Postgame Quotes
November 19, 2014
College Park, Md. (XFINITY Center)

No. 8 Maryland 85, No. 25 South Florida 67

Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese

Opening statement:

"A really solid win so early in the season, especially against a team that's going to be in the NCAA tournament. I think they obviously really challenged us the entire game. Courtney Williams is just a really special player and extremely difficult to guard. I'm excited to be able to see the defense that was played. Shatori was sensational and the team collectively just did a really nice job trying to make [Courtney Williams] work. To be able to see Shatori's night, what she was able to do was really explosive and I think she really helped to set the tone from the tip. I thought our starters were really ready to play and really made a statement early. To be able to see how aggressive Malina was, we really needed that kind of rebounding and aggressiveness was just a tremendous way for us to start off in the first half and grow in the second half."

On the team being able to execute after shooting 60% at one point in the first half:

"At times, it's fun to be able to see us execute, that's what we're capable of doing. I think at times we get impatient and you'll see us executing like that on the offensive end and we're quick to pull the trigger, which is what you saw at the second half. I think when we settle down, you get a little bit more patient for 40 minutes and then don't blow the score, good things are going to be in store for us even more so."

On the key to their defense:

"We were ready to play, you could see our energy, our intensity, how locked in we were with any switches that needed to be made, getting through screens, our aggressiveness our tenacity. Now the challenge is to be able to get that for 40 minutes but we were really really good and you could tell how hungry we were in this game."

On the need for adjustment:

“Hopefully we will be able to adjust as the season goes on. You saw both teams were in foul trouble, so we just have to make sure we protect our players when we can.”

On the atmosphere and playing USF:

“I love playing in games like this because it is really exciting. This might be one of the best defensive teams I have ever coached. I love how tenacious we are. The block by Shatori [Walker-Kimbrough] put an exclamation point on the first half and it made a big statement. We shared the basketball really well and were patient, so we can be really dangerous on both ends of the floor.”

Sophomore Guard Lexie Brown

On USF's defense:

“Like Shatori [Walker-Kimbrough] said, they were not letting us use our ball screens. We recognized it early and we knew what plays we needed to use to get the job done.”

Junior Center Malina Howard

On her overall performance:

“I think it all comes back to my teammates. My teammates and my coaches give me the confidence I need and they make me the player that I am. When they are confident in me, I am confident in myself.”

On rebounding tonight:

“We focused on crashing the boards as much as we could on offense. I always assumed it was a miss and went to the boards as hard as I could.”

Sophomore Guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough

On the matchup:

"I thought the main focus was just letting them play the game and just taking what they gave me. I think my team gave me confidence early and I think the starters came out hard."

On using the size to their advantage:

“I thought they were going to play tentatively, because they did not want to get into foul trouble. Their post bench was a lot smaller than ours and as a team it was important to recognize that a few of their players were in foul trouble.”

On her double-double:

“I feel like my teammates have confidence in me and we all have confidence in each other. Different games and situations call for different people, so I feel like my confidence was up because of the team and Coach [Frese].” 

South Florida Head Coach Jose Fernandez

On his thoughts on the game:

"Giving up 50 points is uncharacteristic for us in the first half. That's not who we are. We were in the top 15 in the country in defense last year. We went in the locker room against a very good team on the road and you spot them 17, 18 points, that's not good. We get it to 12 with eight, nine minutes to go and we miss a wide open layup and Maryland goes on a 7-0 run. That was the game. I thought we battled back and gave ourselves an opportunity, but you have to make that layup. Make that and it's a 10 point game at the under eight mark."

On the difference between the first and second half:

"I thought we got better shots and made better shots in the second half. I like how we got back in the game, but we have to give ourselves a better opportunity defending the post."

On what USF will take from this game going forward:

"We have Kentucky and Oklahoma next week. We still have St. John's and Penn State. Hopefully we can get some key guys healthy."