Coach Hillsman Quotes
Coach Hillsman Quotes
Syracuse vs. Richmond
Manley Field House – Syracuse, N.Y.
Opening Statement:
“I’m obviously very happy with the win. It was a big win for our program and for our players. We just talked about surviving and advancing and not taking this tournament for granted and we’re doing that. I’m very proud of our players understanding that they have a great opportunity to win a tournament and win basketball games and to continue to play hard.”
“I was really happy with Nicole (Michael) and Erica (Morrow) second half. I challenged them big at half time. I told them to come out and just play really hard and execute and do the things that we need to win a basketball game. I told them that if they didn’t step up, we would lose. Obviously, they stepped up big and we won the basketball game. I’m very proud of them and their effort. No matter how hard I challenge them or no matter what the situation is, they just continue to show up at crucial times of the game. “
“That’s the game. We shot 50 percent from the field and we only took seven three’s, when our goal was to take less than 12. Obviously, we didn’t get a ton of rebounds, but we also made a lot of shots. We really shot the ball well from the field in the second half. We were a really unselfish team. We shared the ball, reversed the ball, and threw the ball inside.”
“I’m just really proud of our girls. We’re sitting here with 24 wins. Like I told our girls, as of tomorrow, there will be 32 women’s teams playing in the country and we’re going to be one of them.”
On the adjustments SU made heading into the second half:
“We have a lot of different sets that we can run to get rid of the ball. We just did a few things to get (Erica Morrow) the ball in a spot close to the basket where she can score. That was big, getting closer to the basket where they could be aggressive.”
On there being far less turnovers in the second half:
“I wish I could say it was something I did. It wasn’t. I just told them that if you want to win, you have to take care of the ball. I think that they just made a conscious decision to take of the ball in the second half.”
On being far more aggressive in the second half:
“Early in the first half, they stretched us out in our press. That’s becoming a bit concerning for me because people are stretching us out too much in our press. They are throwing the ball over the top and getting shots in the corner or quick skip passes and ball reversals. We need to do a better job of running through the plays on the weak side of our press. I think that’s the biggest adjustment we made second half. We are a very good half court team. We’re in the top 10 in rebounding and the top 10 in field goal percentage defense. They don’t have a stat for press defense, so we went back to what we’re top 10 at and that’s our half-court defense and keeping them in front of us.”
On the emotional difference in the second half:
“It’s one of those things. I drive them crazy because I’m so wired up the whole game. At some point you have to calm down so they will calm down a little bit. In the second half, we were making plays. At half time, I didn’t even know what was going on out there. I didn’t know what I was doing. I’m really happy for our kids’ success. They made great plays. I’m just as equally as critical when they’re not making the right plays.”
On being the favorite to win the NIT:
“If we play the way we played the last two games, we can definitely win this thing. Our next opponent is VCU. They are a very tough and well-coached team. They are a team that can play with the middle-of-the-pack type BIG EAST teams which we are right now. It’s going to be a tough game and we’re just happy to be able to be on the floor and compete. They have a great coach so it’s going to be one of those games where I have to hold up my end of the bargain and our kids have to hold up their end.”
