Head Coach Quentin Hillsman Postgame Quotes
Syracuse Women’s Basketball Quotes
Coach Quentin Hillsman
Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh
January 16, 2007/Carrier Dome
Opening Statement:
“The first half we came out a little flat and dug ourselves a big hole. When you dig yourself a hole against a top 25 team, then it’s going to be hard to get back out of it. Overall, we did a good job of following the game plan. They just made some shots; kind of like what happened at UConn. They had some players that clearly weren’t great shooters and we played off of them. One of the kids we played off of at the beginning, (Karlyle Lim) she came in and she made some shots. She played last year and we knew she was a good player. She came in and scored 16 points and gave them a big lift. We knew that we had to shut some players down. We tried to take care of Marcedes (Walker) inside and she was 6-of-10. We tried to shut Xenia (Stewart) down and she still had a big game. I thought the girls followed the game plan in the second half. The gameplan really worked that half. We scored 47 points and they scored 43. I’m not happy with the loss, but I’m happy with the effort in the second half. We came out after halftime and made good adjustments and made a game of it.”
On how they planned to stop Walker:
“What we wanted to do was, on every catch, double-down on her. When we were in our zone in the first half, we had a great opportunity to double-down on her and I don’t think she scored that many points in the first half. I didn’t think that she hurt us in the first half. In the second half, we came out and had to extend on some players who were making shots and it left her one-on-one inside a couple of times. Down the stretch that kind of hurt us because we had to double-down on her from man-to-man and that was kind of hard. We game planned UConn and this game together because we knew that we wanted to shut down certain players and play off certain players. They made plays and they made shots.”
On playing zone defense:
“In the first half, we sagged off their perimeter players and they made shots. In the second half we had to extend out on them and they scored inside. That is the mark of a good team. They have good balance, they are the 25th-ranked team in the country, they have a kid that’s averaging 20 points and a kid that’s averaging 15 points. Those two players stepped up. We knew it was going to be a game of them making shots or them missing shots. They shot 46 percent from the field. We really rebounded the ball well. We were aggressive and went to the basket. Overall, we played a pretty good game, but they made 46 percent of their shots and it’s very hard to guard them when they do that.”
On Nicole Michael playing better in the second half:
“First of all, I think she played a complete game. As I say every night, I tell her to be aggressive. She’s going to be aggressive and she’s going to make some plays, so she will have some turnovers. I don’t worry about her turnovers because as far as I’m concerned, she’s the best freshman in the country. Not in the conference; in the country. She brings it game in and game out. She takes punishment when she goes to the basket and she is an aggressive kid. I wouldn’t trade Nicole Michael for anyone on this planet right now because she really, really gets us going. Honestly, when you tell someone to be aggressive, she is going to make some mistakes. A lot of her mistakes are from her trying to be aggressive. People are gameplanning for her. She’s get the ball and they are collapsing on her. I really believe she is doing all she can do.”
On Michael’s ability to rebound:
“I think it’s big. When she can get to the glass, then she can get an easy basket. Every basket we are getting we are just grinding out; we aren’t getting a lot of baskets on transition. When we are trying to run the floor against athletic teams, they are going to get back on defense. A lot of times we set it up to get the ball to her and have her create and make it a two-player game between Nicole and Vaida. Then that leaves Fantasia open and she can rebound weak side and make shots. Overall, those are our three big players and they came tonight. They scored 22, 19, and 18. I don’t know how much more you can ask from them as a unit. They also had 28 rebounds. I thought they played strong.”
On how the team has progressed to this point of the season:
“I think we are making tremendous progress. When you’re competitive, I don’t think any of us see this as a moral victory. I think we are really making big steps because last year we lost to Pitt by 20. We had no chance of coming back and even being in the game. Tonight we were down and came back to cut it to one and we were one play away from taking the lead. One play, we are down one, Nichole goes baseline, she makes the basket, and they call a travel. We were just one play away from taking the lead and taking some momentum. We are making a lot of progress as a team. It’s like going to work and not getting paid. We are working hard, going to work and it’s like we are just volunteering right now. The payment is winning the basketball game. I demand a lot of them. I demand they know the gameplan and the personnel. We do written personnel tests two days before the game. It’s not that we don’t know the personnel. It’s a young team and we’re trying to make progress. I am proud of what they’re doing, but we just want to win some basketball games."
