Postgame Quotes vs. Kennesaw State
12/12/2011 7:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Kennesaw State at Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tenn. - McKenzie Arena
Dec. 12, 2011
Head Coach Wes Moore
On being back home:
"Even though, we have been in finals and practice
sporadically just a few times over the last 10 days concerns a coach. It is
good to be at home, sleep in your own bed, not having to worry about mechanical
problems with your plane causing you to miss your practice or hung up in
traffic. It is nice to be here and our fans give us a little extra I think. It
is nice to have a friendly crowd around you. Again, I was proud in the way that
we came out because after a long layover, you just don't know. Besides that, we
have been getting off to slow starts the last few games. It was good to come
out and get some momentum quick."
On the game:
"A win is always nice. The last game I watched of Kennesaw
St., was against North Carolina. They were down at seven at halftime at North
Carolina and lost by 14. They have some kids that can bomb the threes. They
have some kids that can crash the boards. They did concern me, but we held them
to three offensive rebounds. In the first half, they had no threes. We took
care of business defensively. It is always nice, when you hit some threes and
score 40-something points in the first half. For the most part, I thought it
was good and after watching the film later, I am sure I will have a couple of
things that I am not pleased about. Things that we need to clean up. It is good
to be at home and have some momentum after 31-straight days on the road."
On Faith Dupree playing her first game at home:
"It worked out with us being able to win the first two
[conference] road games without her. Now, we have a few games to let her get
her feet wet. She definitely was nervous. It has been a while and definitely
had to get baptized a few times out there tonight. She just has to settle down
and do what comes natural. We are going to be fine. She gives us some depth at
the 5-spot. If Hoodie [Whitney Hood] gets in foul trouble or doesn't do what we
are asking her to do, then we have some other options.
"I thought that Capriee Tucker did a nice job in the second half at that spot. We will see, everything is up for grabs. I told them, it may not sound very nice, but as coaches say, I got the hammer. We have somebody at every position that we can go to on the bench. If you are not doing what you are supposed to do or not paying attention to details. We will give someone else a chance."
On the third-straight game with 50 or more rebounds:
"They are doing the little things, especially on the boards.
Taylor Hall and Kylie Lambert, in particular, have been unbelievable on the
offensive boards. They go hard. They crash. If we could get everybody to join
in with them. I think that Kayla Christopher has gotten into it over the past
couple of games as well. Hopefully that is something that we can continue to
build on. I think that rebounding is the most important part of the game. If
you can get yourself some extra looks by going to the offensive boards and
limit them to one shot a possession, then you are going to have a pretty good
chance of winning even on a bad night."
On preparing for Belmont:
"Belmont gave us a pretty good game last year up there. We
pulled it out late in the game. I just take it one game at a time. I don't look
at records that much. I look at film. When we see things on film that look
scary, then that makes me worry. We have Belmont next. Tomorrow, we will work
on us during practice and then Wednesday and Thursday shootaround to focus on
Belmont and what they do. We have to focus on us, that is what I told our kids
at half time. Forget about the score. We have to go out and execute and do the
best that we can."
Sophomore Forward Faith Dupree
On finally having the opportunity to play for Chattanooga:
"It was a lot of fun. Obviously, you could see that I had
some nerves out there. I tried not to play with them, but sometimes it is unavoidable."
On the first half frustrations:
"I am used to being able to make my shots, but they were all
short. I tried to get through it the best I could. Obviously, the second half
was a lot better."
On the emotions taking the court for the first time:
"Excitement. Nervous. Stressed. When I walked on the court,
everybody [in the arena] was excited, which put some more pressure on me. Once,
I got past the first couple of possessions. I started feeling a little better,
but my shots were still a little short. The coaches kept saying, "keep your
head up; slow down; and clam down."
On the transition from sitting out two years to playing:
"In practice, I am not as stressed to score right away. For
some reason in the game, I feel like when I have the ball, then I have to
score. I felt like I did that tonight. That is why I walked and had short
shots. In practice tomorrow, I am going to have to slow down and teach myself
to do that in the game, too.
On being more comfortable defensively:
"Definitely. We go through a lot of defense in practice. I
was more comfortable there in keeping the post up high, not letting them get
around me."
Sophomore Forward Taylor Hall
On having control throughout the game:
"I don't think that we did. We just knew what they were
looking for on offense and our defense executed really well. They stayed with
their shooters, which helped us keep control of the game."
On the rebounding being key to the last three wins:
"Coach [Wes Moore] always instills that in us. Always go to the
boards, always box out because a lot of teams crash really hard. We try to get
used to it because it is a focus at every practice. It is something that we
learn to do."
On playing at home for the first time since the opening game
of the season:
"It is just about having support and fans here is a big
deal. It helps us to be comfortable right from the beginning knowing that
everyone is behind us. It is good to be back and we had some momentum coming into
this game, which helped us."
