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Syracuse Postgame Quotes
vs. 6/6 Ohio State
Syracuse vs. Ohio State
December 11, 2010
Syracuse, N.Y. - Carrier Dome
Head Coach Quentin Hillsman
“Obviously I’m really happy about the win. It is just a great, great performance by our team, they really came out and followed a great game plan. The game plan was really pack it inside and get out there and contest three-point shots. I told them to keep (Ohio State) at eight or under (from three-point range) and they’re right at eight. I told them if we kept Jantel (Lavender) under her average that we’d be in great shape, which we didn’t. The kids just really played hard and I have to give all the credit to our kids and how hard they played. I have to give a lot of respect to Coach Foster and Ohio State. He is a great coach and they have a great program. It is an honor to have such a program on our floor that wins their conference year in and year out. It was a great battle. Jantel Lavender is a great player, Sammy Prahalis is a great player, I watched Sammy when I was recruiting Erica (Morrow). I knew she was a great player and she stepped up and made great shots late. We’re just very grateful for the opportunity to play them and win the basketball game. We did the same things we do every night, we rebounded the basketball and kept our turnovers down. We threw the ball inside and scored 24 points in the paint. We did the things that we do every night and obviously it was a good game plan because it worked for us tonight against a great team.”
On the win:
“It was a big win but you have to get ready and go play the next one. We have Baylor next and they’re number two. Obviously it is a big win for our program. I told our kids that this is a program game, it changes the way people look at your program when you come out and play that way against such a great team and a Hall of Fame caliber coach. It is a very big win for our program and for our university.”
On the defensive game plan:
“We really wanted to limit (Jantel Lavender’s) touches as much as possible. She got 16 attempts which was good and she had six points from the foul line. I thought our players did a good job on her, she is shooting 90 percent, I told them she couldn’t shoot 90 percent or we would lose. We trapped and doubled down some, sometimes we went and sometimes we didn’t . We just did a good job of mixing up our coverages on defense.”
On whether he was worried early on when they were down by 10:
“Not at all because our kids fight. You guys that have been here for a long time now that at some point it is going to be tied again. We just keep playing and try to get back to where it is 0-0 and start from there. I wasn’t worried.”
On Syracuse’s 16-0 run:
“We just needed to keep scoring, keep scoring to get some cushion so down the stretch we can control the tempo, put the ball in our hands and win the basketball game.”
On Erica Morrow’s 27-points:
“This is probably the first game I haven’t told her to shoot the ball. We just talked about going underneath the screens, being aggressive and racing to the net. She did a good job. The only time I said something to her was in the first half when I thought she took two bail-out threes . She was getting tired and not getting to the spots we talked about in practice. She played a monster game and that is why we brought her here. That is why we have Iasia (Hemingway) here to step up and play against big programs, that is why Kayla (Alexander) is here.”
On moving on to the Bahama Sunsplash Shootout:
“It is going to be a great tournament. We have two BCS schools, we’re going to go out there, compete and do the best we can. We’re going to put in our game plan and try to win the basketball game. It is about winning games, it is not about taking one and being done for the year. We have to keep going, this game will go a long way at the end of the year when you look at RPI and trying to make the tournament. It still remains the same, we’re the best conference in the country and night in, night out you’re playing against a good team. We have six teams ranked in the top 25 so night in and night out we’re playing against a great team. We have to get ready for the UConn, Notre Dame, Georgetown and Rutgers, they’re going to keep coming. Our conference gets us ready for these kind of games so they want to play inside, be physical play in the paint, that is what we do every night in the BIG EAST Conference. “
On what the win does for the teams confidence:
“It is really good for us, I’m proud of them. The big thing is we never once talked about losing this game. We talked about what we would do when we won this game. We never talk about losing no matter who we play night in and night out, we talk about how we can win, go out there, play hard and play the game the way it needs to be played.”
