TCU-Texas A&M Postgame Quotes
12/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 12, 2009
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POSTGAME QUOTES
TCU 56, #10/5 Texas A&M 54
Fort Worth, Texas (Daniel-Meyer Coliseum)
Dec. 12, 2009
Attendance: 4,003
TCU Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On his team's effort down the stretch
"It was a great finish. I thought that we made a lot of plays down the stretch and I think that was huge for us. We knew this was going to be a really hard-fought game. I think Texas A&M is way ahead of where they were last year offensively, averaging close to 90 points a game. I thought our defense did some really good things.
On his team's late defensive switch to zone
"If you look at their numbers, they are shooting close to 50 percent from 3- point range. We did think that maybe it would get them out of rhythm. We played a lot of (man-to-man) early and trapped. I felt at that point that they established a good rhythm with the man defense jumping to an 11 point lead. We decided to make a defensive switch and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Our players played well in the zone and I think we were able to mix it up down the stretch.
On the importance of the win
"We thought the second half of the SMU game was a real step forward for our team. Can you carry that over and string another good performance against another good team that is ranked in top 5? I think this makes it big. This is the first time this year that we have strung back-to-back good games together. We had the Kansas win and went to North Carolina State and did not play very well out there. This is stringing two very good wins back-to-back."
TCU Senior Guard TK LaFleur
On her two free throws that proved to be the winning margin
"They were pressure free throws, but going through my head I was thinking, 'I do this every day in practice.' This is something that I practice often, so I just stepped up to the line as calm as I could and blocked out all the pressure. What I normally say to myself is, 'Right over the rim.' I did that twice in a row and they went in.
TCU Junior Guard/Forward Helena Sverrisdottir
On her game-tying 3-pointer
"I was supposed to drive baseline, but they cut me off. I don't really know what happened. I was open for a split second and just threw it up there. I did not think it was a good shot, but it went in. That got us really hyped at that point and we were ready to give it our all on defense.
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On TCU's defense
"I'd like to give TCU a lot of credit for a great comeback. We thought that we would see zone for 40 minutes. That's all we worked on for four weeks and when they played man on us, we were able to pick away and take them off of the dribble a number of times, but when they went to the zone, we got passive and threw the ball around.
"TCU does a good job of playing a pretty wide 3-2 zone and hustling to get there. I did a poor job of teaching and Jeff (Mittie) did a great job of motivating and switching to the zone at the right time."
On the play of TCU guard/forward Helena Sverrisdottir
"When Helena (Sverrisdotir) had two points at the end of the first half, great players find a way to come back, even when they are not at their best.
