Here’s the transcript from the post-game press conference after the UConn Huskies destroyed the Temple Owls 90-36 in the second round of the NCAA Women’s Tournament on Tuesday night
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma:
Opening Statement:
There’s not much I can add to what you just saw. It was pretty incredible. Just a really special performance by these kids in the first half. When Maya gets it going like that early, it just snowballs for everyone else. The NCAA tournament is about these two (Gardner and Faris), people that aren’t on the cover of the media guide and people don’t talk about them on ESPN. They sit there and they watch and they wait, and then they help you win games, and they do it night in and night out. It’s a big, big reason why we’re here where we are now. They really exemplify what college basketball players are all about. They don’t get a lot of attention, they don’t get a lot of notices, they just get a lot done.
On playing in Norfolk…
When I found out we were coming here, I knew exactly where we were going to play. And I was anxious because I had never been in this building. It was everything I thought it would be. I’d been down here so many times when I was an assistant at Virginia. The people down here know all about basketball, and they know women’s basketball as much if not more than any other place in the country. The people here have been absolutely incredible. I’m not surprised, either. We’ve been in a lot of venues across the country. I can see why they have it here. They should have a regional here, if they haven’t already. It’s a great place to play basketball, and the people appreciated it.
On whether he had any sympathy for Temple coach Tonya Cardoza…
Yeah, I did. I do that a lot in those situations, when that happens. I said at one point to Wood Selig, who’s the new AD here, when we’re playing like this, it’s impossible to beat us. I don’t know what you do in that situation. But what are you going to do? Say hey, stop making every shot because our friend’s on the other sideline? But I understand.
On whether this first half was close to perfection…
It would be hard to find a lot of fault with it. I mean, I’m good at that, but I had a hard time picking it apart at halftime. If you take away what the score was, you’ve got to appreciate what those kids are able to do. I don’t care if you’re just running up and down doing drills, with no defense, you still have to put the ball in the basket. You still have to make the plays. So it’s not as easy as we make it look sometimes.
On Kelly Faris’ improvement over the course of the season…
Kelly’s one of the best players we have on our team. The only thing that gets Kelly in a bit of a jam is when she’s playing too fast and trying to do things too soon.
On UConn’s consistency…
That’s probably the one thing, when I do look back on things, is that through the years, we’ve been able to sustain it at a real high level through a bunch of different players and still wind up putting ourselves in a position to compete for a national championship. And to do it for that long, I think that’s something that our coaching staff and hopefully our administrators are really proud of, that they can count on that. It’s not easy. So it’s the consistency that I’m probably most proud of, no question.
Freshman Guard Kelly Faris
On UConn’s intensity level throughout the game…
Just the energy in the locker room was amazing at halftime. We tried to keep everyone focused because we knew we still had another half to play. After a half like that, you still need to build on things.
On her own performance…
IT just takes that one player to get everyone going, Maya did a great job of that today. Our team builds off everyone else. That’s what makes our team what we are. Obviously everyone could see we just went out and had fun and we jelled together and had a blast.
Junior Guard Maya Moore
On whether this is the best performance by the team in her time at UConn…
For us, it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kind of a half. You could just tell from the person making the shot out there and the court to the last sub on the bench, everybody was just full of energy for what we were doing. What you saw out there was 6 a.m. Sept. 1, 2009, getting up, workouts, individuals, in the gym, constantly doing drills again and again until you get it right so in and working out so in a game in March, you can go out there and enjoy it.
On the play of Kelly Faris…
Kelly was amazing. She constantly gets better. I think that’s what makes her so effective. First of all she works hard, she listens, she’s always in her defensive stance….You have a lot of faith in her because she’s not afraid to do something amazing. She’s not afraid to make that tough pass, make that hard cut, make that hard lay-up. And she has a nose for the ball. It’s amazing when you don’t have to worry about your freshman.
