The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
2010 NCAA Women's Basketball First Round quotes: Texas vs. San Diego State
03.21.2010 | Women's Basketball
March 21, 2010
San Diego State 74, Texas 63
March 21, 2010
Frank Erwin Center - Austin, Texas
TEXAS
OPENING STATEMENT
Gail Goestenkors: Just congratulations to San Diego State. I thought they played an exceptional game. The first half, in particular, I think, it's the best I've seen them play. I've seen a lot of tape on them. I could see they were gaining momentum and playing well through their conference tournament, had gone on a winning streak, so I knew they'd play well.
But going 8 for 10 from the three was certainly not something we were counting on, and it took the wind out of our sails. I give credit to my team. They fought back several times, but we couldn't get over the hump. We missed layups, and we missed free throws. To be successful in this environment against a great team, you've got to take advantage of every opportunity you get, and we did not. So we're extremely disappointed with the way things went today.
But I give credit to San Diego State. They made big plays, especially Jene Morris. We obviously couldn't do anything with her. She hit -- from outside she penetrated, hit from inside, and she's also an outstanding defensive player. So she pretty much had her way with us.
Kat, they obviously started 8 for 10 from the three. Did they do something differently than you guys expected? It just seemed like that was their game.
Kathleen Nash: I don't think we were expecting them to come out and hit their threes like that. We just didn't adjust well. We scouted them well, but sometimes teams make shots you don't expect. So we should have adjusted better.
Did you think at the half that you guys would be able to do something differently to skim that tide? You didn't expect them to play that way for two straight halves.
Kathleen Nash: We just knew we needed to get the ball inside. Our shots weren't really falling that much. We needed to tie it up on the defensive end because they were getting a lot of points in transition, and we thought they'd cool off a little bit from the three. But we still wanted to put more pressure on them so they didn't get those open looks.
Kat, what goes through your mind after a loss like that?
Kathleen Nash: I mean, it's a really tough loss for us. We weren't expecting to lose. It's just tough because you work all year long for this time, and it's a killer to lose. It's tough for our seniors going out like this, but we just have to get ready for next year.
Cokie, can you describe the frustration part? There were so many layups that went in. Not just layup-wise, but their defense, your balls wouldn't go in. What was going on there?
Cokie Reed: We just weren't making layups. You can't dwell on it. You have to just try to get it back on defense.
For either of you, as the game was going on, you guys really came back. [Indiscernible]. Talk about the game plan the last few minutes and the game plan you guys were trying to play.
Cokie Reed: We were just trying to get defensive stops, foul, hope they miss the free throw, and score on offense.
You seem to get some spark when you came back in the first half and again in the second half. What were you trying to do out there?
Cokie Reed: Just make layups and rebound really.
[Indiscernible]. Was it unexpected?
Kathleen Nash: No, I just think sometimes shots don't fall. They definitely fell their way today. That changes our game up a little bit because I think we're used to having those shots.
Kathleen, you had a boot camp. You practiced two-a-days for a week to work on turnovers. For the most part, you did pretty well with that. Their turnovers kind of kept you all in the game. Can you talk about that a little bit.
Kathleen Nash: I mean, we didn't turn the ball over, but we also didn't make our shots. And when you don't make shots, you can't really win. We tried to pick it up on the defensive end. I think they had too many transition points on us. I mean, we tried to do the job. It just didn't work.
Cokie, how is it in the locker room when you get down 14 at the half? What did you all talk about?
Cokie Reed: Just coming back and getting defensive stops and just trying to win.
For either player, it's tough to lose the first game. Can you describe the frustration you must feel for the entire season with high expectations and not to get the win today?
Kathleen Nash: I mean, it's tough not to meet expectations. We were really frustrated today. Like I said, it's just you work all year long, and you have these expectations, and it all comes down to this. If you don't step up, in one game, it's all over.
You guys played last year against San Diego State. Seemed like guard play was a bigger deal this year.
Kathleen Nash: I don't know. They were still a solid team. Their guard play definitely hurt us today.
Is it tough for you to go out and lose it on your home court?
Kathleen Nash: I mean, it's tough with all our fans being here and they're all rooting for us. They've been there all year. We really feel like we've let them down. It was really tough because last year we lost too. So we want to definitely next year not let this happen again.
