
Nov. 27, 2001
Post-Game Comments
GW Coach Joe McKeown
"In the first half, we didnıt back down. We got a little whacked out, but
wewere able to score at times towards the end. You canıt try to match
baskets with them. At the beginning of the second half, I thought we had a
nice flow to the game. We were under control, we were getting good shots,
we werenıt turning the ball over, and trying to hold them to one shot. But
then you open the barn door and they just come flying out. And they come at
you in waves, thatıs what we werenıt ready for.²
"You have to play so hard against them to come back. I thought we did that, but then they come back at you with more and more. We have 11 freshmen and sophmores, and weıre not ready yet for that kind of intensity and pressure.²
"I told the team that this was a great opportunity to understand how hard you have to play at that level. Tennessee set the bar, basically...You can tell their focus is defense. When they gamble, they recover, when they turn us over they come at you in transition, and itıs difficult to get our kids back there and matched up. By time you match up, theyıre drilling 3s. They have all the answers.²
"I was disappointed in some of the mistakes we made, I call them unforced errors, bad decisions. Thatıs what frustrates me.²
"Nobodyıs every scored 100 points on us here. And when it was 82 to 57, we had a time out and I said itıs 82, if they score 100, weıre running.²
"It was a great atmosphere tonight, great crowd. This is what womenıs
basketball should be. For us to sell out our gym tonight--in November--says
a lot for GW and for womenıs basketball and where it is.²
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Ugo Oha
"The pressure really didnıt get to us. I think we kind of played on our
heels. We werenıt aggressive taking it to them like at the beginning. We
held back a little.²
"At the beginning, we were right with them. Toward the middle of the first half, we started to shy away and rush a little. But right from the beginning, we took it too them. I donıt think anybody was nervous
Cathy Joens
"As individual players, I think we could play with them. But thatıs what
makes you a number 1 or number 2 team--your team is together and you play as
one.²
Marsheik Witherspoon
(on staying focused despite being way behind)
"We kept a level head. We always had in the back of our minds that we can
win this game. Weıre playing at home and we didnıt want to lose. Thatıs
what kept us going.²
Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt
"We had 15 offensive boards in the second half and only six at halftime. I
told our basketball team that weıre on the road now for 8 straight games,
and we have to play defense and rebound. And we didnıt do that consistently
in the first half, we did it in spurts. We picked it up in the second half,
which was obviously a big difference for how we played this game. And we
took it at them offensively, we took it inside. [Michelle] Snowıs
back-to-back 3-point plays gave us a lot of confidence.²
"Our defense and offensive play on the boards was key for us. I donıt know if depth was a factor or not. The pressure we were able to put on their perimeter game consistently was very beneficial for us. We started to generate some points in transtion. I donıt know how many layups we had, but obviously our perimeter defense got us a lot of easy baskets. If you want to get a lead and keep it or extend it quickly, thereıs no quicker way than transition baskets.²
Michelle Snow
(on Ugo Oha)
"She does a very good job of contesting and pushing out of the key. Coming
into a game, you know everybody is going to try to play physical, and they