2011 NCAA® Women’s Tournament ‐ Sunday Practice March 20, 2011 ‐ McCarthey Athletic Center, Spokane, Wash. [No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 11 Gonzaga]
NO. 11 SEED GONZAGA BULLDOGS SUNDAY PRACTICE PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
Head Coach Kelly Graves Opening Statement: “We’re obviously excited to be back playing another day. I know I’m still a little horse, I know they are still a little bit sore. We had several players who played several minutes and I know they are a little bit tired but we’ll get re-fired up and start working on UCLA at practice.”
“UCLA is a very good basketball team. The more I watched them the most impressed I’ve been, strong, physical, aggressive, very, very good defensively and they are great rebounders. As I look at them I said at some you want to turn the tape off because they are very impressive. But we’re looking forward to that game tomorrow.”
On if any team Gonzaga has played, pressure like UCLA: “Well in our conference (West Coast) Pepperdine is the team who likes to pressure a lot. They force a lot of turnovers and have a good turnover margin. Even though they are not a tall team, they are big and strong. They have good length out on the guard line so they are a little bit different but we have seen that style a couple of times this year.”
“Notre Dame picked us up a little bit in the full court when we played them but that was really about it. So we haven’t a lot of experience against that kind of pressure.”
On the contrast and styles: “It goes to show you there are different ways to win basketball games and run a successful program. They’re tremendous. They have the kind of athletes and with certain skill sets that are a little bit more prone toward great defense, physical play. We are not blessed with a ton of size with those big type of players that can eat up space inside. We’re built on speed and we have a good point guard.”
“We try to make it full court game because that takes advantage of our strength. It’s one of those it’s going to be interesting to see.”
“They can run. They choose not to all the time but they actually can transition very well. But I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of style wins out tomorrow because I think whoever gets their tempo going has a chance of winning.”
On simulating to UCLA’s pressure: “We can’t really. At this point, it’s not like it’s going to magically work on those kind of things and do something a little different than we typically do. We’ll dry run the best we can.”
“The reality at this point is we got to make sure we have good spacing and we get the ball into the hands of people who can make plays. You got to take care of the ball. I think you can sum it up in a couple different ways. If you take care of the basketball and don’t allow them to get those runouts and transition buckets off steals and make them play half court then that benefits us. If we can get stops obvious get stops, get the ball out and go, that benefits us.” On the importance of Courtney Vandersloot taking care of the basketball: “As a coach it’s very comforting knowing that the ball is in her hands and will be for a good majority of the game. She’s got to make great decisions, there’s no question about it, and our team has to be active. What I saw yesterday from Montana they were pretty stationary in trying to beat that pressure and you can’t be.”
“We got to look vertical and diagonal. We got to do a lot of different things to give them different looks. Fortunately, we have skilled players who can pass, catch and make plays in the open court. I think that will be a benefit for us. The bottom line is it’s going to come down to Courtney and how well she can handle that kind of pressure.”
On if UCLA is trying to force turnovers or trying to slow teams down: “It’s a little of both. They are not a ‘in your face’ kind of defense as far as guarding the inbounder and trapping the first pass. They let you come to them and they wait for you to make a mistake.”
“They really work well together but I do agree some of it is tempo based. They want you to use some time in the back court and that way you don’t have as much time against that zone.”
On the rebounds in the two games Saturday: “Montana did a really good job of packing it in and beating them from the outside. They did a good job of blocking it out. Montana is a long team if you look at them top to bottom they have a lot of long kids there. It takes effort. We’ll have to give great effort on boards. I think that is one of the two or three keys to the game tomorrow.”
On the attendance: “The crowd is important and we do feed off it. I think everybody does and that is natural but the bottom line it’s 40 minutes between our team and their team on the court.”
“When I first started here about 11 years now it was mom, dad, some roommates, a couple of people who wander into the gym not knowing there was actually a game there. Anytime you see crowds like this there’s a lot of factors involved. Number one we got better and we’ve continued to improve and with each year we’ve got a bigger and bigger audience. Secondly we kind of play a style that is condusive to people wanting to come out and watch. It’s a fun brand of basketball. Yesterday was as good a college basketball game as may have been played on the women’s side this season.”
“Thirdly, our adminstration has made a commitment to women’s basketball here. They realize it can be a revenue sport. They backed it, they pushed, they’ve marketed, you’ll see commercials all the time about the season ticket pushes. I think it’s all encompassing. People come because they want to support a winner but you also have to back that and the university does. I am grateful for that and I know our team is as well.”
On Courtney Vandersloot’s comparison between this tournament and the previous: “A little more determined, stronger, experienced. I think we all fall down and have to learn from it to get back up. She’s that kind of competitor. She’s going to have to do it for at least one more game. I know UCLA has a game plan for her and they are going to come after her.”
On whether staying at hotel or staying at home: “We thought about it but not very long. I think it’s a benefit to stay in your bed anytime. I am going to encourage them to go to class like I do every day. They should do that.”
On playing a close level of competition: “I think anytime you win close games like that it gives you confidence, no question about it.”
On Katelan Redmon: “She had pretty looks. I don’t think she completely squared up on some of her shots. That’s when she struggles a bit. That’s kind of how we are this year. She might have an off game but you might have two players who step up and we had role players that did as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if she came out and played a good game. That’s how she is.”
On Courtney Vandersloot’s 2,000 point record: “I’m not sure how many people know about that. I guarantee you Courtney is not going to be counting it down in her head. She want one thing and those who know Courtney know there is only one goal for her tomorrow and that is to win the game. If she goes scoreless she would be fine with that as long as we win.”
“We’re obviously pulling for her. Anytime you can say the ‘only ever,’ those are two pretty good words. But that is not our focus and not hers I guarantee you.”