What did you say to the girls at halftime, and did it help in the first five or ten minutes of the second half?
Gail Goestenkors: Yeah, I said -- I told them two other teams in this tournament have been down 18 points and come back and won. So we were fine. We've been down quite a bit before in games and come back. So not to panic but that we needed to do a better job with our defense. We were going to look to trap a little bit more because we needed to get some tips and some steals and hopefully get some transition points because we were not hitting our outside shots.
So we scored the first couple buckets of the second half, and we were feeling good, and we got the transition we wanted. We got the penetration and the layups we wanted. We were missing our layups. So we could never get over that hump. I felt like, if we just would have put some of those layups down, you know, it would have changed things. We would have had them back on our heels.
Our defense was very good in the second half. They made five buckets, I think, in the second half. We did a good job defensively. We got what we wanted to. But the bottom line is you've got to make some free throws and make some layups, and we did not.
Brittainey had missed some layups and a couple of times tried to come back in. Can you describe what she must be going through.
Gail Goestenkors: I feel for Brittainey. I feel for all the seniors. This is their last opportunity. And especially for Brittainey, she's such a great player, to go out with such a bad game. That's the only way I can describe it. She could not seem to do anything right. We kept trying to take her out. Sometimes players can shake it off and get refocused. And her heart is willing, but it just wasn't to be for her. So I really feel bad for her because I know she takes a lot of it upon her shoulders.
You know, tonight was not her night. One of your best players having one of her worst nights, it's tough to overcome.
Obviously, you want home court, but at the same time, is there extra pressure on the player to produce?
Gail Goestenkors: Perhaps. But I still feel like there's a comfort of being at home. We love playing at home. We love our fans. And you could feel them when we started to make our run. They got into it, and they were so emotional for us and trying to help us through. I felt like they were really a huge advantage for us.
Now, I can't say if some of the players felt pressure. I don't think that's what caused them to miss shots. I just -- I would always rather play at home when you get the opportunity.
Can you talk about getting your defense back in the second half, but struggling against Jene Morris?
Gail Goestenkors: We were trying to stop her, believe it or not. And down the stretch, we weren't supposed to be fouling -- we didn't want to foul her because she's their money player. She's the go-to player. We talked about it, but they were smart. They got the ball in her hands, and she wasn't going to give it up. I mean, she was very -- she played, I thought, a great game overall. We tried trapping her. We tried switching screens on her. She's just a very heady player, and she took advantage of just about everything we did. If we had a post on her, she drove and drew the foul. If we had a guard on her, she took it to the basket. And obviously, she hit all the threes as well. When somebody's doing that, they're very difficult to defend.
What's going through your head when they were getting all those threes and you were down by 15, 18 points?
Gail Goestenkors: I was stunned. They make about 4 1/2 threes a game, and they had 8. I mean, 8 for 10. It's just remarkable. You don't usually see that kind -- I don't think I've ever seen that kind of shooting half from somebody that's more of a penetrating team. They're a transition, a penetrating team. They'll take the open three if they've got it.
They were just on fire, and it became contagious for them. We couldn't hit it, and I think it became contagious for us as well. I kept thinking, they have to cool off. Obviously, they cooled off in the second half from the three. But usually, at some point the percentages will start to work the way they have all season long.
As hot as they were, if you'd been able to make half a dozen layups, you would have been in the game.
Gail Goestenkors: Yeah, back to just the layups and free throws.
Coach, talk a little bit about the final minute as you were trying to just keep the ball more on your side.
Gail Goestenkors: Right. We were trying to get one good trap. We've done that before, one good trap. We go for the steal. If we don't get the steal, then we were going to foul. We didn't want to foul Morris, but unfortunately that's the way it worked out many times. Then we were doing a better job at fouling some of their other players, but they made their free throws.
When you've got a team that's such good ball handlers, they've got great guards. Senior leadership, great guards. It's hard to get steals off of them. So you have to make a decision. Are we going to let the clock run for 25 seconds and let them get a shot, or are you going to foul early and hopefully get the ball back and get a score? And they hit their free throws.
Coach, obviously on any other night the defense will get you to tomorrow night's game. Forcing turnovers and not turn the ball over in the playoffs will help. Just talk about the play.
