Nov. 11, 2012

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HEAD COACH Ryun Williams

(On the second half)
“I thought in the second half the kids battled. We put ourselves in a position to win the basketball game. When the winning plays needed to be played and those opportunities presented themselves, unfortunately we didn’t make them. Whether that was taking care of the basketball or making a shot, or getting crucial rebounds. These kids put themselves in a position to win, and that’s a start. That’s a good thing for this group. Now we have to really have to start believing that we can win.”

(On halftime speech)
“I think our kids were disappointed. There was some heated exchange, perhaps.  I mean I think we got our point across that we can’t play as soft as we did. I thought we got off to a good start, there was some toughness there. Then the wheels fell off. That first half, I don’t know how many times we turned it over in a row, but it seemed like eight out of ten possessions where we just gave them the basketball or traveled. That was costly, that stretch was costly. So we addressed just the simple fact to take care of the basketball, play with some toughness. Don’t let their pressure dictate what we do offensively, and I think that’s what we did second half we responded. We came out, played with a little more grit, got the ball where we wanted to get it and started producing. But you dig yourself that hole, and we’re not deep by any means. We’re playing a lot of kids. That was a tough hole to climb out of.

(On the end of the game)
We had two really good looks at the three point line, and I’ll take those all the time. We had a pro-post touch right in the middle of the lane. We have to score that. And then we had some costly turnovers. I know we had a couple costly turnovers there, and then gave up a couple of crucial offensive rebounds. The one on the free throw where Brumwell missed both free throws, and it was still a one-possession game, and we gave up a crucial board, and then have to foul. Those are winning plays where we have to learn to make. It takes time. The next play, what’s important now, what’s the most important thing on this free throw, it’s the free throw block up. Then it’s to secure the rebound, then it’s to make the pass, then it’s to get the ball up the floor. We just have to play with bigger urgency and in that moment. What’s important right now?

(On Taylor Varsho)
“Varsho. I love that turkey. That’s two games in a row now where she’s had a double-double. I think you could ask anybody in those stands who plays the hardest and it’s Taylor Varsho. That’s a really positive thing. The bad side to that it’s Taylor Varsho. And Taylor Varsho is a freshman. Alright, so we got to step up in the toughness category and we challenged our kids, this is where we got to grow. We have to grow tougher. Those aren’t all Taylor’s. We want that to become contagious. I’m really proud by the way she competed. We need everyone to play with that energy. We’re not necessarily going to get the production every night, but that motor. That motor is a winning motor.  And I need more of it.”

(On turnovers)
“We’ve got to take care of the basketball. It starts with our point guard plays have got to be solid. LaDeyah played 39 minutes; she’s a good point guard. This is all new to her as well. As the season goes you’re going to see LaDeyah become more confident in what we’re doing. She can direct traffic out there. She has to be that coach on the floor, instead of us having to coach every possession. That’s kind of where we at right now. We need to get better there. It’s not a winning formula, the way we take care of the basketball. We will become better at that.”

(On Montana State)
They were a little more tenacious to the basketball. We’ve got to be honest with ourselves. At some positions were giving up a lot of size.

(On things to work on)
“Ball security. You look at that and we’ve kicked our own tail. We’ve got to stop doing that. We’ve got to go to work. We’ve got a game Tuesday and we got to have a fresh mindset and try to get a victory Tuesday night.”

Sam Martin and Taylor Varsho

(On maintaining defense)

Martin: Our shots just weren’t falling when we were taking them. Little things just kept happening that would bring us down again. It was hard for us to maintain that lead, but I don’t know if our intensity was affected too much.

Varsho: I think we needed two good halves and that didn’t happen tonight. You’re going to have those nights that shots aren’t falling. We have to find another way to win.

(About going through the eleven and a half minutes scoreless stretch during the first half)

Martin: It was really discouraging because it felt like we weren’t scoring for at least five or six minutes. We weren’t doing what we had to do on defense which made it more difficult since we weren’t getting stops on defense. Plus we weren’t scoring on offense, so it was really discouraging and we just weren’t thinking it over or making good plays. I think that’s what showed.

Varsho: They just out-rebounded us in the first half.  That came to haunt us in the end.

(On the feeling of the locker room at half time)

Varsho: I think that Coach (Williams) was very encouraging and he said that we were still in this game; we’re not out of it yet. I think that when we played like that, on a 9-0 run, then we could have come out of this with a win.

Martin: We weren’t playing how we should be, not at all. He came in there and told us that. He came in and was intense and yelled, but then after that he was now like were here and we have to do this. It got us going and it brought us up. I think we then came out and really showed that.

(On what effected the first half plays)

Martin: We don’t want to make excuses, we’ve had a lot of practices underneath us and we know how coach wants us to play. I think that we had spurts and we showed what we’re going to be able to do. Like in the second half, if we could play more halves like that, we’re going to do pretty well. I think we didn’t play up to our capabilities.

(How Varsho contributed)

I just go out there and play. They tell me what my job is, which is to rebound. You can’t worry about how many points you get; it’s about how tough you play out there at all times. You have to have five girls on the floor that want the same thing. If you don’t, then you’re going to come up with a loss. I think we will learn from this and work very hard at practice on Monday. We’ll come back Tuesday and hopefully have more halves like the second half.

(Varsho’s reaction to her first game)

I am very happy, but I wish we would have come out with a win though. That’s the main goal.

(On scoring from behind the 3 point arch)

Martin: Normally that’s one of our strengths and a lot of our plays are runs, so if we can get a play in and if we don’t have that, we go inside. We started playing more inside than out this game. Those shots are normally good for us and I think they weren’t falling tonight. We had to keep taking them.

Varsho: We are a great three-point shooting team. They just weren’t falling and you’re going to have nights like that so we had to take a roundabout and go inside.

(On offensive rebounds)

Varsho: We didn’t box out the first half and that definitely hurt us. We’re not going to win games if they have 21 offensive rebounds. In the second half we came back, we were tougher and stronger in there. We did win the second half, but we didn’t come up with the win.

Martin: It was hard to play defense for 30 seconds and then another 30 seconds and then another. There was a possession where they had six so it takes our defense down. That’s something we have to work on because even in practice and in our exhibition game, offensive rebounds were one of our weaknesses. That’s something we have to get better at and I know we’re going to have to work on that tomorrow at practice. We’ll get better.