March 21, 2007
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University of Tennessee Head Coach Pat Summitt
Opening Statement:
"Obviously I'm am really excited for our basketball team. Coming into this game having to play Pitt on their home floor, they had obviously a good vocal crowd. I felt our team in the first half really stepped up and played very well, executed well together offensively. We felt we could go inside and Candace established herself. But she's not passing to herself. Her teammates did a great job in getting her the basketball. On the defensive end, it seemed like they scored much more than I wanted them to, but they did a nice job of spacing and obviously getting the ball inside as well."
On how Pitt played as a team:
"I thought they played very well. I thought they demonstrated a lot of team work. They wanted their two go to players to get the ball and as much as we were trying to face guard [Marcedes] Walker, she still got a lot of touches. I thought she really worked hard. [Shavonte] Zellous was a tough guard for Lex [Alexis]. I was on Lex the whole night because it seemed like she was getting open more than I liked. She got off 18 shots against us and that's a lot of shots. That was probably the most disappointing part of our defense. But you have to give them credit. They ran a lot of good screening action for her and I thought that's where she did a good job. She got some good looks; they run some good offensive sets. There is no question Agnus [Pitt head coach] has done a great job of taking her best players and making sure they are very involved in the offense."
On if people realize the job Agnus has done with Pitt's program:
"I think tonight will be probably be a wake up call for a lot of people in terms of seeing this Pitt team against our team and seeing how they performed. And obviously television exposure is probably one of the best ways to expose your program from a national stand point. Certainly being in this tournament and playing the way they played in these two games will bring recognition and respect. But I think people in the profession have known Agnus for a long time and certainly they recognize what she's done here."
On starters logging big minutes:
"I don't think fatigue was a factor. One thing about post season you get 2 1/2 minute time outs. They get a lot of rest. I think you can play players 40 minutes if need be. I think this team is in great shape. We talk about the fact that when you get into post season you have more time because of the long time outs, the TV time outs and certainly we have to adjust to it as coaches because we have more time to talk before we actually go in and really send a message to our team on what we want to do within our structure of our offense and defense."
On how Candace played in the second half:
"I think Candace Parker is really a dominant player. The improvement in her game from our first game to now is tremendous and in a lot of areas. She is a player that has great composure, but I think she has a lot of different ways in which she can beat you; off the dribble, posting up. She uses her left hand, right hand. She's got the up-and-under, the hook shot. It's really special for us to have a player like that because she can establish the inside game unlike any other player on our team. And I will say that our team really respects how she works and what she's brought to our team. Candace is a very unselfish player and I know she is very mindful of getting her teammates the ball."
On if there are times when she wants Candace to be selfish:
"Absolutely. There are times I want one person on the floor to have the ball but she can't pass to herself. So everyone needs to understand where we're going with the basketball. But I think the good thing is that everyone on our team recognizes when we need a basket, Candace is our go to player. At the same time, I don't want to take away the fact that Alexis Hornbuckle can create her own shot whenever she wants to. Spencer, when she's on, she's as good as anyone in the country in the face-up game. But I think our team understands that Candace can, because of her size and her presence and her skills, she can make plays. She can make plays under pressure. You always want to have players that can make plays under pressure. A lot of players want the ball under pressure, but I prefer to go with those that can make plays."
Junior Center Nicky Anosike
On elevating her game in lieu of an emphasis on how she would play:
"Whenever my team tells me or shows me that they really need me on the defensive end and when there's a lot of talk about it before hand I just feel a greater sense of urgency to do that for my team because they actually came to me and told me they needed me. Like anyone else on the team, when we say we need you, we need you. I really took the responsibility tonight."
Sophomore Guard Candace Parker
On Pitt's strong start in the second half and how Tennessee got the game turned around:
"We knew that they were playing on their home court and they were going to make a run and we wanted to make sure to stop it as best we could. I think we had some defensive lapses but we came back and handled it well."
On playing against Marcedes Walker and what it was like playing against her:
"She's a great player, I feel like she really provides a strong inside game for them. We asked Sid [Spencer], Sid had the tough assignment of guarding her tonight she did a great job fighting around. She's a great player."