Senior Guard Courtney Vandersloot On the crowd’s energy: “It’s a great environment to play any game, whether it be a regular (season) game or an NCAA game. I think that’s what helped us get through the end, like Coach Graves said we played a lot of minutes and our adrenaline was pumping. It was an exciting environment for anybody, I would say.”
On the players’ perception of their home‐court advantage: “It’s just another home game for us. We’re excited to be here. Our crowd obviously gives us energy but when it comes down to it, it’s the NCAA Tournament and it’s just another game.”
On UCLA’s press: “Just like any press, you want to attack it. They’re big and you definitely don’t want to pick up your dribble because you’re going to be surrounded by big players. When it comes down to it, you’ve got to be smart and take care of the ball.”
On her experience in the off‐season after facing some physical guards in the NCAA and how she expects this time to be different than this time last year: “Not really much different. I think that just like I saw last year, they’re definitely physical and strong and that’s why I worked so hard in the off‐season so I wouldn’t struggle with it so much. I’m prepared for it. I’m ready for it.”
Junior Guard/Forward Katelan Redmon On the players’ perception of their home‐court advantage: “It’s just another game. You’ve got to go out and play it. It’s nice having our home crowd there, but it’s just another game – you’ve got to go out and play hard.”
On UCLA’s tempo: “The key to it is that we’ve got to get our tempo going. We can’t allow them to slow down the pace of the game, so we’re going to have to make sure we’re getting the rebounds and getting the fast breaks going.”
On whether or not she played against UCLA during her time at Washington and her memories of playing against them: “Yeah, I did play against them. To be honest, I don’t really remember them a whole lot. It was about four years ago, so they’re definitely a different team now than then. They’re a very strong defensive team, so we’re going to have to come out and play really hard.”
On her plans for tomorrow (Monday, March 21) “I will be going to my morning classes.”
2011 NCAA® Women’s Tournament ‐ Sunday Practice March 20, 2011 ‐ McCarthey Athletic Center, Spokane, Wash. [No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 11 Gonzaga]
NO. 11 SEED GONZAGA BULLDOGS LOCKER ROOM QUOTES
Senior Forward Claire Raap On practice: “A lot of the time we work on us and then once we find out who we’re playing we kind of see what they’re doing and work on us again. Our coaches do a great job of watching film and showing us what they do and kind of getting to know them so we can better prepare ourselves for them.”
On how they’re preparing for UCLA: “They are a really good team. I think as long as we can play our game, we come out and hope for the best that we can play. That’s the best thing you can do when playing someone. Just really focus in on, ‘alright it’s game day, let’s be the best we can be.’”
On the atmosphere of the McCarthey Athletic Center: “It’s awesome. We love it. Being able to play at home is always awesome, but the fans that came in and even some of the traveling teams that brought fans, it was just awesome.”
Assistant Coach Lisa Mispley Fortier On what the coaches are preparing in practice: “We practice a little bit shorter towards the end of the year to make sure that we’re rested and get a lot of shooting in. By this time of the year we know what we do and so we have to focus a little bit on the next team that we’re preparing for. We’re getting lots of shots up and running through our typical stuff.”
On UCLA’s defense being a main focus: “It will be today. We’ve been getting a lot of shots up so we might have to tweak a couple of our offenses a little bit. But since we play a fair bit of zone as well, we practice against our zone on a daily basis as well as our man to man. So maybe a couple of tweaks here and there, but it’s just our typical day before game routine.”
Junior Forward Kayla Standish On the energetic crowd: “They’re a big, strong, physical team. They are more defense‐oriented rather than us where we like to push the ball. We’re just focusing on being physical and just making sure to block out because they’re strong rebounders.”
On the contrasting style of play between Gonzaga and UCLA: “We like to run the entire time so I don’t think we’ll have a hard time scoring in the full court, once we get the ball and push it. It will be more difficult in the half court. We’ll have to execute and take care of the ball and do the little things since they’re such good defenders.”
On the possibility of advancing to the Sweet 16: “Well last night’s game was just amazing. It was sold out. You couldn’t even hear yourself think on the floor. Another game like that will just give us so much more momentum and just sending us into that game [Sweet 16] and playing in the [Spokane Memorial] Arena, even a bigger place to play in, more fans. So it’s a great opportunity. I’m looking forward to getting that chance.”
Senior Guard/Forward Janelle Bekkering On preparing for UCLA: “They’re definitely a very athletic, quick team and good rebounders. They’re a really defensive team, a very different style than us. I think we’re more of an offensive team and they’re defensive so it will kind of be a clash between that. We’re preparing for their defense. I know that’s their strong point, their press and their 2‐3 zones. That’s something we’ll work on in practice today. It will probably be a test for us offensively and a test for them defensively to guard against us and for us to play against them. I think it will be a good game.”
On what UCLA looks like on film: We haven’t really gone through much film yet. I know after practice, we will definitely watch some of their games against Stanford, just because we’re familiar with their [Stanford] play as well, so we’ll see what they [Stanford] have done to beat UCLA and if there’s something we can incorporate as well. I’m sure the coaches have already looked at that, so we’ll hear more about it in practice and during film.
On being one game away from the Sweet 16: “We’re definitely very excited. I think we have to take care of the game on Monday, tomorrow, first. We can’t worry about playing in the Spokane Arena [for the Sweet 16] yet, but if we do make it there, it will just be an awesome opportunity and I can’t imagine the fan base that we’ll have, twice the amount that was here [McCarthey Athletic Center]. That will be pretty sweet to play in.”
On how far the team will advance this year: “We definitely think we have the potential to make it to the Elite Eight. We have to take it one game at a time. Our first game to reaching that goal is against UCLA and I think we just need to focus on that first and worry about the other stuff [advancing] later.”