University of Memphis Athletics
Post Game Quotes vs. Samford
Nov 16, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Recap | Box Score
On facing Samford's offense...
"We've been working on it all week at practice and coach has been reiterating it since the game on Friday."
On her role on the team...
"We had role meetings last week. I'm taking on my role as a rebounder and running the floor. We're already accepting our roles. It makes a difference in the game."
On Courtney Powell's performance...
"We have always really liked Courtney's energy, we just needed to channel it in the right direction. Tonight, it turned into points and rebounds instead of fouls. Courtney has accepted her role. We challenged her this week to get two rebounds every time she goes in and she did that tonight. We also challenged her to not let her player touch the basketball and that didn't happen tonight either. Courtney and Cheyenne [Creighton] gave us good minutes when we got in foul trouble in the first. We don't win this game without Courtney because even though it says 11-and-11, she was more valuable than that tonight.
On the defensive effort tonight...
"I wasn't very pleased with our defense the other night. The energy and enthusiasm that Courtney brings keeps the other players invested in the game. That effort and energy is really something to appreciate."
On the defensive gameplan...
"Our goal was to chase them off the three-point line. They only got 12 attempts and made three. When they were going to the basket after that, we were fouling them. That's what got us in early foul trouble. We were willing to give up a tough-two tonight, but we didn't want to give up the three. We didn't want to send them to the free-throw line, which we certainly did more than we would've liked. We were able to get to the free-throw line as well."
On the upcoming match-ups with Illinois and Minnesota...
"I'm looking forward to going to Illinois. We lost a tough one at their place three years ago. My heart is in Minnesota. I had an opportunity to experience a Final Four while I was there. Even though the head coach that I coached with is no longer there, the new head coach is a former player of mine and the associate coach is a former colleague of mine at Ohio State. I've got all sorts of emotional things there. They play a different style. They're going to get a shot up every eight seconds. They have a wonderful player in Rachel Banham who is probably one of the top-five players in the country. They're going to be a huge challenge for us. Tonight was a different kind of challenge in terms of discipline and staying in your defensive stance."
On the schedule...
"I told our players at the beginning of the season that this is going to be a very challenging schedule. We took care of our home-court these first two games. We got a little bit of our rotation down. We saw Brea Elmore, Cheyenne Creighton, Courtney Powell and Taylor Williams do good things tonight. I'm feeling really good about the players I've got."
