University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes
March 2, 2014 | Women's Basketball
North Carolina 64, Duke 60
Associate Head Coach Andrew Calder
Opening Statement
"Again, let me thank Coach [Sylvia] Hatchell. She gave them a great talk yesterday about protecting your home court. I really don't have the answer to why we're 6-2 on the road and 4-4 at home, so don't ask me that question. For Duke, I want to wish them the best of luck. I know they're down a couple of players, but they're still very talented and very well-coached. They'll find a way. They are champions and that's why they fought back today and gave us a battle at the end, because they're champions. They love to compete. As far as the Tar Heels, I thought we played very hard. I thought we did a lot of very, very good things. We didn't make some shots that I thought we should've made, but it was one of out best games this year. I'm really proud of the players."
On coming back from a slow start
"At the beginning we thought we got a couple of good looks. We took a couple of quick shots, and then we settled down and settled in. We got some opportunities defensively to get some steals and easy scores. Once we got some easy scores, the offense started clicking better, they understood where the gaps were in the zone, and we did a good job moving the basketball."
On out-rebounding and getting more possessions
"We were determined. We understood that if our shots weren't going then we had to get second chance opportunities. We knew for more possessions in the game that we had to limit them from getting more possessions in the game, so we had more of an emphasis on boxing out and more of an emphasis offensively for us of attacking the glass."
Stephanie Mavunga, Fr., F
On the back and forth runs during the game
"It was a good feeling when we were up by that much. We were all laughing, we were all smiling, and we were just out there playing Carolina basketball and having fun. We were just executing really well and we were flowing. Good teams make runs, and Duke is a great team. So they had their run, and we had our run. It was just a game of runs. We never really got down on ourselves when they started making their run, because we knew we can stick together and we can overcome this. Of course we were more hype whenever we had our run, but it was good that we kept our composure whenever they came back. It was nice to execute and still win."
Diamond DeShields, Fr., G
On her impact in the game
"I'm a scorer. I am very capable of scoring, but tonight my shot wasn't falling. There's other things that I'm good at doing. There's other things that Diamond can do. Basically I'm just trying to showcase my talent and my basketball IQ as a whole, not just as a scorer. I can play defense, I can lockdown. [Tricia] Liston had three three's in the first half, and in the second half she didn't have any. She got fouled on the perimeter, but I just made an effort to be better at other things this game because that's just what I needed to do. My shots weren't falling so I had to contribute elsewhere. I know I got the big offensive rebound in the second half, and I was getting some good assists finding Allisha [Gray] and finding Stephanie [Mavunga] on the backside. That's what I can do. Those are all parts of my game that didn't show last time we played Duke, but they showed tonight just because that's what I had to do."
Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie
Opening Statement
"Yeah, it was a good game, and hard fought. We've got some great lessons learned for us as we grow in this season, and I think it's a really great thing, I heard the check presentation and things of that nature, and I think that's a really, really great thing, not just for Sylvia [Hatchell] and what sports can do; another great example of what sports can do in trying to bring attention to things that are very, very difficult, so I think it was a great day and we were honored to be a part and wear some pink and represent as much as we could. Again, it was a great game for us; we're disappointed. We didn't finish that game as well as we would have liked, but you know you've got to give credit to them, and so we'll take it from here."
On the game's three parts
"Yeah, I think our focus. We started out well, and that's fine, and sometimes I don't even like quick starts offensively because I think it blows your focus sometimes. But for us it just wasn't a full 40 minutes. I mean, like you indicated for us, there were some really good pockets of opportunity, but there was a critical after the half. I mean, what was that? I mean, it was poor execution, poor effort. Poor effort was the bigger thing for us. And then of course our effort became really big after that. I think we've got to be a consistent team. It doesn't mean we have to be a perfect team, and we will make mistakes, but we have to have consistency of our effort, fight, rebounding, there are some basics that have to happen. And I think in that time that we were not as successful and they were, we weren't covering the basics, stops, rebounds, fundamentals. Fundamentals are very important in March for every team."
Tricia Liston, Sr., G
On her physical state
"I think just mentally focusing on each other, on my teammates and trying to do whatever I can do, and at the start we came out pretty strong, I think, and we were getting stops on defense, so I think it's just a mental focus. I try to put it in the back of my head and go out there and play and that's what we did at the start."
On the defense against her
"I don't think they were helping off as much, but I'm sure I could have done some more things offensively and been a little more aggressive, but their defense was definitely a little bit more aggressive and less sagging off, especially on the help side and on screens, there was more help."
Haley Peters, Senior, F
On Allisha Gray
"We definitely had a lapse to start the second half in our defensive focus, and I think part of it is probably locating her and talking on her and communication on the defensive side has to be better. It was really just a mental lapse; I mean they're very good but we just kind of gave it away there."
On the team's record
"I don't pay too much attention to what our record is, I mean I think we're just focused on where we are right now as a team, and that was a game we were right there in the end and fought back in and we have the best part of the season coming up right now, and if we start to put some stuff together and, like Coach P. was talking about, rebounding when we're big, I mean we should be dominant on the boards, not getting beat on them, and if we put together some stuff on the offensive side of the ball, we can be really, really, really good."
