Q_WNTI_31809
Syracuse vs. Canisius
March 18, 2009
Carrier Dome – Syracuse, N.Y.
Head coach Quentin Hillman:
Opening remarks:
“A win at home! That’s good right? A two game home winning streak? It’s been a long time since we’ve done that. I guess I’ll start by talking about style of playing and how it’s changed over a couple of days. After the season was over, I had a few days when I was out recruiting and I went to go see some of the kids that we’ve signed. I said, we’ve got to make a decision – we’re going to either be a zone team or a team that’s going to force tempo and force pressure. I was just sitting there, watching games, watching people play, thinking about teams that gave us problems, and thinking about how in women’s basketball if you just extend the floor and pressure and [how you make the other team work]. So, I said, we’re just going to change the whole way we play, not knowing if we were getting into the NIT or not because with a 16-14 record, you can very easily not get in. So, we came back Sunday and we started practice and I sat down with the girls and said, look, if you’re going to play here, you’re going to be able to play full court man-to-man. We’re going to extend the court and you’re going to guard your man. I said if we get opportunities where we can run and jump and trap, get the ball out of people hands, we’re going to do that. I also think in a two-game span, we gave up 30 3’s against Villanova and De Paul in a week or so. We can’t do that. We can change our style of play. So, I said if we’re in the NIT, we’re going to play that way. If we don’t, then we’ll practice that way for the rest of the year so we’re ready to play come next season. So, that was the reason for our style of play. We started practicing that way. I saw the kids really had fun doing it. It was the first time I had ever seen them in practice guarding something, then take a water break, and they go to the water cooler and they’re talking about how to go about the drill the next time. So, it got me excited and I had to make a decision – do I come into this NIT game and say okay, go back and sit in the zone, or will we all go play? So, we went and played, and I’m just very, very pleased with them because we did this in three days. That’s the way we’re going to play from this day forward. We’re going to get out, sit on the floor, we’re going to pressure, fly with threes, and guard the ball. It’s good to have Erica [Morrow] back scoring the basketball. I told her and Chandrea [Jones], I don’t care, just score. Just put the ball in the basket and score. If Slinky [Nicole Michael] would have really gotten going, they could have had a major problem. Slinky didn’t have a great offensive game, but she played really well on the floor, guarding the ball, out in space. I think that what added a dimension is what I told Tasha [Harris} and [Lynnae} Lampkins. If they reverse the ball to you, and they’re not guarding you, you better shoot. And they shot the ball, and they made threes. I think that made our game a little bit easier. I’m just really, really happy to win a postseason game. I haven’t won one yet here, and it was a great feeling just to come home and play well and win a basketball game.
On how the offense surprised Canisius:
It’s hard to say because not a lot of teams play zone, so yes, I do think it caught them by surprise as far as game planning because I’m sure they game planned for zone. But, Derrick is a good coach. I know that he has a good man package. I’ve watched a tape with them playing man and St. Bonaventure and St. Bonaventure manned them the entire game. It was a good time to see what they did against man, and there were a couple things they did that we could guard – they'd run a little flare screen or a little shuffle cut. Those things to keep our bigs inside. So we resisted screening and played up the floor and did not give them open threes. I think that when you have what we have – Marissa Gobuty who can get out and guard, Tyler Ash who played 16 minutes and Juanita [Ward} in open floor, and Lynnae [Lampkins] can guard. We have some players that can get out and guard. It was good, so I do think we caught them by surprise but the bigger surprise was us getting out and really guarding the ball.
On Canisius' defense:
“Well, we saw Erica [Morrow] and Chandrea [Jones] – there were some matches we thought we could go to. Terry and I we were kind of playing chess with number one guarding Tasha [Harris] and then throw it over to Erica. They'd have to guard Erica and then they’d switch it back. They were trying to keep number 1 guarding our ball handler at all times, so they would come up and start letting guard-on-guard screen to get the match up back that we wanted, so wherever kids were guarding, that’s who were we going to. In the first half, we had Erica with a good match up so we went to her strong in the second half and then we went to Chandrea. We don’t let that kid off the hook.
