Texas Tech vs. Texas State Quotes
November 19, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 19, 2014
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
TEXAS TECH vs. TEXAS STATE
POSTGAME NEWS CONFERENCE
NOV. 18, 2014
UNITED SUPERMARKETS ARENA - LUBBOCK, TEXAS
Candi Whitaker
Lady Raider Head Coach
Opening Statement
"I think you saw a little bit about what this team is about as far as being able to fight and continue to get back into ball games. We obviously don't want to dig the holes that we did but very proud they found ways to win we had several people step up and make enormous plays at huge times and just got it done. Very, very pleased with a lot of things along those lines. We've got to fix some interior defense and other things, but huge heart and huge fight with this team. "
On being proud of the defense during the first half
"Yes. I mean maybe not putting them on the line, but no. I felt like we weren't guarding them, we weren't tracking them in the zone very well and when we went man we weren't guarding them. We had to try every way possible on on-balls to find a way that works for us better. We changed as they changed their line up but I thought our defense was very poor, particularly in the first half. "
On the turning point
"I think if you want to win your going to pick it up, I mean we had no tempo to us on either end. We didn't have any intensity about us on the defensive end and had absolutely zero tempo on our offence. We were slow, we weren't executing and we weren't setting or using screens. There was zero execution. We were still being somewhat effective. We weren't finishing but we were still getting descent looks but we were not executing well. Especially at the end, when the first option wasn't open we just stopped instead of continuing to execute what was next."
On what defensively let Texas State's score three pointers
"Well we started in a zone early and 10 was wide open so we didn't get out to cover her. We didn't recognize their zone offence, we had prepared for their two zone offences they've showed. We did not recognize which one they were in and we did not get to shooters. Then we went man and did not guard the basketball; their point guard shot two from behind the on-ball screen."
The confidence that this win builds
"Its huge because your coach tells you all the time to never give up and to keep going and grinding. But when you get results and you have to climb out two different times. Then you turn the corner and win a game like that its huge because now you believe it and you've been their before and you're going to fight the next time you're in that situation. "
On Rayven's performance
"I think Rayven did a great job and was a big part of when we turn the corner. She started to fly around a little bit more, she had a better look on her face, she was ready to score and started attacking. I thought she attacked early and when she didn't finish she kind of become a little bit stagnate and timed. We just continued to go to her and she found ways to get to the rime and shoot some threes and get us going a little bit. I like her with the ball in her hands, I like her because we're faster with her at the point sometimes."
On Minta's three at the end of the half
"Huge. I had no idea that Minta had seventeen points. There were probably four of five plays down the stretch that were just absolutely big time plays from different folks and that three was enormous. I'm really proud of her."
Senior Forward
On her leg
"Its good, I was cramping a little bit."
On an overtime win
"It builds a lot of confidence you know, we got down a couple of times and it shows us that we can fight back, that we can play in adverse situations. That's one of the things we go over in practice, is late game situations and how to fight back and how to keep fighting. That was just a long practice and you got to keep fighting through it, keep pushing and that's what we did."
On the final minutes
"I think we picked up the intensity a little bit and we kept getting stops at critical junctions in the game. It all starts with a stop, you know if you can get a stop and come back with a foul or a score then the tie starts to turn a little bit."
On what wasn't working
"We had a few defensive lapses and we were getting to the cup we just weren't finishing. So I think we started finishing towards the end and started switching some things. Defensively we picked it up to another level."
Junior Gaurd
On what the other team kept giving her
"Basically they kept letting me drive off. Coach Whitaker had me isolated a lot and they kept leaving me open. If they did end up stopping me, I had Minta on the wing for a kick out."
On feeling like she was the only one on defense
"No not at all, I didn't think that at all."
The energy on Jamie's steal
"I went crazy, I was so proud of her because Jamie is one of our key defensive players on our team. When Jamie picks it up, we all pick it up. I think that was what helped us out the most on defense."
