Syracuse Postgame Quotes
vs. Northeastern
Syracuse vs. Northeastern
November 12, 2010
Syracuse, NY—Carrier Dome
Head Coach Quentin Hillsman Press Conference Transcript
“The one thing I can say our team showed tonight is that they will compete at a high level and play as hard as they can to win a basketball game. That is one thing that I’m very happy about with our team because I know that they came out and gave everything they had.
“When you look at the stats, 37 offensive rebounds, that is a monster numbers. We outrebounded 65-29, that is a monster number. Another thing we did that I’m very disappointed in was we took 30 three’s and you guys that have been here for years know it is not the way play. For the first time in five years I learned to trust my kids a little bit and not over coaching the situation. I let them play and they figured it out, that is what we’re going to have to do from this point forward. We have to trust in our game prep, trust in our system and trust in what we do.
“Northeastern’s (Rachel) Pecota shot out of her mind tonight, I knew she was a shooter but that was different. She just kept shooting the ball, she banked one from the corner. She was on fire, when you have a player that starts making those type shots and you have Conway, who is not a three point shooter – I think Conway made two threes last year and she had three tonight. When you look at game plan-wise, it was by design to give us some room but she shot three’s tonight. They made three’s for them and they had a great game plan. I give them a lot of credit but our kids gutted it out and played hard and that is what I told them. I’m proud of the effort, us shooting 31 free throws to their 11, it was all about our offensive rebounding. We got a rebound late in the game off a free throw which we work on every day in practice and those hustle plays helped us. They got too many 50-50 balls and when the ball was knocked on the ground they got two threes out of unsettled situations. Those are hard to guard when you get deflections and you don’t get the ball and they go right to the three.
“I give a lot of credit to our kids and a lot of credit to Northeastern, it was a tough game. In January nobody will remember the score, but they’ll remember we got the W and this W might be the one to get us in. Having the experience of playing this kind of game can go a long way.”
On what he said to the team when they came from behind in the second half to take the lead:
“In that timeout I didn’t grab the board once, I told them it was going to be all about their effort. The only adjustments we had to make was to get some of those loose balls, the 50-50 balls. In the last five minutes we got 50-50 balls, I told them in the huddle that I wasn’t worried because I knew we weren’t going to lose the basketball game. We just had to do what we had to do to get every loose ball and every 50-50 ball. If you knock down one or two shots in any possession in the last three minutes the game will be over. Then there was a three that a kid hit where Tasha (Harris) was all over the kid, she stepped into it and created some space and stepped back and made it, a non-three point shooter. I wish I could say I did something great, but my kids did something great, they came out and competed.”
On having senior Erica Morrow playing point guard:
“It was different for me and obviously very different for her, she was 2-of-16. I have a lot of confidence in Erica, she has been a player for us that will have big games and that is a tough transition to make as a team. When you talk about taking a teammate and switching their position their senior year, that is a tough transition. I give a lot of credit to her for sticking with it, she has worked really hard to do the things we need her to do, to be a good leader and she will get better. We have to continue to trust her and do the things we need to do to get her the ball and get her attempts. That is one thing I don’t worry about with her playing point guard is her getting enough shots.”
On whether Erica’s transition to point guard affected the team:
“I thought that down the stretch she got a crucial offensive rebound and a 50-50 ball down the stretch. I don’t think this is a game where she struggled, I thought this was a game where her heart, her determination and her physicality really overwhelmed the other team.”
On what he attributes the 18 first-half turnovers to:
“That press is our press and we play against it every day in practice. When we’re throwing the ball away against that press it is mind boggling because in practice we throw the ball from the corner to the three like they were doing, that is our press. We just weren’t getting into the proper spot on the floor, you have to give them a lot of credit because they were physical and better in their press. It was a lot of things that went wrong that we have to look at in practice and cut down on, but their pressure was really good.”
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Student-Athlete Quotes
Senior Guard Erica Morrow
How did it feel playing point?
"It felt good, I mean, it’s the same as coach expects from guard but it was a little different. I think it works for me."
Did you realize you didn’t score until the last 4 minutes of the game?
"No, I mean I know I wasn’t hitting shots, like the stats say I was 2-16, but all that matters is that we got the “w”. Individual stats is not something that I focus on, at the end of the day it’s about the win/loss column. We got the win and I tried to help my team as much as possible."
What was bugging you about Northeastern’s press?
"It was more things that we were doing on offense. Coach said we run this press every single day, every day we run this press. Two teams play against each other, losers run. So I think it was more of first game, get all the turnovers out and just move on."
Junior Forward Iasia Hemingway
How did that first game feel?
"First game, I was a little nervous at the beginning, but my team encouraged me to do good and helped me out and it was a relief."
What adjustments did you make at halftime?
"It was more of what our team did. We needed to stop turning the ball over. They call me Baby Barkley for a reason and that’s what I do, I attack the rim. I just went for any rebound I could possibly get."
What was that “and-1” play like for you?
"It was just me being excited and me just letting my team know that I got your back regardless. We might be down but we’ll get it back and we turned it out."
Sophomore Center Kayla Alexander
What changed for you in the second half?
"Just attack the rim, a bunch of change, our team went after it. I wanted to win, our team wanted to win, and I think our heart took over."
Did you as a team rally around Erica’s off-performance?
"We’re a whole team, so we are definitely going to help each other out and play hard together."
How effective was Coach Q’s message when during one of the final timeouts, he didn’t even pull out his board?
"Yeah, it was cool, it showed that coach trusted us and he believes in us and also we believe in our coach as well because we know we can get the job done."
