Postgame Quotes
January 30, 2016
No. 5/5 Maryland 86, Indiana 63
Head Coach Brenda Frese
Opening Statement:
"I thought Indiana came out and were ready to play, which we expected. I thought that our spur in the third quarter when we came right out of half time was the difference in the game. It was an okay first half but I thought better basketball in the second half. I think we did a tremendous job on Tyra Buss; she's a really difficult match up. We were able to really make her work for her shot. As a team, you look at 47 bench points, and the way we shared the basketball was a really big difference in the game."
On building the bench:
"We really want to build upon our bench, especially looking at the big picture. When you talk about how many conference games we play and post season tournamenta, so continuing to build our bench is big. The girls are ready to play when their number is called. Our freshmen are growing and getting better and really contributed and gave us good minutes."
On Chloe Pavlech:
"We need everyone. Everyone brings a different dimension that makes our team great. We knew that Chloe was going to be a big part of being able to defend in man against Tyra Buss. I thought she was able to be really scrappy and aggressive. She was really confident today because she has been getting extra time in the gym."
On the third quarter run:
"Our energy was different, we locked in. Defensively, we were getting stops. Offensively, we started pushing in transition and started getting aggressive. Brionna Jones came to life and we were able to move her around. Just getting contributions from everyone."
On defending Tyra Buss:
"We really tried to force her to her right hand by being scrappy and aggressive. We wanted to limit her free throw attempts. She gets to the free throw line so many times so to see her only get there three times today was big. Our team did a great job defensively in terms of just making her have to work for everything."
On having two guards on the floor:
We want to build upon it. The guards do a tremendous job feeding off of each other. When we have two point guards on the floor, in transition we can outlet to either one. Chloe does a great job of penetrating to get others shots. With Brene's scoring ability, Shatori and Kristen, it just allows us to have another guard in there that can create shots for others."
On senior Tierney Pfirman:
"She was really good today. We challenged her today. A year ago, Indiana exposed her defensively. She took the challenge and she was ready to play on both ends of the floor. She has those moments when she comes in and is instant on offense. I thought she was very acgtive today."
On freshman Kiah Gillespie:
"It's hard for freshmen, you can see that across the country. She's getting her confidence back on offense. She has got to get there defensively; three fouls in 14 minutes is way too many. We've got to have her in terms of the depth and she's been working hard and trying to help us."
Indiana Assistant Coach Rhet Wierzba
Opening remarks
“It was a tough game for us today. Maryland is a really good team and they showed it today. In the first quarter, they came out and showed their perimeter threats. They got a lot of good outside shots and got up on us with their perimeter players. In the third quarter, they showed their threats from inside. With a team that has as many options as they do, we try to take something away early and I thought we did with the inside, but then the perimeter players stepped up and made shots. They’re a really strong team. I think our team played hard, but we missed some shots early and dug ourselves a hole that was too hard to come back from.”
On the first and third quarter runs and their effect on the game
“The first quarter, they came out and shot the ball extremely well and we missed a lot of shots that we normally make. Their defensive pressure plays a role in that because our shots were a little bit rushed, so we weren’t able to get into a rhythm. That puts us behind, and then in the third quarter they made a big run.”
On Maryland’s defensive efforts
“Their defense was better today. With their big size, Anderson struggled to score a bit inside. I thought Cahill got some good looks at the high post and made a couple of good passes, but it’s tough to score on their size and length. Not only are they 6-3 and 6-4, they have good size to them so you can’t really back them in and they did a good job of standing up tall and not letting us get our shots.”
On Brionna’s offense
“In the first half, we came out and tried to double her a little bit, but for our side, Anderson did a good job of pushing her out so that she wasn’t able to get the ball in the lane near the halo. When she gets the ball in the lane or in the halo, she’s almost unstoppable. In the third quarter they came back and made some adjustments. She got better deep position on us and I don’t think we were quite as active defensively pushing her out. She was 4-9, and then she gets three offensive rebounds and she is a great offensive rebounder who rarely misses. When she gets in such great position, it can make the difference between the first half and second half.”