On whether UConn’s performance surprised even her…
As a team, it was a great surprise. Because you go in hoping you’re going to hit every shot, but you don’t really believe you’re going to hit every shot. But at a point there, we thought every shot was going to go in. You don’t really get to experience that often. Coach was telling us in the locker room that it’s great we get a chance to experience having your hard work pay off in a game like that and having everybody involved. It was a pleasant surprise.
On UConn defensively…
It thought we were great. Just how active we were. I thought we did a great job getting a lot of deflections, communicating with each other, knowing what they wanted to do and taking that away, having each other’s help. We have our teammates’ backs. As long as we keep doing that, we’ll keep playing and winning the way we are.
Senior Forward Meghan Gardner
On whether the first half was by design or just “natural combustion…”
I think it was a little of both. We work hard in every shoot-around to make sure we do everything perfectly and we’re prepared for everything they throw at us. And I think we were due for a good shooting game.
Temple Head Coach Tonya Cardoza
Opening Statement:
Obviously, that’s not the way we intended to come out. They jumped on us right from the start and because we don’t score a lot of points we had difficulty scoring. It was pretty tough to even put up a good fight. Most importantly, I just didn’t want my players to quit. They’re [UConn] so empowering in so many different ways and just about everything they tried to do worked for them. I just wanted my players to fight to the very end.
We’re disappointed in the loss but I’m just so very proud of us getting to this point and how hard we worked all year. This loss is no indication on our entire season so the most important thing is making sure our players know that.
On the moment between you and Geno before the game…
That’s just between he and I.
On Maya Moore’s development as a strong player…
Maya is just a competitor. It was a challenge and I’m sure the fact she was playing against our team and against me didn’t matter. She doesn’t care who it is—she wants to go out and kill you and that’s how she approached this game. From the moment the ball left her hands, it went in and she didn’t stop. That’s just the competitor in her and hat’s why they’re so good. Maya came here [UConn] as a freshman, and she took the pressure off everyone else around her. No one really knew who the star was going to be or how we were going to approach that season. She just put it on her shoulders in how she played no matter who we were competing against. She went out there and took the pressure off all those girls so they can just play the game they enjoy.
On what was going through your head at the end of the half…
Wow! Watching them on film, we tried to figure out how we were going to guard all them. They’re a great passing team and they showed it. They’re that good. Watching them in person is something totally different, and it’s from one through twelve. The girls coming off the bench can be their own team and beat a lot of teams. It just comes from practicing each other which only makes them that much better.
On whether you feel your stamp is still on the UConn team…
Most definitely! If we can’t win, I’m always rooting for them. I love those guys and they’re always going to be my family. I feel like I do have a stamp on them. Kalana is one of the kids I recruited heavily. Tiffany, Caroline, and Lorin are still my kids. Of course, I’m proud of what they accomplished and I wish them well. I hope they win it all. No matter where I end up, I’ll always be a Huskie.
On whether or not this half was the best after watching the team for 14 years…
I’ve seen a lot of good ones. At this level and time, maybe it was really impressive. After 14 years, I’ve watched some really good basketball.
Junior Center Marli Bennett
On whether or not UConn is even better in person than what they looked on film…
I believe so. That’s a fairly true statement. They are the number one team in the nation for a reason and they proved it tonight. They played an outstanding game, shot great from the field, and they ran the floor.
On the season as a whole…
We worked hard all season and no one really expected us to be in this position competing for the NCAA championship. I’m so proud of my teammates for what we have accomplished. We’re probably the smallest team in the NCAA, but we fight hard and we worked hard all season.
On the gap between UConn and the other major powers…
When something is not going right, they keep going on the offensive end. They play so well together and it shows on the court, especially offensively. They all work extremely hard.
Junior Guard Qwedia Wallace
On Maya Moore making all her shots…
Wow! Every time they shot the ball, it seemed like it was going in. We had to make sure we didn’t hang our heads. Just trying to stay together as a team is what we tried to do because it is a little disheartening when it seems like everything they’re throwing up goes in. I felt like as long as I talked to my teammates, huddled and tried to stay together, then that’s all that would matter.
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