On the offense Shannon and Nicky brought early in the game:
"It was huge for us. I feel like we have a lot of different weapons and I think we ask people to do different things in different games and they have the green light. Shannon's capable of taking the outside jump shot and Nicky's capable of posting up down low and scoring. I have all the confidence in the world in how our offense is working and how we move the ball."
On taking personal responsibility to answer Pitt's runs with offense of her own:
"I felt coming into this game and into this tournament I let my team down, by not bringing energy and tonight my goal was to bring energy whether it was on the defensive end, offensively, rebounding, blocking shots, just to have a presence because your shots aren't always going to fall so whenever they made a run I felt my team needed me to come back and demand the ball, demand attention. If I don't get the ball then my teammates will get looks or drives to the basket. I feel like we did a great job."
Junior Guard Alexis Hornbuckle
On reaching their 26th straight Sweet Sixteen:
"It's a great feeling to get back to the sweet sixteen especially for me being 100% without a cast and being able to support my team, hopefully I'll provide a better defensive game from here on out than I did today."
Junior Guard Shannon Bobbitt
On extra satisfaction defeating an NCAA Tournament team on their home court:
"Oh, it feels good, but we knew they were going to come out firing at us and we just wanted to max their intensity and come out and play our game."
On Pitt's second-half surge negating a 16-point first-half lead:
"It was both a good and a bad thing. Good thing was, it kept us on our toes and made us play up tempo. The bad thing was, we shouldn't lose a double-digit lead. Pittsburgh played a great game. Well played.
On having Candace Parker on the Tennessee team, rather than having to play against her:
"It's comforting. You feel secure about everything and stay poised knowing there's no reason to get rattled."
On Parker making her job as point guard easier:
"Of course, she helps. But it's still a hard job, so that doesn't really matter."
On Coach Summitt's thoughts at halftime:
"She was pleased. We didn't have a lot of turnovers until the beginning of the second half. But we talked to each other and settled down. We stayed as a team and that helped us get the win tonight."
Sophomore Forward Alex Fuller
On Candace Parker:
"It's very reassuring to have Candace on our side, because we basically depend on her to be our 'big man' inside. If one of us gets beat, she's back there to help us out."
On trying to wear down Pitt, who did not have a lot of depth:
"One of our main emphasis is to put pressure on the ball. It was really set for them; we have the same mindset for every game. But we wanted to pressure the ball so that mainly, they couldn't see inside. It's a good thing that our posts can step out and guard their guards, because that's even more pressure with our height difference."
Pitt Head Coach Agnus Berenato
General Opening Statement:
"I thought that the game was an awesome experience for everyone in the Peterson Events Center. My student athletes did a tremendous job competing at that high of a level. The environment was awesome. That's the type of excitement and entertainment we hope to bring to Pittsburgh. It's about being great both on the court and off the court. I just want to thank everyone at the University for having a vision and believing that we could get where we are today. You're going to here about Pitt women's basketball and Pitt athletics. This was a magical group of young ladies and I could not be more proud of them. These memories will last forever. I'm disappointed, though. I really thought we were going to Dayton. But I'm proud of the support and our team."
On tonight's crowd:
"I thought the crowd was awesome. When we made those runs and the crowd got behind us, it was electric. That's what I dream about. That's what I envision for us here at the University of Pittsburgh. I wish I would've just stopped and turned around and looked at the whole Peterson Events Center. That's a memory that would've stayed with me. After the game, the crowd was just so loud and I was never more proud of my student athletes. The University and the students and the city of Pittsburgh did a wonderful job of buying tickets and getting here."
On getting over the "Tennessee name":
"Tennessee is really awesome. But this game is five-on-five [women]. All of our scout clips were Candice Parker and Alexis Hornbuckle doing all of these amazing things. I said, 'We can't show [the Pitt team] that.' So we used the tape from the first half of the Drake game [March 18] to prepare for tonight. We had to take care of three things, box-out, score and rebound. They beat us on the rebounding. We were just very small in stature and in numbers. Selena Nwude would've made a difference for us tonight. But we never did really mention how good Tennessee is."
On taking the game into next year:
"Had we [Pitt] not had those first eight minutes, the game would've been different. We maybe felt like we couldn't compete or didn't belong. The second half, though, we out-scored them [Tennessee]. We scored 30. They scored 28. The problem was we dug ourselves too big a hole and that happens. I'm just very proud of this team for not giving up. We went in at halftime and said, 'You know what? We can win this game.' Once we have a tradition like Tennessee, we'll make those runs at the beginning of the game, too."
