Pitt vs. DePaul postgame quotes
1/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 10, 2009
Quoting Pitt Head Coach Agnus Berenato
Opening statement:
"I give credit to DePaul. I thought it was a really great game if you were a fan, but not for Pitt. The action was intense and the game was back and fourth up until about the last two minutes. I thought we were well prepared for DePaul. We knew who the shooters were, but our offense hurt us. We need more weapons other than Shavonte Zellous. I thought they did a great job on defense with Shavonte and she really responded in adversity. When it comes down to it, we didn't make the critical foul shot or rebound and you can't do that. It's okay to miss the critical shots because the other team may miss those, but in the stretch you can't miss those foul shots and rebounds."
On two consecutive losses:
"Any time you lose, you should be concerned. This gives us a shot to go back to the drawing board. We have a lot of capable offensive weapons and scorers. We need to find the confidence in someone to run the offensive sets. Someone needs to sacrifice some statistics and help us execute. We have to be disciplined and run our sets and if the defense responds, we find a counter option. We can't just run and pray that it works. We haven't been making great decisions the past two games. I'm glad we have this week off, so we can get better. We can work on rebounding and running which we've really struggled with in the past two games."
Quoting Shavonte Zellous:
"We can get back to practice and work on our execution and offense. What really killed us today were our transitions. There were a couple plays towards the end where we just didn't get back in time. This week we can work hard and get ready for Saturday."
Quoting Xenia Stewart:
"I thought there was a lack of leadership, and that was mostly on my part. We (seniors) should be doing all that we can in order to go out on top. We didn't execute well. We wanted this win, especially since we lost at Providence. But this was all on us."
Quoting DePaul Head Coach Doug Bruno:
Opening Statement:
"The Big East is a great league and as I say all the time, playing in it is definitely not for the faint of heart. We open our schedule with five of the six ranked teams in the league, and three of them on the road. Having lost our first two games, this one essentially became a must-win for us. To come in here and beat a very good Pittsburgh team that has already accomplished some special things this season, that says a lot about our character and our toughness. You can never let this league wear you down, and by winning today we proved that isn't happening to us."
On DePaul's defense:
"Natasha Williams is having a special season for DePaul University. With her height, she has the ability to guard the post, and her athleticism makes it possible for her to guard the perimeter. She did a great job on Shavonte Zellous, particularly in transition, where she really hurt us in the first half. You're never going to completely stop a player like Zellous, but you have to slow her down to have an opportunity to win."