Pitt Women's Basketball Postgame Quotes
12/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Pitt Head Coach Suzie McConnell-Serio
Opening Statement:
“It was good to get back on the winning track and find a way to play better and to put some points on the board. I can’t say it was the prettiest game, defensively, putting a team on the free-throw line 35 times. We kept talking about it in timeouts, and you look at half of their points coming from the free-throw line. However, there was a stubborn part of me that refused to back down and go zone and change our defense. Right now we need to get better defensively, defending the versatile posts that we are facing. We need to defend these athletic guards and shooters, to really understand how the game is going to be called over the course of the game and make those adjustments. One thing we talked about coming into this game was playing hard and leaving everything out on the floor, having fun again. I think our confidence was a little shattered after two straight losses at home. You start to struggle; as a coach you start to question everything you do. Whether film or making adjustments through practice, we tried some different things defensively and offensively. Going into this game, we feel like we are heading in the right direction, but we know we still have a lot of work to do. It feels good to be back on the winning track.”
On sophomore forward Kauai Bradley struggling to score in recent games:
“I think Kauai [Bradley] as we’ve progressed, she’s no longer a secret. When you play your first couple of games, you don’t have a lot of film on people. Brandi [Harvey-Carr] draws a lot of attention, Brenna [Wise] is the one player coming back, All-Freshman ACC, she was our leading scorer. Kauai has been able to come in and not be the focused-on part of a defense. Well, she’s no longer a secret. Teams are finding ways to get up and pressure her and disrupt what she’s trying to do. Kauai is someone where, if she gets off to a good start, her confidence is high. When she gets off to a poor start, she’ll struggle mentally. Tonight we tried to let her play through those struggles a little bit early on and let the starting lineup go on a little longer. She’s our most athletic player. She’s one of our better rebounders, being able to elevate. She’s a scorer, she’s been one of our most consistent three-point scorers. We really need her to get on track. We’re a team that needs a balanced scoring attack. I thought she was better tonight in a lot of ways. She allowed the game to come to her and I didn’t see the frustration within her that I had seen in the previous two games.”
On Bryant forward Alex Klein and her effectiveness down low on the defense:
“When you look at guarding in the post, we always talk about defending before they catch the ball. That’s not allowing them to get deep position on you. It’s getting around and not settling for playing behind. It’s forcing them to throw a tough pass. Guards need to be there to help and take away easy entry passes into the post. Klein worked really hard to get position and I thought she played well. Watching her on film, she’s been really effective from inside the three-point line with a high post jumper. She’s very skilled on the block. Both post players are seniors and I thought they played really well together with the high low game. Feeding off of each other, she’s really talented, but we made it easy on her too at times. We put her on the free-throw line. When you get up there 18 times, you’re going to get a little comfortable, and she knocked down 15 of them. More than half of her points were from the free-throw line. We need to get better at staying in place defensively and challenge shots and not put people on the free-throw line.”
On if she was happy with the defense forcing 25 turnovers:
“I was. It looked like we either fouled them or caused a turnover. It was one or the other. Defensively, we did some good things. Their shooter coming in, Ivory Bailey, I thought she was dangerous from the three-point line after watching her on film. She was 1-for-7 from the three-point line as someone we were keying on as their shooter. Defensively, staying in place, rebounding, I don’t know if we had a chance to rebound because we put them on the free-throw line so much. We just have to limit second chances, all five players boxing out, rebounding. It’s always an emphasis, and disappointing we didn’t out-rebound them. Defensively, other them on the free-throw line I thought we did some good things. We were able to score 28 points off of turnovers so we did a good job transitioning to score, and some of them were breakaway lay-ups.”
On freshman guard Alayna Gribble’s play recently:
“Interestingly enough, the first time she came off the floor tonight she was frustrated. I said to her, ‘Alayna you’re no longer a secret. Teams are scouting us; they know what you do. You’re a shooter. You have to allow the game to come [to you]’. Alayna can shoot it. She’s our best shooter, there’s no question about it. When she was on the floor, she helped us score in ways people don’t recognize. They are glued to her, we are running those high-ball screens, and their guard is not coming off of the shooter in the corner, and that’s Alayna. Our guards were able to turn the corner, entry passes high-to-low because their guard isn’t not coming off Alayna. She’s helping in ways, not just shooting the basketball, with her presence on the floor. She had to recognize that and allow the game to come. You see what happens when teams get out at the three-point line, you put the ball on the floor and she was able to dribble. She’s going to have to get better on finding ways to score like that, and we’re going to have to do a better job of getting her those opportunities because teams are keying on her. She’s definitely made a name for herself because she can shoot it.”
Pitt Forward Brenna Wise
On both her game and the team’s game getting back on track with a win tonight:
“It feels great. This needed to be a bounce back game for us. Coach came in the locker room and said at the end of the day this game is about us. Our last two games were uncanny of us and we needed to come back, be stronger, play together and I think collectively we played well and finished the game.”
On the reasons for her successful performance (23 points, 10 rebounds):
“My teammates really looked for me and opened up the floor for me. They can drive and they’re all a threat from the perimeter so it gave me a little more room inside. We had offensive rebounds and fought for the boards. I think my teammates created most of my points for me, so I think they deserve some of them as well.”
On forcing Bryant into 25 turnovers and overall defense:
“Coach says it best, our defense creates our offense and that starts with our starting five. And then you have Destinie Gibbs, Cassidy Walsh, Kalista [Walters], Madison [Serio] and Alayna Gribble. Everyone plays hard on both ends of the floor and that’s important.”
On Pitt’s foul trouble in the second half:
“Putting people on the line is going to frustrate us. It’s just getting back in practice tomorrow and working on our defense. Maybe we got a little bit lazy and again, we will take away a win, but there are always things to improve upon, and that would be our defense.”
On if the team is looking forward to playing Penn State:
“Oh yeah.”