On comparing Candice Parker to past standout players:
"The first person that comes to mind is Cheryl Miller. She was explosive. Then there is Nancy Lieberman, who I went head-to-head with. She was really good. And then there is Annie Meyers. That's where you set the bar. Candice Parker is special. You ask, 'Who's the best guard in the country,' and the answer is 'Candice Parker;' 'The best forward in the country?' 'Candice Parker;' 'The best center in the country?' 'Candice Parker.' And then she really likes defense, too. She's top in the nation in blocked-shots. I really respect her. I want to get one [Candice Parker] for me."
Junior Center Marcedes Walker
On what is was like playing against Candice Parker?
"She [Candice Parker] is a very good player. We tried to run doubles on her and she scored. That is what very good players do. She works hard enough to do that. We just tried to adjust and find out who to put on her. She found her teammates, and they would pass it right back to her. We were scrambling around a lot."
On Tennessee being nervous after Pitt cut their lead to nine in the second half?
"Being a good team, they [Tennessee] are used to runs like that and are used to environments like that. I think they handled it well. All we [Pitt] can do is take this and work through the postseason so next year, we can play in environments like that and get over that hump."
Sophomore Guard Shavonte Zellous
On Tennessee being nervous after Pitt cut their lead to nine in the second half?
"I think those two runs were huge to us [Pitt]. The team really came together during those runs and we had Tennessee on their heels. But, they found there best player, Candice Parker, and got the lead back up again, but those two runs were huge for us."
Senior Forward Danielle Taylor
On the game in general:
"I thought it was a really good game. We [Pitt] went in there trying to fight and Candace Parker made some tough shots and a lot of other people made some tough shots. Certain things just didn't go our way so we just tried to bounce back from it and in the second half tried to come out winning strong and it just didn't go out way."
On Tennessee's ability to rebound:
"I definitely think I did better, I mean I don't know what anyone else would think. I think I did a little bit better and the team [Pitt] did an awesome job also today."
On being part of a winning program:
"It feels great. I don't know how to explain it but it feels amazing. It feels amazing."
On the crowd at tonight's game:
"I would never think that that would happen. But it just shows the support of our city. We had a couple doubters that said it's going to be over in the first five minutes and I really give credit to our crowd. They really are our sixth man in the game. I hope that I can be a part of that crowd next year so everybody needs to come out again from the first game, not just for the NCAA tournament."
On only having eight active players:
"We're kind of used to it right now. So we just tried not to suffer through it. We just tried to push through the fatigue and especially in the post we only have three, two in the game and one on the bench so that's kind of hard, too. We've worked around our adversities. I think it definitely is hard but I think we conquered it."
On her last-career game at Pitt:
"I want people to know that this is only the start of it. This is only the start of it. If you think that this is all that Pittsburgh has its not. I want fans to still come out and support us next year. Because like I said, it's just the start of something amazing."
Sophomore Guard/Forward Xenia Stewart
On tonight's game:
"I think we played very well seeing that Tennessee is a good high-caliber team. It was good to see where we were at as far as going into the post season and we made history and I think that overall we played really well."
On making Pitt women's basketball history:
"It's great. It feels like a big accomplishment. I know when I came on my visit Coach Berenato really recruited me hard and she said, 'She was going to make a program. She's going to put it on the top in the nation.' I said, 'I want to be a part of that. I want to build a program that has never been to the NCAA tournament or won a championship and that's what I wanted to do.'"
On having eight active players:
"It was a little bit difficult but we've been playing with limited players all season. First, when Malorie Winn went down we had nine and Salena Nwude went down we had eight. There were times when Marcedes Walker was injured, too, and she would sit out, so we were always playing with seven. We all had to make sure we were in condition. If players weren't playing 20 minutes that they would go and run extra. We all had to make sure we stayed in shape."
On the crowd at tonight's game:
"It was great. I have never seen the Pete packed like that before for a women's game at all. I saw people all in the nose-bleed sections and they were everywhere and it was great. Even some of the Tennessee fans were rooting for us. It was a beautiful sight to see."
Any final thoughts:
"Pittsburgh is onto bigger and better things. There's no stopping us."
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