University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Minnesota 72, Nebraska 69
12/29/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Head Coach Marlene Stollings
Opening Statement
What a tremendous fight from our young ladies tonight. I'm so proud of them, for how they fought, their resiliency, this team has incredible confidence. If it's close down the stretch, they're going to win the game and they've proven that in every close game this season. Nebraska is an extremely talented team, obviously ranked number 12 in the nation, well coached, start four senior, one junior, and we knew they would bring a lot of experience into our house. A team that's already upset Duke. What a tremendous effort from our young ladies. I'm also very pleased with our strength and conditioning, when it hits about the five minute mark in the second half, we really feel that's where we excel against a lot of teams.
On rebounding...
We kept talking about rebounding the ball. We felt like we were forcing a lot of rushed first shots for them, but we weren't rebounding well. At about the 10:00 mark we started rebounding well, it really ignited and allowed us to get out of transition, which we felt was an area that we could exploit them in. Rebounding the ball is crucial down the stretch.
On being down the majority of the game...
We felt like as a coaching staff that we were right there, hovering around the ten point mark. We just kept encouraging them that there's plenty of time left and we're still in this game and they can win this game. And they believed it. They increased their intensity on the defensive end and rebounding, we knew we were going to get the shots we wanted offensively - they weren't all going down in the first half, the second half we obviously shot a lot better, we attacked the basket and got to the free throw line, but the key was that they believed during that time.
On where this game ranks for her...
We'll put it at the top of the list for now. We hope to keep building to it and adding on, but an amazing night to open B1G play, to have it end this way, just really a special moment for our young ladies.
On Zahui's growth...
We challenge Amanda all the time. Growing her game and being a leader for us, and I know she probably has moments where she gets frustrated, but credit to her, she pulls through in those moments. The maturity piece of her is her ability to respond and I think she's really growing in that area.
On the upcoming conference schedule...
There's a lot of basketball left to be played, we need to take it one game at a time and not get too high or too low. But this team is hot right now, they believed, it's been a long time since we've sniffed a loss and it's a good place to be. We're going to keep building on the confidence in our play.
Amanda Zahui B.
On never giving up...
Never give up... never give up hope. We are a strong team and very talented. It's the Big Ten anyone can win, so we went into the game with the mindset that it's our home court we will go out and play our hearts out to win this game and we should never give up.
On playing on the inside...
I just had to change my mindset and play more mature. If they double teamed, everyone was shooting well outside and they had to guard them, they couldn't just focus on me. If I saw somebody I tried to kick it out and just make a play by scoring or passing.
Shayne Mullaney
On being more assertive when it comes to scoring...
With Rachel being gone, Rachel obviously brought a lot to the table as far as scoring, I've tried to have more of an offensive mindset and some teams are leaving me open so I have to be able to hit those shots. Just trying to be more of an offensive threat is the key that I've been working on.
On the last play of the game and where that shot ranks in her career...
We were running the play and I got to the basket for a pretty open layup and just nailed it I guess. It's definitely up there and even this game was definitely one of those games that you won't forget, it was just a pretty fun game. I had confidence in my teammates and I think we all had confidence in each other that we weren't going to give up and we kept encouraging each other when we were down. I think the most we were down by at one point was 17 but like Z said we just never gave up and kept chipping away and tried to look at each individual play rather than the entire score.
