Postgame Quotes

Feb. 13, 2012

Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale
Opening Comment:
“I was very proud of our kids. If there is a tougher player in an America than Whitney Hand, then I don't know who it is. I wouldn't trade her for anyone in the country. I had three freshmen that I though just grew up like crazy tonight. I look out there and we have three freshmen on the floor. The ball goes form DaShawn (Harden) to Kay Kay (Williams) to Sharane (Campbell) and we are going toe-to-toe with Connecticut. I am really, really proud of those young guys. But I am not satisfied. It's never OK, never OK, to lose on your home floor. But, I am proud of the growth that I saw. We found some passion and we found some fighters.”

On getting into an offensive rhythm:
“That has been something that DaShawn (Harden) has struggled with a little bit and I thought she was better and I though she did so many other great things. It was imperative to have her on the floor. We had a couple of situations where clock management was critical. The last play before the half when we were trying to go for one shot and we pulled it. It gave them an extra basket. That was big because it gave them a little more extra momentum. But if you go back and take away the first four minute interval where they are shooting 83 percent and we are shooting 13 -- that is a pretty even basketball game.

“I thought we had did really good things and had good shots, but we just didn't make them. When you are playing a top-five team in the country, you have got to knock down shots. We had some 3's, we had open jump shots and we missed some on the block. You can't do that against a team as volatile as Connecticut.”

On the play of Kaylon Williams:
“The Midwest City Bomber was not afraid and I loved it. I loved her emotion. She and Sharane both played with a great deal of emotion. I loved that. I loved the life that they bring to our performance. I just love that fact that they were not intimidated and just undaunted. That is a pretty significant trait to develop and to have rear itself in a freshman season. I am really encouraged. Now we have to take that fight and continue to feel it every time we play. It can't be something we bring out against Connecticut. I am really, really proud of what I saw and there is a lot of room for growth. When you do that and you come out and fight somebody like that there are a lot of things you can do.”

Oklahoma Redshirt-Junior Guard Whitney Hand
On the game:
“I'm really proud that we didn't give up and we fought and fought and fought and didn't stop fighting the whole game. I was really proud of everybody.

“I just really felt like there were times on the court when it was just fun and you didn't really look at the scoreboard. That was kind of our goal, and we got it to 9 and I could have sworn we would have won but, obviously, that wasn't so.”

Connecticut Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On the game:
“It's been really hard for Tiffany (Hayes) to get to the point that she is now. She kind of lived the charmed life as a freshman and sophomore and to a certain extent as a junior because of all the great players that she had around her. She's lost two games, I think, in her college career. That's pretty weird. No four, two last year and two this year. That's not normal college experience. Then all of a sudden she shows up this year and everybody is looking around and waiting on her to take on that role as the next great player that's going to bail us out every time we need a big game, and I don't know that she was prepared for it. It's been a long road to get to this point.”

On the game tempo:
“You really can't predict what the officiating is going to be like. You can't predict what the tempo of the game, the mood of the game. Oklahoma is a lot better than their record. If they would have made a lot more shots tonight, it would have been a different story. They missed a lot of open shots. They are a really good team. They play a style of play that if you're not careful, you get into a crazed state. It seemed like every time we were down the floor there was a body on the ground and it was a foul on us. Every time it was a foul on us. The team that's the most aggressive usually gets to the free-throw line the most.

On ending the series with Oklahoma:
“This has worked for us and Oklahoma for a long time. We've had a great series and some memorable games with them, both regular season and post season. It's not out of the question that we go back and resume this. I love the competition. They play hard. They execute. They make you beat them. They don't generally lose games; they make you beat them. It's a great crowd, great environment. The fans are always unbelievably supportive. The fouls are 10 to 1 in their favor and they are bitching at the officials. You've got to love that.”

Connecticut Senior Guard Tiffany Hayes
On what Coach Auriemma told the team during the break:
“Pretty much that we had to execute, we had to make sure our communication was on point. They had a lot of chances and moments where we kind of lost them a little bit. It was just us getting out minds back on track.”

On answering Oklahoma's runs:
“I think that's just Coach doing a good job of keeping us level headed. Sometimes we get a little fast when people make a run on us. We kept our heads. We just calmed down and ran our stuff, not let them make us go to fast.”

On Hayes' role as a senior:
“When we huddle, I tell them what needs to be said. A couple times I had to tell them we need to slow down because they were making us go to fast. Just pull it out when we need to.”

Connecticut Sophomore Guard Bria Hartley
On adjusting to officiating:
“I think when we are playing, we don't really need to worry about the refs. We got a lot of other things to focus on like running the offense and playing defense. Whatever the refs call, we just have to deal with it and keep playing.”

On the difference in the first and second halves:
“We ran a little bit of transition. We tried to get to the basket. I think we did a great job of getting to the basketball and keep scoring.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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