On the big number of rebounds:
For me, the rebounding is huge. When you talk about 21 rebounds, you’re talking about a lot of second opportunities that we wouldn’t have gotten, so there rebounding for me is always huge. The rebounding and the turnovers, and playing that fast and having 15 turnovers was very good for us. The rebounding is probably more impressive because you get second chance points and that helps you – we had 21 second chance points and had 17 points in transition so that was big for us.
On Nicole Michael's play:
A complete game is when Slinky [Nicole Michael] gets her points, and that’s the thing, we can’t get her offense. She played well and she has to be more aggressive but I think the total, complete game is when Slinky contributes to the point total. But, other then that is was good. I thought she played a very good game because she had a match up and she rebounded the ball well.
On changing the team's zone:
That's what we've been working on. So, at that point what do I go back to? Do I scrap all of that and lets do what we’ve been doing? It became foreign to me because we changed everything, we changed our zone. It was a good change for us obviously and the test is going to be next game at the Bowling Green, who have won a lot of games and they’re a very good ball club and have upset some people in the NCAAs last year. So, it’s going to be the test. We were very, very concerned about Canisius because they’re a very good basketball team and they average about 8 threes a game. We knew we couldn’t give them gave them 10 threes. Our goal was to keep them under 8, and they hit 9, so it was still two more then we actually wanted to give up in the game.
On Chandrea Jones:
We have so much history from recruiting. I recruited her straight through high school, straight so it seems like I was waiting for her to get in for like 20 years. She left high school, go to JuCo, and then we fight through so. It was a long couple years recruiting this kid because she doesn’t talk. So, it’s been good because she's a great player. More importantly, she has a very thick skin because she has to put up with me. And that’s impressive that she comes to play every day and she doesn’t look back and roll her eyes. She's a good player for us. Without her, we wouldn’t be nearly where we are and have been in the last two years. She’s elevated our team in games we needed her to elevate us in and I say I don’t care how you put the ball in the basket, just put it in the basket. I don’t care what you do, just score. Obviously when I say I don’t care what you do, she goes out and scores six points. So, I don’t care what you do next game , Chandrea, just put the ball in the basket.
On [Bowling Green head coach Curt Miller]:
Honestly, I have not watched one game. I just know how many games they’ve won. They beat Boston College last year and they’ve had a tough schedule. They're a very good team and Curt does a good job. He runs a good team. I saw him last year run a lot of ball screen stuff and stuff that we have to guard so they’re going to get us into situations where we’ll have some matchups with guarding the ball. It’s exciting and I’m excited to still be playing. There won't be too many teams left playing Sunday. It’s going to half the fields on both tournaments so I’m excited to be playing.
On how the win feels:
It's funny. I was home one night and my wife said it doesn’t look like you're having fun anymore. It’s not that fun when you’re loosing, but to be quite honest, I think if I don’t have fun, then my players don’t have fun. I’ve been trying to back off, loosen up, let them play, and let them know how much I always appreciate their effort. I just want to have fun and I’m very happy when they’re happy and I’m happy when they’re successful. Just as a staff and team, we’re trying to loosen up and have fun in the basketball games. It is a game so they’ve got to have fun. We’re always together.
On the first postseason victory:
It means a lot to me because I think it means a lot to the community. We have Dr. Daryl Gross and Barb [Henderson] and Josh [Waldman] do everything for us. I think for our staff and for our kids, you just want to be known as a winner and I think that when you get postseason play, you’re known as a winner. You have 112 teams right now and 328 Division I teams. It’s a pleasure to still be playing. More than anything, I don’t want to let the community down. Everyone works hard for us. When we advance, they advance. When they get a ring, we get a ring. It’s important. We do it all for our fans, our staff, our community, for the people who work hard for us. I don’t want to let them down. We said let’s get our first-ever postseason win and it was. It was a great win for us. I'll take any kind of postseason tournament they have. I don’t care, I like to win.