Gail Goestenkors: Especially in the second half, we took care of the ball. That's what we've been working on. That was the good thing. And our defense in the second half, I thought, overall was good. However, you've got to make layups. I don't know what else to say, layups and free throws. I felt for the kids because they're layups. They've been shooting those probably since they were in second grade and couldn't put them down.
So when that's happening, you know, you're going to have a long night, and you're going to have a short season.
From a personal standpoint, how much did this bother you in your third year of the program, you wanted to make that next step and get to the second round?
Gail Goestenkors: It's very difficult. As someone who's used to going to Final Fours, I'm really -- I don't know that I've been out in the first round before. So it's very difficult going back to back out in the first game. So we go back to work.
I feel like we have turned a corner with this team. I think San Diego State is a much more difficult matchup than we had last year. Last year, obviously, we were missing Carla. But they were picked to win their league, and they really could have. They hit a tough stretch where they lost several games, but the way they're playing right now, they're a very, very good basketball team.
You know, in the Big 12, you look at the things we did and over the course of the season, I feel like this team did turn a corner, these players did. They understand more what's necessary, but now we've got to take another step forward, and that happens in the postseason, the summer, and the preseason. That's when you really make the big strides.
What did you tell your players after the game?
Gail Goestenkors: I told the seniors I felt terrible for them. My heart goes out to them. I love them very, very much, and I feel very proud to have had the opportunity to Gail them for three years, and I'm just sorry that I couldn't help them to go further in the tournament because I think they deserved it. I feel bad for them the way they had to go out.
And then I challenged everybody else that's returning. I said, if you want to get more, you've got to give more, and the giving starts in the postseason and all through the summer when nobody's watching you, it's what you do so you are mentally tough and physically tough. And when things don't go your way, you can dig down deep because you know you deserve to win.
SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
OPENING STATEMENT
COACH BURNS: Just a great, great experience to come in here. You know, we've had a really long layoff. We're in kind of conference mode where it's game, game, game, and we really tried hard to figure out the best way to both rest our team, yet have us stay sharp at the same time. We shot a lot, we stretched a lot. We went hard in the middle of the week with some Texas stuff with our practice guys.
I'm so proud of how our team responded. Texas is a great basketball program. We gave up pounds and inches, but we tried to make speed counter that a little bit. We shot the ball so well in the first half, I think to be able to keep the crowd relatively quiet was helpful, and we were able to keep the separation that eventually -- I mean, they took -- it was a prize fight.
It wasn't probably a pretty game to watch because they kept making huge runs at us. But just about every run, somebody made a huge shot or got a huge stop. We were concerned about our size and strength and our ability to keep them off the glass. So to out-rebound them overall was just huge.
First Jene. The first time, obviously, you guys get a three, you're going to take it, but to make 8 of 10, you've never done that in an NCAA Tournament game. What was it that was working for you guys?
JENE MORRIS: I think we came in confident. When you play a program as great as Texas, that's what you have to do. Come in and play confident. The key was finding an open man as well. We saw an open man, would give them the ball. So confidence and working together was the key to that.
Jene, every time Texas started to make a run and cut into your lead, you would do something to quiet it. How did you approach that?
JENE MORRIS: I think as a team the last couple of games, we've gotten comfortable playing uncomfortable. They're a great team; so we knew they were going to make runs. The key to winning was you were comfortable with that. We would know they were going to make runs and keep playing hard and fighting through it. That's the growth of our team. We've come a long way since regular season, and that was the key to that.
Can you talk a little bit about trying to force turnovers earlier. Coach G had told us that was going to be important for them to be successful. Talk about it from your side, how important it was early on to get turnovers from them and be able to have that work for you.
QUENESE DAVIS: We knew they're kind of an emotional team. If we got them going and had our pressure going great, we would eventually make them get back on their heels, and we'd be able to attack them a little bit more from an offensive standpoint. And then early on, I think we just really did a good job using our length and pressuring it.
When the second half started, the free throws, obviously, you had to rely on those because the threes weren't coming as easily. How were you able to keep ahead of Texas even though they were stooping you?
