Postgame Quotes: Wisconsin vs. Marquette
December 06, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Wisconsin vs. Marquette
Postgame Quotes
Dec. 6, 2014
Kohl Center - Madison, Wis.
UW Head Coach Bobbie Kelsey:
Opening Statement
"We had four people in double figures, probably could have been more than that, and we rebounded the ball very well. Could have given us a few more boards, we got to take care of that, but we're not going to be greedy. We're just happy that these kids finally found some confidence, and everyone needed it. We did play well, but unfortunately Michala Johnson with her knee, we're very upset, but these kids showed that we're not a one-trick pony. We're going to miss her, and obviously she's very disappointed."
On filling Michala's role:
"I'm looking at everybody, everybody is capable on our team. You saw tonight that when we run our offense the proper way and we read things correctly, we have some nice plays that we make. We're not going to depend on one person, even if Michala was still out there. We put a lot of pressure on her when we're running our offense right, but all these players are capable. They're division one basketball players, power-five conference players, and when we do what we're supposed to do, we are a good team."
On Dakota Whyte's performance:
"I'm on Dakota a lot, and she has a lot of pressure on her. When we recruited her, she said she wanted this, that's what she told me, and I said 'You sure?' She didn't know what she was asking for, but she got it. I think when she listens and really is honest about her play, she'll improve and she's done that. Sometimes it's hard to watch yourself make mistakes, but by the way you approach it and you learn from them, then you won't make them anymore and that's it on that. I think she was maybe resisting that a little bit, and it's not just her, it's all great ball-handlers. When you have the ball a lot you're going to make some mistakes."
On Cassie Rochel's recovery: "We have a good physical therapist too that works with Cassie. We're doing our part and she's smart, so she's going to pick up plays really easily. She did play, but you couldn't tell that she didn't play in the last game. She's very smart, our offense is not that difficult, it's just timing and it's not an intricate offense in the sense that you got to know all these different nuances. You just have to really concentrate, and we do pull her out because rest for her is more important than practicing."
Senior Jacki Gulczynski
On what was different in today's game compared to the last games:
"The difference was that we made shots, which we kind of been struggling with a bit in the past, so that's always great. We got some of our outside shooting going, we got a couple spurts where Nicole (Bauman) came down and hit a three or Tessa (Cichy) came down and hit a three and then we get defensive stops and that's how you build a lead. So that's something that we're trying to do, and we came out of halftime with a lot more energy, which is something we needed to do in the past. We came in with a 10-2 run in the first four minutes, which is setting the pace and that's what we wanted to do."
Junior Dakota Whyte
On her improvement:
"Mentally just being able to bounce back from bad games and not always being able to contribute to the team, so I think just focusing on the details and watching film with coach and being able to see the turnovers that I make and the plays that I make with my decision making. It's just always being mentally engaged, which is something I've been trying to work on and I think it definitely helped for this game."
Senior Cassie Rochel
On her back injury and today's performance:
"We won. I'm feeling great right now, and we have a great (athletic) training staff, Stef (Arndt) does a great job and I know the coaches do a lot. They're really good about pulling me in practice and I'm very honest, if I'm hurting they're going to know, and I try not to play through it because I do have the rest of my life. It's kind of day-by-day, but right now I'm feeling good."
On filling in for Michala:
"It's there. Me and Jacki were speaking the other day about how you hate seeing anyone go out with an injury, but you know it really gets to you when you're a senior and it's somebody in your class. When we got the news, I was just devastated. These last few games, I just haven't really been myself by focusing so much on scoring, scoring, scoring. Today I went out there and focused on what I'm good at, which is defense, and just letting the offense come. It's there, but you can't force it and it's great to see all these people in double-figures scoring, and it's good to see everyone stepping up. Like coach said, it's not just going to be me filling Michala's spot, it's going to be everyone and I'm excited to see our young player Cayla (McMorris) step up and she was huge today, so it's exciting and there are new opportunities."