On whether it is easier to come from behind:
“You’ve been here a lot, you know that is how we play. We get down 10 or 12 points then make a run and tie the game. Down the stretch it is like a coin flip. We have grown up, our players have grown up. To have two senior guards is huge and I’ve learned to trust them to make the best plays. They got good shots, it is one of those things when you come in and miss shots you haven’t missed all year. I have to give them credit, they took good shots, they didn’t take bad shots. They weren’t panicking, they were calm and just took their shots. In the last 30 seconds when they had to take some threes they had a couple rushed shots but they played a great game and took good shots.”
On how he kept the team relaxed:
“Basketball is a game of runs. We knew they were going to make a run and there would be a call here or there that wouldn’t be favorable and the key is how you’re going to react to it. Our kids really reacted well. Having a team that has been in every situation, the NCAA Tournament, the NIT, not making the BIG EAST Tournament, we’ve been through every phase of a basketball season. We don’t get rattled, we just go in and play. Keep a level head and just go play the game.”
On whether there was a point in the second half when he knew the team would win:
“We were just playing our game. When it was a seven-point game with 20 seconds left you can miss two free throws, they hit a three, you throw it away then it’s a two-point game. We have to play to the bitter end and our scrimmages are so competitive in practices with two or three point games that nine times out of 10 it is going to come down to the final few possessions and that really relaxes our kids in that situation.”
On the final seconds of the game:
“I thought they might hit a seven-point shot or something. We have a joke around here that if in doubt we just throw a hook shot to the other goal post and that ball can travel for 10 or 12 seconds, you throw it as high as you can and we could’ve just thrown it. We just talk about not turning the ball over. I wasn’t relaxing because I wanted to make sure we finished the game the way we should’ve finished with the ball in our hands.”
Carmen Tyson-Thomas, Sophomore, Guard
On the feeling of the win:
“It’s a great win, and we have many more to come.”
On gaining confidence in the beginning coming back from being down 0-5:
“We gained confidence, but we knew we still had to work hard. We knew we had to keep going for that win, and we did, so it was good for us.
On this being a big win for the SU program:
Of course it’s a big win. And like I said, we still have many more wins to come. We have more big games coming up an we aren’t just going to sit and celebrate on this one—we have more to think about.
On getting offensive rebounds:
I just knew we had to get it back out. Crashing the board is something that we all do, it’s a big part of our game. It’s a big part of my game plan, I’m a hustle player, and I knew that if my shots weren’t falling I’d have to do something else. And even though Coach Q[uentin] tells us to keep shooting it I went to do what I do best, and that is rebound.
Kayla Alexander, Sophomore, Center
On the importance of guard play:
Guard play was huge for us today. We were knocking down shots like crazy, we were getting the rebounds. They came to play and I’m glad how we played
On what this win means:
It’s a big win over a top ranked team. It definitely gives us team confidence to go out there keep playing hard, winning, keep going at it at practice, and going out and getting the next one.
On what this win does for the Orange’s confidence:
We are confident right now. Its big win. We’re gonna celebrate for a little bit but then were gonna move on, get focused and get prepared for the next one.
Erica Morrow, Senior, Guard
On what shot was her biggest
The first one. It’s something about me. I think I’m my biggest critic. I’m real hard on myself. Sometimes when I miss the first one I get a little down on myself. Its kind of hard when you have thirteen othergirls screaming at you to shoot the ball. I gotten to the gym a little early, I got some extra shots. So I told coach that I came to play today.
On the importance of fighting back in the first half
Well that’s definitely important. Once again Ohio State is a great team. That was a game of runs. We knew they were gonna make a run, we knew that coming into the game, we knew that once we got to the game, we just knew we had to make our own way. And thanks to Coach Quentin makes his own situations, for one team down by four an a minute on the clock and we got to fight our way back. Coach prepares us for situations like that. And I give credit to my teammates for fighting through.
On the importance of this win to the program
It’s important for the program but more so for the girls who are here now and working extremely hard this year. The coaches have been putting us through tests that I haven’t been through since I’ve been here, as far as running and continuing to push harder and get stronger. We have a lot of younger girls and a lot girls being put into big positions and just to Knowing they can do it is gonna give them confidence going into Big East play.