JENE MORRIS: Like I said, we've gotten comfortable with playing when they make runs. I think we kind of expected our shots wouldn't fall as much as the first half. The fact we shot so well in the first half, we knew we'd go through a dry spell. Just staying aggressive and everybody working together helped us keep that. They're a great team. We knew the runs were going to come eventually. The fact we stayed together and stayed confident helped us.
Jene, it's been a while since I've seen anybody play that kind of a game. How often did you get that feeling this season?
JENE MORRIS: Not very often. My teammates found me when I was open and just coming in with confidence. You know, going into the game, this could have been the last time we put on an as tech uniform. So I know Quenese and I and Kimberly Spinardi, we wanted to play well and play with Aztec pride and go out with a fight.
Was there ever a time in the second half when you guys thought maybe you were running out of gas? Just from the naked eye, it looked like maybe there was some tiring going on. Your team wasn't making the shots the same.
QUENESE DAVIS: I don't think so. Our coach, she teaches us all about toughness. If you think you're going to get tired, you get tired. I think we knew, if we go four minutes at a time, we'd get a media time-out for at least a minute. Sit down and get your break, and you'll be good.
There were a lot of fouls in this game. A lot of you guys got in foul trouble a little bit earlier than usual. How tough was it to keep the flow, keep the momentum with the rotation as much as it was?
JENE MORRIS: Confidence and having trust in each other and working together. Like I said, we built a lot of trust in each other the last couple of games, and coming off with confidence after winning the conference tournament. Anybody on the court we trusted and knew we had to work together and stick together to get the win.
This program was winning last year. This year winning once again, what does that mean to the program to you as seniors and as players?
QUENESE DAVIS: It means a lot. Last year we weren't expected to even win a game. Flying under the radar, we were kind of the team to not win. We're always not favored. This year people are going to come at us as hard as we're going to try to go at them, and our experience is going to play into that as well.
JENE MORRIS: And I think it's cool, just to be a successful program, you have to have consistency and winning over the years. This is the first step. We made two tournaments in a row. We've won two first round games in a row. Now we're hoping to win the second one and move on to the Sweet 16. That's the point of being a good program is consistency over the years.
Coach, obviously you watched the team over the last two seasons play in a tough conference, playing out on the road, the way the conference is spread out. Making a trip here, was it just another night?
COACH BURNS: No, it was better because we had oxygen. We love sea level. We are all about sea level. That's what, I think, people don't understand, especially east of the Mississippi, about our conference is that, you know, we play a style -- we love our style. We're not going to trade it. We recruit to that style. But until you have competitive depth, it gets more difficult.
So I think the familiarity with an opponent, the tradition of the university and the institution of Texas in itself had us mentally ready and excited. I have great experienced senior guards, and they were going to play confidently, and that we knew. And I knew that we'd probably get in some foul trouble because they're so big and strong on the interior. But I think most of all we were comfortable with the environment. We embrace the uncomfortable. It's fun. It's much more fun to play in a full venue than one that's not.
Can you just expand on how big this is for you.
COACH BURNS: Well, real big. You know, first round games are really difficult for both teams. We both had long layoffs. I've been telling my team for eight days pressure's on them. Pressure's on them, get a good start.
Really, we wore this same shoe. And even though Q, if you heard Q, was right, we were always the gutty little Aztecs. People didn't give us a lot of credit. But when you're playing at home, there's just a whole different dynamic about survive and advance that I thought, if we could get to a good start and get a tempo, that it would really help us. And then you're just thankful when shots drop, confidence grows, and we went from there.
Boy, they gave us body blows. That was a great back and forth, great runs. We needed every inch of that separation.
You mentioned that part of your game play was to counter Texas' size and speed, but the game seemed to get pretty physical, and you seemed to play pretty physically back.
COACH BURNS: No, no, no. I appreciate a lot what Q said. I mean, we're all about toughness. You got to be tough. But toughness is relative if somebody is 6'5" and 6'6", and you're 6'1". I could talk a good game, but they're still five or six inches bigger. They're the best shooting team in the Big 12 conference. So it's not a team I'm comfortable coming down and saying, hey, we'll double Cokie Reed. So we'll double Cokie Reed and watch Nash light it up.
I thought it was important to keep the crowd -- crowds are quieter usually if you don't let threes happen. We want to pressure, and we might give up a two here or there on the interior, but make perimeter shots really difficult. We just tried to play to our strengths and do the best that we could.
