“It’s very special to me. Duke is just a piece of my heart. I’ve played here, I’ve coached here. I’ve spent 20 years of my life here, and my best friends live here. It’s just a great place and I love it. I have nothing but great things to say about Duke. It’s been a great place for me and my family.”
On whether it was difficult to overcome the nostalgia of returning to Duke:
“No. I had the emotional piece this year when we played Cal out in Hawaii. It’s different walking into a building and coaching against your former players. I didn’t recruit any of the girls here so there wasn’t that emotional attachment to the team like there was with Cal. For me, it was special just to be back in the building and see all the special people here that I know.”
On her opinion of her team’s effort:
“I’m always proud of my team. I think we always fight. I think we had some major lapses tonight, but the credit belongs to Duke. They’re a great team, they deserve their ranking. They play hard and they play physical, and I don’t necessarily think that we matched that in some places tonight. I mean, we clawed back and cut it to 60-66, which I’m really proud of, but we have to fight like that all the time. We just need to gain more experience in games like this.”
On what Duke did well early in the 2nd half:
“I want to say they made some adjustments in the zone, because we had to get out of our zone. We’ve been pretty effective in that, but we weren’t moving on the flight of the ball. We let them see too much and they picked us apart. They did a good job and forced us out of it. We’ll just have to get back to the practice gym and work on some of those rotations and areas where we weren’t good tonight.”
On whether she has any information regarding the return of China Crosby:
“She’s going to have a scope on Wednesday. They’re going to look in there and see what’s going on. They took an MRI, but they’re not really sure. It’s not clear what’s going on, so hopefully we’ll know more on Wednesday.”
On how difficult it was to follow a coaching legend at Virginia:
“Well, I’m friends with Debbie, and she’s great, and we still talk, so there’s no animosity between us. I always tell people that it’s her program, she built it, and she’s the legend there. I’m not trying to do anything other than try to get this program back to where it was and coach this group of young women to the best of my ability and to the best of my staff’s ability.”
On whether she thinks her team has played to its potential this season:
“At times we have. At times, we have absolutely played to our potential. I wouldn’t say we’re as consistent as we need to be.”
On whether she is surprised how well her team has played defensively this year:
“I think that’s just a product of our team buying into the system. We didn’t play it well for 40 minutes tonight. We’re usually better, and I think Duke challenged us on that tonight. But the kids really enjoy what we’re doing defensively, and any time you can get them to buy into it and understand what you’re trying to do defensively, and they are able to see success with it early in the season, it just gets easier and easier.”
Virginia Sophomore guard Ataira Franklin:
On how good she thought her team’s effort was tonight:
“I definitely think we worked hard. I think that all year, we’ve been a team that has worked hard. We scrap, we’ve gotten a lot better and tougher on defense, but I think we need to work on becoming a team that not only plays well in adverse situations, but one that doesn’t get in adverse situations. We dug ourselves a hole, we kind of got away from our scouting report, so we just have to go back to work and focus on doing the little things.”
On what impressed her the most about Duke:
“I think even when we picked up our defensive intensity, they stayed poised. They stuck to what they do best, which tonight was their transition. They ran and they ran, and we didn’t always get back on defense. They finished well, so it’s just one of those days.”