University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Oregon State 70, Carolina 55
December 17, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Oregon State vs. North Carolina
December 16, 2014
Oregon State 70, North Carolina 55
Opening Statement
“First of all, Oregon State is a very good team. They have size, they have skill, they have shooters. [They're] a well coached team. They played a great game. They just beat us. You look at the numbers, they had 23 turnovers and we had 14. There are some things that we did well but we just didn't shoot the ball good. In the second half we were 7-20 from the foul line. That's pretty bad. Our shooting was really, really bad tonight, and I'm sure they had a lot to do with that. I think their size bothered our inside game because our numbers weren't good in there. Z [Xylina McDaniel] was 3-17 and Stephanie [Mavunga] was 5-17. They usually both score well inside. But we've got to learn to play against size like that, and they will, they will. Tonight was a different experience and we'll learn from it. We just didn't shoot well. I'm not going to make an excuse there. I'm sure that Oregon State had a lot to do with it. They're a very good team. We just need to learn from it and move on. It felt like in the second half we got things rolling there for a bit. We got it to 11 or 10 and then on the foul line there several times we couldn't make foul shots to get it down lower. We'll learn from it and move on. We have to get ready for Maine [Albany?] who's a good team and play a couple teams down at the beach. But they're a ranked team and this is the fifth ranked team we've played. Like I said we'll learn from it and hopefully it will make us better down the road.”
On if Oregon State's size was a big factor to why the team didn't shoot well
“We've played teams that have had size. That's why I didn't think the size would bother us that much. Stephanie has played against really big players, and Z has too. I'm not sure if it was the size as much because we got the ball inside and got good shots in there, but we couldn't get them to go in. Our practices have been different the last 10 days or so, but I'm not going to make any excuses. We got the shots, we got it down inside there, but we just couldn't score. We were 1-14 from three; that's really bad. We couldn't make foul shots. If we shot the ball better, we would have won. And then the rebounding. I was not pleased with the rebounding. I have not been pleased with it and I've been on them about the rebounding. I thought that was a major, major factor in this game. We have got to make more of a commitment to rebounding and not getting boxed out and getting in there. But the rebounding was really, really big. When we went zone, they did not score – not one time – off the initial shot, but they got rebounds. We were not doing a good job of boxing out and getting the job done inside and rebounding. That's something we can get better at and we have to get better at.”
On the defense and offense feeding off of each other
“We get motivated on our defense off our offense because we're scoring. When we score, we get back down there and play good defense because we want to get the ball back and go down and score again. Because we weren't scoring and we got frustrated, we weren't playing good on defense. It was just a chain reaction. Our defense helps our offense and our offense helps our defense. We just couldn't get it going.”
On Oregon State's motivated team
“They were very motivated. They come here and play and then we have to go there and play. No. They just wanted to come here and play. They just wanted to come play us in Carmichael. They wanted to play the University of North Carolina. We didn't have to pay a guarantee, we don't have to go back and play them. Nothing. They just wanted to come and play us. They had a lot of motivation because we went to Oregon and beat Oregon, and that's their Duke. That's their competition. I'm sure they were very motivated to play us because we had played Oregon and beat them pretty good on the way to Hawaii. There's a pride factor too. They just wanted to come here and play North Carolina. I've been here a long time. This place is special. It really bothers me when other teams celebrate on our court. We filmed it. They will see it. It really bothers me when other teams celebrate on the middle of our court. I'm not saying they're bad sports or anything. I'm not saying that at all because they beat us and they deserve to have some celebration. But still. We've put a lot of blood sweat and tears out there every day. I'm that competitive and this place means that much to me. That bothers me more than it bothers the players.”
On competing against Ruth Hamblin
“I wouldn't say she was tougher to deal with. She's a good player, but I felt like I missed a lot of shots I usually make. It wasn't the fact that she was there, it was that I had five or six shots that literally went in and came out. I also feel like I didn't use as many pump fakes as I should have, and the ones I did, I don't feel like I did a good job using the pump fakes because she didn't always bite or fall for it. She did block a good one of my shots. I think she's a good player, but she didn't bother me as much, it was more of how I played it rather than what she was doing.”
On how to comeback from this loss
“Just learn from it. We lost, but it showed us what we need to work on most: rebounding and shooting. We're not going to dwell on it, but we're going to learn from it and move on. We're going to take this into the next games and move forward. We're going to use it as a learning experience.
On the emotions she's feeling after the loss
“Everyone's frustrated with themselves. Angry, sad. But we're supposed to feel that right now. Tomorrow we'll bounce back, watch film, learn from all this, and get it together for the next game.”
On whether it was the perfect storm of flaws and errors
“Yes. I was thinking, 'I just don't understand why this is happening today.' I honestly said that in my head a lot during this game. I really don't understand why our shots weren't falling, why we can't get in and rebound, why we can't finish. I don't know. Hopefully we all got it out of the way at once.”
Oregon State Head Coach Scott Ruek
On his team's performance
“Well I felt like if we did what we talked about doing we could give them trouble today. I have a lot of respect for the program, Coach Hatchel is obviously a hall of fame coach and a legend and so we're privileged to play here. First time for us and that's heck of a basketball team. We talked about their strengths, their strengths are rebounding the basketball, their strengths are transition and they're so athletic and that's a big part of what they do. I thought we could stop their initial shot; their initial looks in their sets. I thought our team really locked them up defensively. We kept them out of transition most of the game. There was a little stretch in the second half where they got out and ran and they got stops themselves. But I thought our shot selection was good, I thought we executed our game plan at a high level. I'm really proud of our team today.”
On the factor of his team's height advantage
“Well it certainly was on the inside. You have the nation's shot blocker right here (Ruth Hamblin), from a year ago anyway, and she's on pace to do it again. So I thought that impacted them. They are an inside out team, they go inside and they score and a lot of times they score on their second opportunity. That's what we talked about and worked on all week. We're going to make them possibly miss that first one it's the second one we have to get. When they made their run in the second half they were getting their second one. Most of the game they did not. We won the boards like we needed to.”
On keeping the lead and stopping North Carolina's runs
“I thought part of is where we were. I thought we did a good job with angles, I thought we challenged shots. The scoreboard played a factor too. We talked about to beat a great team like this on their home floor is obviously best to play from ahead. I thought we did that in the second half, as we didn't let them make a run. This team has been down several times this year at the half, being North Carolina. We did a great job in the second half taking that run and extending that lead, which I thought made the shots a little tougher for them. “