You could see by all the fouls -- we fouled. I'm not up here complaining, but I didn't think they were bad fouls. I thought they were toughness fouls.
You shoot 33% for the year on threes, and you open up the game --
COACH BURNS: We were saving it. I think it's important. Timing is everything with that.
I was wondering, one, were you saving it just for this game? And, two, do you think maybe you caught Texas by surprise, caught them off guard? They were expecting penetration through the middle, and all of a sudden the ball's out here?
COACH BURNS: I think one of the biggest misconceptions about Jene Morris, people think she's a great defender, which she is. She has great speed, which she does. But she's the best offensive player -- midrange, rim, three-point line -- that I've ever coached and that many of us have ever seen. Might be the best that's ever been in the Mountain West conference.
So there's no -- we need to get her to be more aggressive to try to get people in foul trouble. We're not aggressive enough. Quenese Davis has come from a skinny freshman who couldn't shoot straight to hours and hours and hours and hours. If you look at it, Q was the MVP of our conference tournament shooting the ball.
Coco, again, people who can only slash don't get guarded, and then they grow up and learn and put time in. Then she's a great three-point shooter. It's who's taking the shots. We're quite comfortable, I think because we're so good off the bounce, that we can find people and get uncontested threes. If our feet are set, we're pretty good.
Do you think that Texas was surprised?
COACH BURNS: I never answer questions. That's a weakness of mine. I'm sorry you did ask me that. I don't think so. We came into this game with great respect for one another because of the game that we had a year ago. We're a different team. We have different parts, but I wouldn't say I think they're surprised. You know, that's only my perspective.
With about three minutes left, there was a time-out. They cut it very, very close. Obviously, they were going to be trapping and defending and only letting you take free throws. Tell me what you were telling the girls during those time-outs and what your strategy was to try and counter what they were planning.
COACH BURNS: We don't get pressed a lot, so we make a point to work on it a lot because we don't get a lot of game action. We work on it with our guys a lot. If there's one thing we did every day this week, it was working on that because it's not a matter of what you do when you put the length of Gayle, the length of Raven, the speed and space that they have.
We pretty much put in three, four, five, six different ways to get the ball in so they couldn't get a beat on us because I thought they were good enough they could trap us up. We had done some tweaking this week, and it wasn't a lot of stuff we'd used in games before.
And I know it wasn't ideal to have to move the rotation with the fouls. Talk about how you were able to keep it limited.
COACH BURNS: That's where -- what was wonderful was hearing Jene talk to Ashley Duffy. She's a freshman. I just talked to her in the locker room. Yes, you can. You can play. You can do this. And I think that that's what teams are. Teams are somebody gets in foul trouble --
Again, Allison Duffy's versatility by being able to play a lot of three last year and to practice at that was huge tonight, and she does have a bad back. I don't want people to think she's trying to get attention. She could barely get out of bed this morning. She has a bad back, and when it seizes up, it seizes up. Her versatility really helped us, but it made it hard. I would agree it made the flow that much more remarkable.
Jene made some huge shots, and that's because she's a great player. I mean, when there's a great moment, great players make shots.
You talked about the respect that you have for Texas from the last meeting. And now you see comments on the Internet --
COACH BURNS: I don't do that. That's probably a smart thing on my part.
Looking at the comments, now you're going to have more attention targeted at you. How are you going to keep your players focused?
COACH BURNS: We talked about that in the locker room. We talked about that where what's our purpose? First thing I said was why did we come here? And their answer was to get to the Sweet 16. I said, well for that to happen, we have to have ten more minutes of atta girls and then leave your devices alone for the next 48 hours because everybody around you is going to tell you you're wonderful. There's two good teams right now that are competing that are going to match up, and they want it just as bad as you do.
How are you going to? We're going to talk to them. We're going to be prepared. We're going to rely on that. I have senior guards that really want something to happen. That's all you can do. But by the same token, you've got to enjoy your journey. And they have to -- I can't lock them into this is what West Virginia does, this is what Lamar does. I want them to just sit there tonight and feel like winners.
And then coaches will make a pot of coffee, and they'll sleep in. Tomorrow morning they'll get the plan. I don't know. If I had the answer to that, I'd probably be a lot smarter because it's tough.
