Head Coach Quentin Hillsman Quotes
No. 24/24 Syracuse vs. St. John's
January 26, 2008
Syracuse, N.Y. – Carrier Dome
Opening statement:
“We came out pretty tough after being ranked, so I guess it worked. They were very motivated, came ready to play and I was very excited about the effort that our team gave. They really played hard; we had a very good game plan to make sure we got out on their shooters. They were 3-of-10 behind the arc, we played zone for 80% of the game and they only got off ten threes – that’s a pretty remarkable defensive job when you don’t give them open shots in the zone. I thought that we came out after the half and rebounded the ball a little bit better. First half, we gave up a few too many rebounds – as far as us not going after offensive rebounds that is – and I was just really impressed with the second half. We went to the locker room and I challenged them on what was at stake here. They came out really strong and aggressive in the second half and I thought that we played pretty well.”
On the importance of winning the first game after receiving a national ranking:
“I thought it was huge because when you’re number 24 it’s scary. When you’re number 13 you can probably lose and go to number 20, but when you’re number 24 and you lose, where do you go somewhere – like number 31? I just knew that it was important for us to win at least to maintain where we are and I thought that was a good effort to come out. We talked about that before the game that we wanted to make sure when this game was over we were at least number 24 in the country, at least. That was a goal of ours to make sure that we win the game, so that we can stay ranked.”
On what made the zone defense work:
“Just our effort. I thought our effort was the most important thing. We got really good close-outs and we always had our hands up. When they caught the ball a couple times, I think during the first half, we didn’t really have our hands up on the shooters and they hit a few shots on us. But other than that I thought that overall we did a good job of just getting out and contesting all their shots.”
On being down 4-0 at the start of the game:
“They just came out and I thought early in the game we gave up a few easy things at the start of the game, but our kids have been in this situation so many times. We just know we have to continue to play and everything will work out as long as we play with effort and play hard.”
On Marisa Gobuty’s eight point run:
“It was very big because we just keep talking about how she has to shoot the ball and everytime she doesn’t shoot open shots I take her out. So either she can shoot it and stay in or not shoot it and sit on the bench. It’s a thing where she doesn’t have to think about it. She’s our shooter when she comes in the game and she has to make shots because you don’t want someone to come off the bench and then they automatically become the double down woman. So now I think that she has established herself to the point where when she comes into the game, you cannot double down off of her and she can spread the defense out and create opportunities for herself and for her teammates.”
On what he said to Marisa Gobuty:
“I have just been challenging her and I gave her some goals that she needed to reach to continue to play minutes. She has taken good shots. I think sometimes she is a little too cautious because she understands what her goals are and the marks she needs to reach to stay in our rotation. Sometimes I think that she wants to do so well all the time, not go in the game and turn the ball over or make a mistake that she passes up some shots sometimes. I think maybe her tentativeness was just her understanding what she needs to do to play minutes and I’m really happy with her listening to what I’m trying to tell her to do and she’s really contributing to this ball club.”
On what the goals for Marisa Gobuty are:
“We just told her that she needs to shoot a certain percentage from the field and from behind the line, which I’m not going to share with you. We discussed that and told her that she can’t go on the floor and turn the ball over and she just really needs to make sure that she guards the ball. I think that for the most part, the last couple games she has been doing that.”
On the crowd of 3,323:
“Unbelievable. When you walk out there and you see 3,300 fans, it is just remarkable and their energy and how they are into the game. From the band, to the cheerleaders, to Dr. Gross and Nancy Cantor. Coach Robinson was here, everybody was just here supporting us while we’re really trying to continue to build on what we’ve been doing – it is just remarkable. The community is behind us, it just feels great and I just hope that we can continue to put a product on the floor to make people want to come out and will continue to want to see us compete and play at the level we are playing at right now.”
On the importance of contributions from bench players:
“It is very important because we try to keep a certain rotation and play nine or ten players double figure minutes every game. I think that is how we can continue to push the ball in transition and to stay in our zone. The zone takes a lot of effort – a lot of energy – to get out, cover space and close out. I think some people look at the zone as a situation where you get back there and rest, but it is more of a situation where you’re back there and you really have to be aggressive and close out in longer spaces and run and get out on people. High hand closeouts and then get back there and try to box out, so we need to play nine, ten people double figure minutes. I believe at least nine to win basketball games the way we are playing.”
On the importance of big scoring runs:
“I think that we have to keep playing, we talk about from the bench, just make sure that every four minutes we are winning – that’s what I look at. At the media timeouts, are we winning or are we losing? You want to be up earlier in the game to get a little cushion. I thought that we went in at half time up by 18; I thought that if we made a few more plays the lead could have been a little larger, but I give a lot of credit to St. John’s for hanging in there. They didn’t gave in, they kept coming, kept attacking, playing at the rim, playing at the basket. We fouled them a little bit too much but we can score the basketball, that’s not our concern, our concern is not giving up 80 points, we just keep you in front of us.”
On the importance of Marisa Gobuty shooting:
“We’ll get that from her, I’m not worried about that. She is going to continue to compete because she is a very competitive kid and she is going to play hard every possession. I’m not worried about her coming in the game and making plays. She is going to make plays and as long as she is taken good open shots, she is going to make 75 percent of them, obviously.”
